I used to get a lot of flak from my friends over, "Oh, you're a teacher. It must be nice to have three months off."
The truth is, I'm all for teaching 12 months. I'd make school year long if I could.
First, what kids ever really work on a farm anymore anyway where they need summers off to help out. And here is something Geoffrey Canada pointed out that I never really thought of . . . what sense does giving kids summers off for working on a farm really make? I know there is work to be done on a farm in the summer (baling hay, fertilizing fields, and so on), but all the real work done on a farm is in the spring and fall (planting and harvesting). So why get summers off?
Second, I have taught summer school or had a part time job every year anyway, so it's not like I get 3 months of vacation anyway.
Third, many teacher take classes and work on their craft during the summer. Which brings me to the blog post I linked to.
For me, I rework my least effective lessons. I either revise them to make them more effective, or I chuck them entirely.
I also am constantly doing professional development. It doesn't matter if I'm blogging about teacher (like now) while I'm at home, mowing the lawn and listening to a podcast (usually either EntreLeadership, TED Talks, or Learning Matters), reading a new book, planning presentations (I set up two for TIES and another two for a spring technology professional development session), or just improving lessons, I'm trying to get better.
Which is what summer is all about for this teacher.
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Here is another thing that summer is great for (sorry about ending that sentence with a preposition).
Thankfully I work in a 1:1 environment. Before then I used cell phones (I still do actually). I just can't imagine not using them in class.
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Just try and get this graduation speech out of your head.
And here is another one of my favorite graduation speeches. This one from Jim Carey of all people!
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I knew there was a reason I love art! Turns out your brain is wired for it!
Here are a couple of my all time favorite pieces.
Mark Rothko
Norman Rockwell's self-portrait. This amazes me. Just how hard would this be to paint?
One of Rockwell's most powerful paintings, titled "The Problem We All Live With."
Roy Lichtenstein.
Caravaggio. Turns out he was commissioned to paint a depiction of David vs. Goliath. But since he had been convicted of murder, and thus an exile, he had no way to ever paint for the Vatican again. This painting was his one hope to get back in their good graces. Thus, he painted his face in for Goliath's, kind of fitting considering his crime.
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An interesting read: How to Build a Resilient, Thriving Culture in Disruptive Times.
We are living proof of this. Thanks to our leadership. You couldn't have thrown more at us as a staff last year: RAMP UP/LINC (our new college/career readiness curriculum), Synergy (our new on-line grade book), schedule (ever Wednesday has something going on - department meetings, early outs, late starts, LINC, PLCs, and so on), and, of course, our 1:1 move.
Yet, we did it. Not perfectly. Not without mistakes and bumps. But we tackled it and our culture, which is excellent, didn't suffer one bit. We personify much of what is written about in this blog post.
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I always say when I talk about technology and social media that teaching in the flat world is all about mass marketing and customer service. Here is how you can be your PR person. And if you aren't advertising and tooting your own horn, who will?
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Saw this one on Facebook. Great point.
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It's all about balance. I love this. I think too many times at the high school we forge that. We are too top heavy on teaching content.
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We need to keep this in mind as we look for new textbooks for our curriculum review cycle. As Dr. Holen says at UND, "The textbook is NOT curriculum."
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Finally, this one is going into all of my technology presentations! Love it.
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