By Jay Carroll
Staff Writer

Coppell High School math teacher Ginger Smith acted like many students over the summer, as she hung out with her friends and cleared everything school from her brain.

            “Taking a break over the summer to clear my brain is the best thing I did over the summer,” Smith said. “It makes it to where I can prepare for the new school year.”

While teachers clear their minds like students for part of their summer break, they also have to show up to school early over the summer to prepare for the upcoming school year.

Over the summer, teachers attend conferences, workshops, seminars and lectures that they participate in to get ready for the upcoming school year. Also, during the summer, some teachers and departments received grants for new technology and even new classroom furniture.

While it is important for teachers to rest during the summer, there are a lot of things they

must do to prepare for the new school year. Whether it is practicing with newly received technology or preparing the curriculum for the students, there is a lot to get done.

The teachers are also introducing flipped classrooms, a new learning style this year. This is where students watch lectures at home, and come back the next day and do homework or assignments in class.

“I like the flipped learning environment, because we do not have as much homework besides watching a lecture,” junior George Fairchild said. “And if we have any questions about an assignment, there is a teacher right there to help us.

Math teacher Michael Fields is not switching to a flipped classroom learning style, but had a very busy summer filled with reading, courses and much more.

“This summer I did a lot of research reading because initially I do not know what my schedule is going to be,” Fields said. “Once I determined what I wanted to do, I came up with three or four lessons and tested them on my kids.”

The school is also trying to convert to the new Casio calculators, instead of the traditional TI-84s that have been used for the past few years. Fields was one of the teachers that received a new set of calculators over the summer.

“I took a calculator class over the summer to learn how to use the new Casio calculators,” Fields said.

Fields is also trying to expand his teaching techniques by posting videos of him teaching on his new YouTube channel, so his kids can watch the videos to help them learn his lessons better.

History teacher Brian Rohloff did some training over the summer with the district and participated in a professional learning community (PLC) group, where teachers get in a group with other teachers of the same subject to bounce ideas off of one another to see what they would like to do with their classes this year.

Most students do not truly realize that the teachers in the school district work really hard to prepare for the upcoming school year and to make the year as fun as possible. The teachers hope that the students realize all of the effort that they put forth over the summer.

“Students should know that we are trying really hard to make school an enjoyable experience for the students,” Rohloff said.