Going into my 6th year of teaching, I am taking a different approach to my summer this year. This is day one of my summer vacation (the main perk for becoming a teacher, right?!) and I’ve already written a reflection on a workshop I took on YouTube and GAFE for my CUE Innovative Educator Certificate program, I’m currently writing this post, and with any spare time throughout the day I am reading the brilliant In the Middle by Nancie Atwell. My end-goal for all of this is to to get really good at teaching. I know it will be a work in progress, but it’s worth a shot.

Here are my summer plans:

CUE Innovative Educator Certificate, May-November

I’m already a month into the program and have completed the Intro and Google & YouTube class. Full of brilliant teachers (more Google Innovative Educators then you can shake a stick at) and motivated cohort members, the connections alone have already made this worthy of my summer time.

I’ve got a lot of practice in with Google Apps, and I’m planning on getting my Google Educator Level 2 certificate here in a few weeks.

I also have an elective class to finish up….wait for it…..Twitter for Educators. This certificate is educational and fun.

CUE Rock Star Mammoth, June 15th-17th

Continuing with the ed tech theme, in a few weeks I will be driving over to the other side of the Sierras and hanging out with a bunch of amazingly talented individuals for my first ever Rock Star Camp.

If you’ve never heard of it, it is the brainchild of Jon Corippo (@jcorippo)- an innovative educator who founded Minarets High School–not too far from my stomping grounds in Hanford, CA. It is an ed-tech heavy 3 days of learning. Sessions are ran in two blocks, lasting two hours each. If there are two sessions you really want to go to at the same time, well you’re in luck, because that same session will be ran in the afternoon block.

I’ve made a schedule for myself and, as of right now, I will be learning about ways to use technology to check for understanding, play with HyperDocs, boost my Google Slides game, as well as my Google Form knowledge. It will probably change again ten times, but I know I will be learning a lot from the hands-on sessions.

Scholastic Reading Summit- San Jose, June 23rd

I get to sit in a workshop with Donalyn Miller running it? Sold. I’ll make the 2 1/2 hour drive to hang out with the Book Whisperer. Her knowledge has helped me develop the love of independent reading in my classroom. I’ll spend my morning time learning about the power of book commercials, and my afternoon time hearing from Donalyn on independent reading.

The icing and on this already delicious cake? Kwame Alexander is giving a keynote and  doing a book signing. If you haven’t read The Crossover yet, put it on your books to read list for the summer.

Pacific Coast Literacy Institute, July 31st-August 3rd

Right before I am due back to school on August 4th, I will be up in Santa Rosa learning from some of the best teachers in literacy: Kylene Beers, Bob Probst, Penny Kittle, Chris Crutcher, and Linda Rief.

I am beyond excited and pumped-up for this retreat. Notice and Note by Beers and Probst has the signposts readers should look out for in a literature book, these help improve discussion and comprehension of a text. I only did one signpost with my class last year (Contrasts and Contradictions) and saw discussions soar. They also have amazing nonfiction strategies in Reading Nonfiction. Penny Kittle’s Book Love is another key piece of my independent reading program, and I can’t wait to learn from her as well.

My Vision for my Classroom

I am very much sold on the workshop model for my reading and writing. This past year I implemented a reading and writing workshop and saw levels of student work I’ve never seen before, much greater than previous classes. I admit, I was not the best teacher, but even my small attempt produced some really well-done work. More importantly, I had a huge growth in students who enjoyed reading and writing–from “I hate reading” to groaning when I told them independent reading time was over for the day.

These are not new ideas, in fact the workshop model has been around since the early 1980s. The structure has been tested and shown to be proven effective. Material-wise all you need are lots of good books, paper, folders, and pencils. What I have in my 2016 classroom are a class set of iPads–this is where my technology training comes into play.

I want to fuse the workshop model in with the technology that is available today–and I want to get really good at it. If I just try to get a little bit better each day, I may get there some day. Wish me luck.