I Made it To Summer...Now What?

I have been teaching middle school technology for five years, and there is nothing better than that feeling of the first day of summer. More than likely you won't be sleeping in since your internal clock will undoubtedly wake you at 6 a.m. telling you it's time to get up and get to work, but you have a whole day to do anything you want...so what should it be?

Depending on the type of person you are, your summer could look so many different ways. In my Summer Teacher Tips blog series, I'm going to give you some suggestions on how to spend your summer keeping your mind sharp and learning along the way.

Summer Goal #1: Work on Your Reading List

Most teachers have at least a few books that we want to get through, but it's hard to find the time during the school year. Summer, however, is the perfect time to knock a few books off that list. In case you need a few ideas, here is my summer reading list:

Go See the Principal: True Tales from the School Trenches This is the new book written by the one and only Gerry Brooks. If you don't know who he is, look him up on YouTube immediately! He is an elementary school principal who tells education how it is and in a way that is guaranteed to get a laugh. This book will be my first read of the summer.

The Growth Mindset Coach: A Teacher's Month-by-Month Handbook for Empowering Students to Achieve I am always looking for new ways to get my students to own their learning, so this book should be a great way for me to get some new ideas to do just that.

Social LEADia: Moving Students from Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership I think we can all agree that kids and social media is a huge problem these days, but how do we change that? This read will hopefully give me the inspiration to make a new program to teach students how to effectively use social media to make a better future.

Gamify Literacy: Boost Comprehension, Collaboration and Learning Middle school students are all about gaming, so how can we use those elements to teach school content? This book is full of ideas on how to do just that.

No matter what your interests are, there are a ton of books out there you can read to get inspiration for the next school year or just for fun. No matter what you read, enjoy it! I used to love buying books that I could physically hold in my hand, but now since I have tiny humans that destroy my things, I have switched to buying most of my books on Kindle. They are usually cheaper, and when I travel and I have all of my collection at my disposal.

Now that you know what I'm reading this summer, what's on your reading list? I'm always looking for new books to read so leave some recommendations in the comments section.

P.S. Stay tuned for Summer Goal #2: Spark Ideas with PD!