Rachelle Dene Poth

While it’s true, that most teachers do have their summers “off.”, I know that the reality is quite the opposite. Being involved in a few different PLNs,( #4OCFPLN , #EDUGLADIATORS, #EDUMATCH) the talk has been about our ongoing pursuit of learning, with the benefit being that we have the extra time to spend on personal and professional growth. As for myself, I had a tremendously busy but awesome June, several conferences and so many opportunities to make new connections and learn.  I know many educators who participate in some form of professional development or get involved in teaching summer classes, working at camps, or find other temporary employment. Summer is a great time to learn, explore and seek out new opportunities. It’s also an excellent time to continue to build PLN!

 

It is the end of July, (I cannot believe it!), but there is still plenty of time for PD, and the best part is that so much of the PD is available any time, through Twitter, Voxer, learning communities through ISTE, Google Communities, as well as the different edtech companies that offer webinars and podcasts for educators.   We all need a break, time to relax, reflect and recharge, but it is really nice to be able to learn over the summer and create our own schedule for learning and growing as educators. And also to come up with a few new ideas to get the year started.

Some ideas for summer learning

As has been the case the past few years, this has been a summer full of conferences (Superior Tech 4 Teachers, Summer Spark and ISTE), as well as virtual events including EdChange Global and EdCamp Voice on Voxer. There are ongoing book studies, Twitter Chats, Voxer groups, Google Hangouts, Podcasts, Webinars and more. There are also some great blogs to read, see the side of my page for those that I follow).  So many choices, but where to begin? My advice?  At least what has worked for me, is to think about an area that you would like to improve upon or something maybe you have been wanting to try, and make that a goal in the upcoming school year.  

 

Twitter chats and Voxer Groups

There are so many chats going on, some nights are difficult to keep up with Tweetdeck because you don’t want to miss the conversation. But the nice thing is that you can always go back and read through, see the resources shared and add to your PLN. If you are not on Voxer, I highly recommend that you give it a try. You can read about it in my prior post linked above, but it is so helpful for engaging in conversations with educators from around the world. Groups are available based on interest areas such as Blended Learning, ARVRinEDU, BreakoutEDU, PasstheScopeEDU, and there are some for PLN/PLFs such as Edugladiators, Edumatch and the #4OCFPLN !! Interested in a book study? There are those too. I have been in an Innovators Mindset, Four O’Clock Faculty, What School Could Be, Let Them Speak, LAUNCH and a few more. Let me know if you want to join any that I belong to, or I can share a link of groups as well.

FOUR awesome opportunities! (online and on your schedule!)

Going on now is the Ditch Summit, hosted by Matt Miller! Different speakers each day from July 25-29, awesome way to learn. Sign up here  You will receive an email each morning and you have until August 10th to watch the videos, so plenty of time. Don’t forget to get your Badges!

Coming up next week, there will be a few virtual learning events that might be of interest. Quizlet will be holding an “unconference” on August 1st and 2nd. Join in to see what the new topics are and the ideas for using Quizlet. Register here .

The Hive Summit kicks off on August 1st and goes for 14 days of learning, great speakers and promises to be a fantastic opportunity for adding to our toolkits. And there are live chats each day as well #HiveSummit,  lots of ways to learn and connect. More information here. 

The following week is EdmodoCon, a two-day virtual event held on August 6th and 7th. I was fortunate to speak at EdmodoCon last summer and brought back so many new ideas, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

Last few weeks of summer

Sign up for one of those virtual learning events, jump into a Twitter chat, or read a book (See BookCampPD) for some recommendations or join in the chat on Saturday mornings, 9:00 a.m. EST. Meredith Johnson has a great lineup of authors.

Lots of ways to learn, on a relaxed summer schedule, and have a little extra time for the PD that you need. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your home, move away from the pool, or be anywhere specific. Find something that you are curious about and make some time for it now, before the school year arrives and time starts to disappear quickly. You might find that these experiences will get you excited to return to school and feeling refreshed! 

And if you have extra time, check out the upcoming conferences(EdSurge 60+) and see where your PLN might be headed! Let me know if you will be attending iNACOL, FETC or ASCD Empower