Photo by Anne Adrian under CC license
I know the general public pictures teachers with their long vacations, lolling on beaches or travelling here there and everywhere. I know some of you do some of that, but I also know that many of you take time during the summer to recharge for the next school year. And recharging is not only about getting one’s physical energy back, but also about learning, reading, connecting in order to better meet the needs of the students in your classrooms.
Although I am no longer in the classroom, I, too need to recharge – to keep learning. I plan to attend some virtual events, read some books that I have been saving and to connect with like-minded educators through online communities. While I would love to be attending some face-to-face conferences, the expenses around the conference and travel make that prohibitive. So here are some things I will be doing on my summer vacation.
ISTE: While I would love to go to this conference, it is just not possible. I plan to attend some of the ISTE unplugged sessions virtually. These take place the week of June 25. These are informal sessions and are streamed through Blackboard Collaborate. The schedule is not yet complete, but usually there are many inspiring sessions presented by educators, many of whom are classroom teachers. A number of the main conference sessions are posted after the conference and can be watched at one’s leisure. I’ll post a link when I have it.
I hope to make time to listen to past sessions of some of the virtual conferences (Global Education Conference, the Library 2.0 Conference ) and check out some of the archived sessions from Classroom 2.0 Live!
Books:
One book that has been waiting for me is Now You See It by Cathy N. Davidson. The subtitle is “How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work and Learn”. It has been recommended by a number of people in my professional learning network.
I have started reading The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser. It is about how the web is tracking you and filtering the ads and information you get when you search on the Internet. You can watch a TEDTalk by him here. It is so important that we be informed users and understand how the Internet is using us.
Some topics I want to explore this summer:
Design Thinking
Design Thinking for Educators provides a framework for educators looking at their own practice.
I’m interested in how Ewan Macintosh applies design thinking to how students should be learning. I plan to read his blog posts on this subject. He is an educator from Scotland who works with schools around the world. Here is a great blog post by him which outlines what design thinking is.
Life Practice Model
Ginger Lewman, who works in Kansas has written extensively about the Life Practice Model of project based learning. I need to delve more into that.
Will I make it through all that? I hope so. Then I’ll have lots to share with you in the fall.
What will you be doing to rev up for next fall (after you power down a bit)? Are there books you plan to read? Topics you plan to explore? Please share so we can learn from each other.
