We live in New Hampshire. It snows in the winter. It's winter. Ergo....
That doesn't seem like too difficult a syllogism to complete or accept, but from the grousing I hear, I judge that I'm in the minority who agree with that position. I'm not saying that I don't appreciate warm sunshine and mild breezes or having my toes buried in the hot sand while I sip a cool drink, but that's not natural to us in the days of short sunlight up here in New England. Those descriptions suit winter vacation destinations, the getaways, the respites from our mundane lives. In fact, I doubt that we'd appreciate them as much if we didn't have this expanse of snow, the collection of icicles, the dwindling stacks of firewood, and the array of thermal undies and sweaters for contrast.
Today is the fourth full snow day of our school year which, brings the last day for students to Friday, June 17, and the last day for staff to the following Monday, June 20. A friend of mine suggests that, since snow days called now shorten our summer break, we should treat them like gifts or vacation days, and I concur. These are, for me, days to rise at my leisure, pick and choose what tasks I do and when I do them, dress for the day on my own schedule, snack or eat slowly rather than wolfing down lunch at a prescribed time, and take care of those odds and ends that I've wanted to do but haven't found time in my all too short weekends.
Our school district hasn't gone the way of another one nearby that has teachers posting snow day lessons and being available online for advice or guidance to students completing the assigned tasks so the day counts as a school day. I think the jury is still out on the effectiveness of these lessons and other repercussions, and since our district either moves at lightning speed to adopt initiatives or thinks about/discusses/ investigates the life out of a new possibility until it sinks into oblivion, I doubt that I'll see it happen while I'm actively teaching. That's fine with me because part of the impact of actual classes is the spontaneity and interaction between classmates and instructor that can't be recreated online. I know this because I've taken several courses that were hybrids: first and last class on location in a physical classroom face to face with instructor and colleagues, and the rest of the time on my own, through emails, and in a closed, weekly online chat space for classmates and instructor. The courses weren't bad because I could accomplish the week's assignments when it was convenient for me to do so, and I could multi task during the chat session, but I'm an adult, one who's interested in the one course I'm taking, and motivated to do well because I truly want to learn information and techniques offered in the course. The wish is that all high school students would fit that description, or each high school course and instruction be interesting enough to motivate every student to the utmost, but I think that's terribly idealistic. Therefore, the human interaction - the eye to eye contact, the face to face discussions, the tone of voice that means so much, the teachable moments that only arise when teacher and students are together - continues to enhance education in classrooms of a wide variety of descriptions, making them still the best places, in my humble opinion, for many kinds of teaching and learning to occur.
Okay, I'm off my soap box for now. I think I'll do the last two days' newspaper crossword puzzles (yes, we still read actual newspapers) if they haven't yet been used to encourage the fire in the wood stove, and I may just make a loaf or two of banana bread or a pan of brownies... or not. This is one of those rather aimless days that I'm thoroughly enjoying: the gift of a summer vacation day, five months early.
