Summer Time Is Professional Development Time

Anyone who is a teacher knows two things:

1.  Summer is a long awaited gift.  A time of decompression, reflection, & rejuvenation.

2.  Summer in NOT totally relaxation & time off.  Minds are a-whirling for the year ahead almost before decompression truly sets in.

It is in that gift of summertime (where 12 months have been jammed packed into 9-10 months of late night paper grading and weekend lesson planning) that a bounty of professional development can occur. Likewise, some amazing summer opportunities of workshops, conferences, continuing education classes, professional development, and books on bed stands or in Kindles, waiting to be read.

At my school, each summer we have a "Summer Institute" of optional all day professional development educational opportunities, with a complete course selection set up throughout the summer.  The main reason is to help PS--12th grade teachers at our school grow in our craft and stay in touch with educational trends.  (More on that later!)

Here's some of the #EdTech professional greats that have been happening out there already this summer.  Even if you missed them on the front end, you can catch up on the learning that happened here:

iPadPalooza:
When & where was it:  June 23rd--25th at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas
Ways to learn, after-the-fact:
     --iPadPalooza Presenter Resource Page
     --Creativity is Key" post at ZigZagging Through Education & Technology
     --Check out @iPadpalooza or #iplza15 on Twitter

ISTE 2015:
When & where was it:  June 27th--July 1st in Philadelphia, PA
Ways to learn, after-the-fact:
     --Google Doc of Session Notes
          (tons of links!)
     --#NotAtISTE2015 Livebinder 
          (again, tons of curated content)
     --TeacherCast video of ISTE 2015
           Pre-Show Podcast
     --Check out #ISTE2015 and
           #NotAtISTE2015 on Twitter

EdCamps 2015:
When & where:  ongoing in many locations, just check the website of upcoming free one-day camps to find one near you.

Educational Trend Websites:
     --Mindshift  (Future of Learning)
     --Edutopia  (K-12 Tips & Strategies)
     --The Learning Network (from NY Times)
     --Educdemic  (Connecting Education & Technology)
     --Education Closet  (Arts Integration & STEAM)
     --Education World  (Ed resources spanning the disciplines)
     --Make Magazine  (Maker Movement)
     --Brain Pickings  (Cross Disciplinary Treasure Trove)

Podcasts & Webcasts:
      --TeacherCast University
      --SparkChasers
      --ISTE
      --Michael Hyatt (not related to #EdTech, but more to leadership,
           and fabulous with every listen!)

What are some of your favorite summertime professional development offerings?


Images:  Summertime: pic from my camera, created using the Motivational Poster app; ISTE by Numbers infographic from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=475&category=ISTE-Connects-blog&article=Infographic%3a+ISTE+2015+by+the+numbers