Summer Vacation

"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.