Greetings, ghost story fans! I have some fun news to share.
First of all, I normally like to encourage people to get outside, enjoy nature, breathe some fresh air, and go exploring. But it is HOT down here in Texas right now. 🥵 Like, dangerously hot and also extremely humid. The combination makes me feel like this –> 🫠 every time I go outside. So if you live in my part of the world, now is a good time to put outdoor adventures on hold and stay inside reading a book or watching a little TV. I have a couple of recommendations for you.
First, if you live in North Texas, I suggest you tune in to Texas Today this Friday, June 23, at 11:30AM on NBC (KXAS channel 5) to hear me chat with Kirstin Dickerson about my most recent book in the Spooky America series, The Ghostly Tales of Dallas. This collection of true stories about haunted places in the DFW area is perfect for kids 8-12 years old who like reading about ghosts while also learning some local history. And you don’t need to wait for campfire weather to enjoy it. The book is a great addition to air-conditioned summer sleepovers, too!
If you’d like a copy, you can check your local bookstores or order from your favorite online booksellers, but you can also get a signed, personalized copy from me. Just send me an email through my contact page, and we’ll work out the details. The books are $12, including shipping.
Here’s a photo from my interview with Texas Today. No, they did not tell me to wear orange. I color-coordinated by accident!
For those of you who have already read The Ghostly Tales of Dallas and are still hungry for more spooky stories, I have good news. My next book, The Ghostly Tales of Delaware, comes out on August 7th! Let me tell you, The First State was really fun to write about. No matter where you live, if you like reading scary stuff, this collection of creepy characters will not disappoint. The book includes ghosts, witches, haunted churches, haunted bridges, and even a swamp monster. 😲
Check out the cover:
If you can’t wait, you can pre-order The Ghostly Tales of Delaware online, and it will arrive at your door on August 7th. But if you’d like a signed personalized copy of this book, let me know and I’ll reserve one for you that you can purchase directly from me a little later in August.
In the meantime, stay cool and stay alert. Some ghosts lurk where you least expect them… 👻
After yoga, I take a walk through the park and nearby neighborhood, listening to Ann Patchett’s collection of essays, These Precious Days, apt title for my life right now, my morning, this moment. I pass a house with such a vibrant garden of colorful blooms it rivals beds at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. I don’t stop, don’t take a picture, but I stroll through the perfume of the blossoms.
A few houses down, a vine with purple cone-shaped flowers twines around a decorative lamppost in a front yard. As I go by, one long tendril of vine reaches out—literally lifts and reaches away from the post. I slow and peer. Is it the wind? I don’t feel a breeze. Is there a hummingbird or squirrel playing a trick? I don’t see one. I continue walking, leaving the mystery of the reaching vine unsolved.
I turn right and cross my favorite bridge overlooking a pond bordered by the picturesque backyards of big, beautiful houses. I pause to look over at the turtles—some of them impressively large—floating below, then keep going. Soon I cross paths with two boys carrying fishing poles.
On the next block, I hit my mile and turn around. When I return to the bridge, the boys are there, fishing lines draped over the concrete wall. Cottonwood pollen fills the air, drifting down on street and poles and creek and the blond heads of two boys on a summer adventure. I walk on the other side this time, looking over at the part past the dam where the water now trickles in a shallow creek. Two ducks sit side-by-side beneath me.
It is hot out even though it’s early. I must have cut a corner somewhere because I get back to my car just shy of my two miles. I consider circling the parking lot a time or two but opt for air conditioning instead. I am done walking.
I did not take a picture, did not stop to record notes. This precious day will have to rely on my memory and my words to keep it fresh.
Over the past ten months, I interviewed thirteen teachers about what it’s like working in education today. All of the participants work in public schools in Texas: three in elementary, six in middle school, and four in high school. Each teacher gave honest, thoughtful, often eye-opening, sometimes hilarious insights into the day-to-day life of a teacher. I am grateful to them, not just for taking the time to complete my survey and for sharing the truth of their job with the world, but also for doing this job in the first place, for being there for the kids and showing up despite the many difficulties.
As summer starts and schools shut down and pools reopen, teachers everywhere are heading out into the sunlight for a couple of months. Some will relax and go on exciting vacations and read stacks of books. Some will work a second job to save up some money or try to make ends meet. Some will switch out of teacher mode into parent mode, spending June and July chauffeuring kids to camps and sports or keeping their little ones at home to save money on daycare. Others will spend the summer attending workshops, creating lesson plans, and redesigning their classrooms, looking forward to the school doors opening in August again. Whatever the summer has in store for teachers, I hope it also brings time to breathe and rest and rejuvenate.
Before my thirteen interviewees closed their classroom doors for the year, I asked them one more question. Are you going to teach again next year? Why or why not? Some of their answers surprised me.
Of the thirteen teachers interviewed, eleven will be returning to the classroom next year, although some are headed to different classrooms or different schools. Their reasons for staying vary, but there are a couple of common themes: the love for the kids and a sense of duty. Here are some of their answers about why they will still teach.
Mr. W: “I love teaching and I look forward to leading my floor in the same way that it was led during the best years. I believe it can be done.”
Ms. B: “Someone’s gotta do it, and I’d rather it be someone with genuine love for the kids.”
Mr. L: “This year was awful, but I have to find out if every year in education will be comparable to my first year. If they will be, I have to leave teaching, but the only way to find out if this year was the norm is to hang around for another year!”
Ms. S: “Because I enjoy it. (And someone has to.)”
Ms. C: “Because no one else will and I just can’t not.”
Ms. L: “I enjoy introducing new information to students, watching them learn and grow both academically and socially.”
S.S: “When I think about leaving teaching I feel a little sad. There are many things about teaching I enjoy, especially the students. It’s still a stressful, fast-pased job. More than money, I wish I had more planning time during the day and a teacher aide to help with grades and lab set-up and take-down. I also wish we had more effective ways to help struggling students and those with discipline problems. “
The two teachers who will not be returning to the classroom next year are “Math Teacher” and Ms. A.
Math Teacher‘s main reason for leaving teaching is the STAAR test, Texas’s standardized state assessment. “If I had to just be with my kids and help them fall back in love with LEARNING and actually knowing why, not how, I would stay forever. But the academic demands were already proven to be above grade level material, and on top of that… just trying to help these kids heal. It was too much and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my career boiled down to test results.”
Ms. A‘s reason for leaving is more personal. She and her partner are moving to an area that doesn’t offer her subject in schools, and she wants to be able to travel more, not just in the weeks when school is out.
I wish Math Teacher and Ms. A the best in whatever they choose to do. I know they will be missed and will probably find themselves missing their kids and coworkers, but I’m proud of them for realizing when it was time to move on. And I’m still sending all the love and good vibes to the teachers returning this fall. Thank you again for all you do.
As for me, it’s been a year now since I left the classroom. There are definitely things I miss about the job. Mostly the people. I miss the people. But I know I made the right choice for me. I don’t feel a pull back to that career anymore. I’m enjoying my time writing books and learning how to do this whole self-employed author thing. That doesn’t mean I’m totally done with schools, though. I hope to spend some time this fall doing author visits and teaching writing workshops and talking to kids about ghost stories and poetry and the writing life. So if you know an elementary or middle school teacher or librarian who would like to hire me, let me know or send them a link to my Visits page.
Carie Juettner 