During this summer of quarantine, I’ve been spending a lot of time at the pool in my apartment building. This is the first summer I’ve spent entirely in Michigan and also the first summer I haven’t seen my friends & family. It’s been such an adjustment trying to fill all of alone time, so I’ve read quite a few bit over the 3 weeks I had off.

Here are the books I’ve read so far this summer with a quick review of some!

My Summer Reading List

• A non teaching book I loved: The Vanishing Half which follows the lives of one white twin and one Black twin through adulthood
• Most of these books were re-reads for me, but Black School, White School was a new one for me this summer. Lisa Delpit wrote the foreward which is how I heard about the book. Honestly, this book sustained my attention for longer than I expected (Delpit’s books are really research dense and I need frequent breaks usually to process) and was a much more accessible read for me.
• Supermarket is another non-teaching book and is so, so good if you like thrillers. I’m a huge Stephen King fan so if you like him, you’ll love this book.

• I was really disappointed to see that Hacking School Discipline had literally zero references in the back of the book, so it’s not research based. Only pitfall of ordering on Amazon.
• I re-read Whole Brain Teaching because I really want to approach it through a more critical lens now that I understand how authoritative it is, and yeah it basically focuses on controlling children and their bodies so that’s that

My Poolside Essentials

I’ve also had to really adjust to extended time in the sun & chlorine/salt in the pool that isn’t the best for my hair and skin. I’ve stocked up on quite a few beauty essentials that have been game changers after a lot of trial and error! I also have a few things that I take down to the pool so I’m not constantly running up to my apartment. Here’s a list of what’s in my pool bag!

I picked up these wireless earbuds so I wouldn’t have to worry about my Airpod Pros at the gym or pool. I was SO impressed at how amazing these are! Bluetooth enabling is tricky the first time so just hit the factory reset button in the manual and then it’ll work. Here are some of the features that make them super similar to the airpods:

• 3 different ear tip sizes (my ears are super small)
• 6 hours of battery life. I picked up some $10 wireless earbuds at first for the pool and they were too big/ lasted for like an hour and a half max.
• Wireless charging case- super necessary at the pool!

This UV protectant spray is way better than even the $40 products I’ve tried. It protects your hair from getting dried out and damaged and prevents your scalp from burning! This brand also makes an SPF scalp spray but I think it’s super heavy and greasy. This one is really lightweight and doesn’t leave any residue! It can also be used for blowouts and straightening your hair but I just keep this in my pool bag.

Ok so STORYTIME. We all used Fletcher (@thirdgradeswag_)’s spray sunscreen within the first 5 min of stepping foot in the Bahamas. All the overpriced gift shop had was this sunscreen. It’s a tinted, non-greasy mineral SPF 50 lotion and makes me look like a bronzed goddess. I use it on my face and chest when in the sun! I’ve restocked MANY times since our trip last summer, this was the best accidental purchase I’ve ever made!

This back to school season is definitely the first of its kind. We already started back this week and have about a month left until the first day of school for students. We have no idea whether we’ll be virtual year round, but we will be using a virtual model for our first week with students.

At the end of the last school year, I didn’t have much of a dedicated space for virtual teaching and learning. I moved a week before the pandemic and didn’t have any furniture or materials besides my laptop in my new home office! Once I started delivering virtual professional development this summer, I started to settle into a dedicated space, but there was a lot of trial and error when it came to adjusting to this new virtual world.

I partnered with Walmart to set up a distance learning space at home and I love it so far! I had a very limited budget and was able to find everything in this post from their back-to-school teacher shop at an affordable price point. My goal was to set up a space that was functional based on my experiences this summer with virtual PD, but also to have materials that I could easily pack up and bring to school if we were to return in person again.

This is what the space looks like so far! This desk is only $59, but it’s a great size and has a spacious drawer as well. I’ll get into tech setup a little later in the post, but first I wanted to share some of my favorite finds!

Here’s what the inside of the drawer looks like right now! I’m obsessed with these retractable highlighters– no more losing the cap! The felt pens are super affordable and I love using them under the document camera. The tip is fine enough where others can see precisely across the screen, which is something I definitely had to get used to compared to writing big anchor charts during the school year!  The colors don’t bleed through but are still dark enough to be seen clearly.

This planner is my new favorite! Although it’s a student planner, it has a section for every subject and is super lightweight for only $8. It’s perfect for teachers who love the structure of a teacher planner but don’t like the bulk that comes along with it!

I mentioned the retractable highlighters earlier, but Pen + Gear also makes retractable dry erase markers! With such light colored carpets, I can’t risk losing the cap and accidentally dropping one. I think they’re such a great idea!

Last but not least, here is what my tech setup looks like for digital learning! All items are linked below the image.

The hardest transition for me this upcoming school year will definitely be going from a school with an hour lunch to one with a 25-minute lunch! Because I’ll likely be more hungry throughout the day, I’ve stocked up on my favorite lunchbox snacks to keep by my desk. If you have limited refrigeration and time, here’s a list of my favorite snacks to enjoy at work!