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Summer Vacation

7/25/2014

"It must be nice to have the summers off."

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that or some variation on the theme, I could retire. I do believe it is the single most irritating phrase one could utter to a teacher. That said, it is nice to have the summer off. What do I do with all of this free time over 8 glorious weeks?

I explore all sorts of cool tech tools like Graphite, Zaption, and cool stuff the folks in my Twitter PLC mention that I didn't have time to play with during the school year.

Glogster - I participated in a 1-on-1 webinar and am now certified as a Level 1 Glogster trainer. I learned about some cool features of Glogster that we had not been using at school - can't wait to show the teachers and kids. I am also now part of a group testing the Beta version of their new app.

I've been hard at work adding links to my Professional Development Pinterest Board. I've added some new subject area boards. Check it out at http://pinterest.com/lmsteachers

I worked with teachers, sharing online tools like Screencast-O-matic, Dropbox, Powtoon, Haiku Deck, DropItToMe and Socrative with them.

I read books and book reviews to curate titles for my fall book order.

I'm cobbling together the prototype for the interactive notebooks that all 801 of my students will be creating this as part of their library media experience.

I've considered my stance on the Oxford Comma.

Most of all I am spending time with family and friends - experiencing life, creating memories and sometimes remembering to document those moments with pictures.

Yes, it is nice have the summers off. It helps me be a better person and a better teacher.

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New Year's Resolutions in July

7/12/2014

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It is a little over half way through 2014 and I have decided to revisit my New Year's Resolutions and see how I am doing. My resolutions are below, along with some commentary on my progress.

I resolve that in 2014...
1. I will regularly post to my blog with the goal of at least one new blog post per week.
This lasted about 6 posts. I am using this mid-year review as a chance to jump-start the process.

2. I will post one picture a day to my 365 Project account to create a visual record of 2014.
This did not even last a week. I do take many pictures, but tend to be organic instead of organized when it comes to timing. Lesson learned.

3. I will keep a record of the books I read on Goodreads including a written review of some sort not just stars.
Success!!! I have accomplished this goal and in the process have recorded and briefly reviewed 60 books since January 1st. It is a great way to hold myself accountable for what I read. As an added bonus I found that some of my students were using my Goodreads page as a suggestion list. :)

4. I will not feel compelled to join every social media site on the planet just to try to keep up with the teeming hordes. I will just use the media which make sense in the context of my personal and professional life.
Check. This goal was easy as there are only 24 hours in the day and I do not want to spend all the waking ones online. I am on Facebook primarily for personal use, Twitter for keeping up with my Professional Learning Community, Pinterest to archive/curate resources for students and teachers at my school, and Instagram as a means of occasionally sharing photos with family and a few close friends. According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology and Forbes Magazine, approximately 8% of people achieve their New Year's resolutions and 49% of people achieve infrequent success so I choose to feel good about what I've accomplished.

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Summer Vacation

New Year's Resolutions in July

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