Politicians and the Media have for years (decades) pushed the “summer off” aspect of teaching to belittle the profession and make it seem less than important. Most people have no idea what a teacher does during the school year, let alone over the summer. I have started a campaign to start calling “Summer Vacation” the “Off Season” because people don’t seem to complain when million dollar pro athletes get more time off than I do after a hard season. A season that is actually less days than the school year, but I digress.
For many teachers the off season is a time to relax, to spend time with their neglected families, to recharge. I always tell my students that in the summer teachers go around gathering this stuff called “patience” and put it a big jar. Every time you disrupt class, do something inappropriate the teacher gives you a bit of that patience. So I’m sorry if by the end of the school year I’m scraping the jar to find anything and therefore might lose my patience with you.
The Off Season is so much more than just a “vacation.” It’s a time for teachers to clean out and reorganize their classrooms. It’s a time to read more than the essays and papers needing grading. It’s a time to reflect on what happened over the year, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s a time to learn. This Off Season I did a bit of everything.
It started out with administering the second go around of Indiana’s IREAD-3 test to those students who didn’t pass the first time. So my first day of vacation, I was at school working. That was basically the way it was for that first week. I was at school for at least part of each day cleaning out things and getting ready for new carpeting to be installed. Carpeting that as of early July has yet to arrive in the school.
Once the classroom was somewhat ready I attended a two day technology conference to hopefully learn some new and better ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. It was interesting, I learned some things and hopefully will be able to do some new things with technology with my class.
Next I attended Edcamp Indy, which is an “unconference.” For those not aware of what an unconference is – a regular conference had a schedule of meetings and speakers. You walk in and are handed a schedule and pick what you want to attend. An unconference starts with everyone in one room going up and saying “I’d like to learn more about…” “I’m not really good with ___ I know there are experts could we talk about it?” or “I did this really cool thing this year and want to tell you all about it.” Basically you get a bunch of people in rooms and talk about things and learn from everyone. Which if you’ve ever gone out with a bunch of teachers is what we do when two or more of us are in the same room. I presented on comics in the classroom and some basic drawing techniques. I learned about cool ideas to motivate kids in reading, classroom libraries, #nErDcampMI, and some cool tricks for taking video on an iPad.
Then I was completely blown away by Kids Read Comics in Ann Arbor, MI. Again there was mention of #nErDcampMI. I would go into detail about all I experienced, but I already did here.
When I returned, I went back to school and helped set up STEM Camp. Then taught at STEM Camp for three days. We did a lot of activities dealing with LEGO, coding, and even some geocaching. It just showed me again that a child’s interest in a topic is so important. Some kids could have spent twice the time in the activities we had planned, others could care less, and then became disruptive. With around 100 kids you could really tell the ones who wanted to be there, and the ones who were there because they had to be.
Since my grade level has a short unit on comics, and I am a proponent of comics in the classroom I attended “Indy Pop Con” right after STEM Camp concluded. I had tabled there last year and had decided to attend this time as a fanboy just to experience the con for the other side of table. It seemed a lot smaller than I remember from last year, and the focus was off for me. I’ve said that “everyone is a geek” and there are some geeks I don’t understand. It seemed that Pop Con is embracing it’s name and really covering all popular culture, this year it was YouTube celebrities. Lines for what seemed like miles to see people I had never heard of. It was a little sad since most comic cons now focus less and less on comics, I guess I was hoping there would be more dealing with comics, Artist Alley was nice, but not what I was expecting. As for panels the “Men in Comics” was probably the highlight for me. It is a Pop Con and therefore it should have a wide focus, I guess I just wish comics were a little more prevalent. Then again, this was after attending Kids Read Comics where everything was about comics so…
That takes us to July and nErDCamp…
Two days for self proclaimed “Book Nerds.” It’s an unconference, and not an unconference. I won’t name droop mostly because there were so many cool people there and I’m horrible with names. A quick overview because my mind is still processing everything.
Day one had traditional sessions with great speakers. It began with NerdTalks (think Ted Talks) to get us excited… I started off with a session about improving writing skills using art. I then went to a session about Genius Hour- while I had done this with my class I wanted to see how other people managed it and how I could improve it for next year. Finally I found out how bad I was when it came to encouraging independent reading with my students last year, and ways I can make this year better. So it was a regular old conference for the first day… but wait there’s more.
Day two was an unconference so anything and everything was possible. So learned a bit more about maker spaces. Went back to the bane of my existence – the classroom library and how to better organize that hydra. Played a game and talked about how it could personalized to work in a classroom setting. Finally I ended the day by learning about March Book Madness and how to participate. I wish I had gotten up and proposed a comics session, but then I would have missed something! Hopefully next year. Still wrapping my head around everything and how I will be able to incorporate everything into everything I’ll be required to do… I’m creative, I’ll figure something out. There is also nErDCamp Jr. for kids which I didn’t stay after to see, but need to.
So that is the Off Season so far. When you have your vacation from work what do you do? I’m glad as a teacher I have the time to sharpen the saw and get energized to return to school. I still have a few weeks where I’ll be helping to facilitate a Robotics Camp at the high school, attending a three day workshop at a University, and finally going on a vacation. Oh, and hopefully the carpet will be in my classroom before I leave on vacation so I can actually get my room ready for when I have to return August 3.
Oh, and I drew monkeys… had my yearly physical, went to the dentist for my annual check up, and the eye doctor. Why now? During the school year it’s more work to take a day off, so the off season is the only time I have to get things done. Is this my choice? Yes, some of my colleagues do less, some do more, but I don’t know of any teacher who lounges around all summer, that’s just crazy talk.
As for suggestions on what you (if you are a teacher in the midwest) should think about, I definitely recommend: Your local EDCamp just so you can take the day and brainstorm with other teachers. Kids Read Comics if you want to incorporate comics in your classroom, you are into all ages comics, or because you know a child who likes comics. If you like books – nErDCamp is a must. So- What would you suggest? Besides sitting on a beach with an umbrella ladened drink- remember I burn easily.
