Sweet, sweet summertime! For some educators, summer break is a time to do just that—take a break. Others do not have that luxury. And for many, summer is a time for both leisure and continued work, work that may or may not be related to education. These next few months will almost certainly seem to fly by; how we spend them remains to be seen, but if we are lucky, we will have time to rest and time to learn and grow.
Summer does not always mean that we have the time and opportunity to take a course or that we can set aside the time we do have to attend a conference. When possible, these are certainly great sources for learning; they can be excellent for networking, re-energizing our passion for education, and providing professional growth experiences. However, courses and conferences are not the only ways to gain new skills and elevate our practice.
When our summer is too full, too hectic, or too unmanageable to engage in formal learning—or if we just don’t want to go that route—we have an array of other options from which we can choose. These options can flex to accommodate our schedule, and they can allow us to focus on what we want to learn, when and where we want to learn it. Let’s explore six informal, but promising, ways to feed a summertime desire to learn.
Consider setting aside time to meet with a colleague (or colleagues) whose practice you admire. Often, colleagues who have an existing relationship with us and who share common experiences can provide highly useful tips, techniques, and ideas we can adopt or adapt for use with our students. Our relationship can also make it safe to ask questions that we might be reluctant to ask in other settings. Equally beneficial, we can share effective strategies and approaches from our practice that our colleagues may find beneficial in their work with their students.
You might join an educator group on social media. Like the first option, engaging with other educators in an informal setting can make it more comfortable to ask for advice, ideas, and suggestions that we can add to our repertoire of instructional, classroom management, and administrative strategies. Learning from others who share similar experiences can also provide us with encouragement and reassurance. Social networking can offer opportunities to share ideas and insights about what works for us.
Set aside time to read books, journals, and blogs you did not have time to read during the year. There never seems to be enough time to read everything shared with us, especially during the school year. We might have a stack of journals that were set aside for later reading. We might have heard from colleagues and others about books that they have found especially useful. Or we may follow blog sources that we have not had time to keep up with. Summer can offer the opportunity to return to these sources of information at a time when we can read, reflect, and plan.
Listen to professionally-focused audio and video podcasts. Summer break can offer a wide array of options for listening and watching podcasts. Whether driving to and from summer destinations, relaxing between summer activities, or engaging in physical activities that leave room for your mind to wander, podcasts can be a good way to catch up on issues and trends of interest, explore new ideas and thinking, or encounter some new perspectives worth considering and trying out.
Do your own blogging or podcasting. Of course, we don’t necessarily have to just read or listen to the ideas and insights of others. We can capture and share our own thinking and practice with others. While we might not initially consider this approach for learning, in fact, reflecting on our own practice, explaining useful techniques, and sharing what we have experienced can be a great way to solidify what we have learned, understand a deeper level of what we know, and discover new ideas and even better ways to accomplish our work.
Engage in your own research. We may want to find our own path as we seek to learn a new technique, overcome a persistent barrier, or uncover something completely new. Beyond what we may learn through the usual channels, we might search websites and databases that specialize in new research, report on promising practices, or engage in deeper debate regarding educational issues. This approach can pair well with a summer school course we might be teaching or a course we are preparing to teach in the fall.
Summer can be a valuable time for learning and reflection, but we do not need to rely solely on formal options and opportunities. The fact is that we can create our own! When we take responsibility for our own learning and find ways that work for us, the results can be amazing.
