Blogs on Teacher Leadership

School's out. Politics is in. Five months of presidential political combat lie ahead. So I'm psyched to revisit the challenge of effectively educating kids to be active participants in our democratic processes. I plan to post a number of columns over the next months that focus on student voice, the teaching of democracy, civic engagement and political literacy. I'm hoping some of you will join the discussion and toss in your two cents.

Summer learning loss is a well-documented phenomenon, with students losing between one and two months' worth of academic knowledge each summer. And low-income students suffer a steeper rate of loss than their peers - half of the achievement gap seen in reading can be attributed to summer loss. (There is one area in which students get ahead during the summer: They gain weight two or three times faster during the summer months than during the school year.)

I often get emails from teachers looking for the perfect tool for their class. I love that teachers are excited to find new tools and integrate them into their lesson plans. As someone who has experience with different tools, I'm a logical person to ask for help when looking for something new. I have a dirty little secret, though.

One of my favorite summer activities is reading -- I relish those long afternoons (and mornings and evenings) on the couch (or beach or bed) when I lose myself in a book. I remember vacations by what I read; travels get surreal overtones because of the confusion with the interweaving of narratives -- reading Song of Solomon on Costa Rica's Pacific coast or Pope Joan in Jamaica -- stories that don't match my environs when I close the book. I'll compromise the purity of the travel-experience, however, for a side trip into a good book.