As we head into the last week of August, I feel nostalgic. I still have some unfinished business but I have learnt that when nostalgia calls, reflection is the best thing to do: to enjoy remembering makes the heart feel better. Though my classes ended on the 13th April 2018, my summer truly started on the 1st of May.
I can flip through my bullet journal and find out the many many plans that I had. Instead, I just want to focus on what stood out the most to me. These memories and lessons are not in chronological order nor are they prioritized by importance.
Armed with a book
I started and set up my website in May. It was a learning curve indeed and the amount of research that went into finding the right themes, transferring all my writings from Medium to it as well as thinking about and fleshing out the pages on the website took a lot of time and effort. The idea behind the website was simple: it is a portfolio of my activities as a learner and teacher. Every time I add something to it, it fills me with joy because I am adding to my portfolio and if anyone asks what I have been doing or what is the latest trend I am researching, I have it all documented here and I can send them here.
It was also a scary process. I remember the sinking feeling when I would get an email that the website was down or the server was not responding. What about someone hacking the website? What about backup? What about a firewall? After much time researching problems and events I had not thought I would encounter, the struggles seem far away now. I learned so much though and I can tell you: it might be easy to buy a domain and purchasing hosting for a website, that truly is the easiest part. There are complexities in having and maintaining a space on the World Wide Web that I did not anticipate.
However, I learned and I know better now and I would not have if I had not decided to take on this project.
A Teacher’s Hat
A Teacher’s Hat, my publication on Medium, would be the one that grew the most I think, and with it, I grew too. I found new writers to join my team in June and I remember how exciting the July and August meetings were. It is amazing to find people who believe in my vision of my publication and are willing to dedicate some time to it by writing about their education practices.
From the very beginning, I have said that A Teacher’s Hat is about helping each other grow. I don’t expect my writers to write every month but I do expect some involvement, whether it is retweeting our tweets, replying to them, reading & sharing each other’s articles, sharing the book they are currently reading, being a part of the monthly meeting – something as simple as that tells me they care about A Teacher’s Hat. I have not been disappointed!
Due to A Teacher’s Hat’s presence on Twitter as well, I have met so many teachers and made some good friends. I do not hesitate to ask someone now if we can collaborate. That age long motto of taking a chance has stuck to me. Even if someone says no, I am no worse than where I was without asking. If they say yes, I am definitely, a step further with a collaborator to interact with and learn from.
The Summer of Writing
In terms of writing, excluding this article, I wrote 15 articles, of which 11 were related to teaching. I wrote about 4 articles a month, while over the course of the month, I also worked on more articles and with the writers, edited at least 4 more per month. Though writing-wise I do not know how much I have grown, I have learned about so many areas of education and skills that I never saw myself acquiring.
Here are the four education articles that were well-received by my peers:
Engagement and Empowerment: How to make them happen?
Brain Rules
From ‘I probably can’ to ‘I will’
Educational Practices behind Gamification
The Summer in New Skills that I gained
Sketchnoting
I discovered Sketchnoting in August, thanks to the Hive Summit and Carrie Baughcum‘s session. It is the most amazing combination of drawing and writing that I wish I had known of earlier. Though I am only a beginner, I have made many sketchnotes and hope to add a section to this website that will have all my sketchnotes. It is a visual thinking tool and my sketchnotes might not make sense to someone else. They have to make sense to me and, if need be, I should be able to explain the connections to someone else.
Infographics
Being the editor of A Teacher’s Hat, I create infographics for the articles that my writers submit to me. Though this habit started when I wanted to bring out the main points from my writings, my practicing it for others, I am glad to have more opportunities to hone it. When my friend was helping out with promotions on Twitter, he would make infographics for the tweets. Since taking over Twitter myself, I create even more infographics and quotes. I love making them on canva.com because it offers many free templates and easy editing.
The Summer in Books
My summers are incomplete without reading and purchasing books and boy did I purchase a lot! By the time August ends, I would have read 12 books! You can check out my Goodreads read list on the right side of this page to find out what I was reading. My three favorite books that I highly recommend for teachers (and will write articles on) are:
There are many books that I am yet to begin reading and reflecting upon and, though it will be harder with classes, there will be so much more to learn that I am excited. I ordered 2 more books today: one on mindfulness in the classroom and another on standards-based grading.
The Summer in Professional Development
I can talk about the seminars that I attended or the courses that I took in the summer but I want to comment on the social side of professional development. Sometimes, the best lessons do not come from attending sessions or watching videos; they come from experience! I learned about workload and expectations from friends and peers and how to manage them.
I learned about the ambitious side of me and also the side that does not give up – when things are left hanging or obstacles some my way, I realized that I have a growth mindset approach to them.
I might slow down to catch my breath but I never make myself feel like I will not persevere.
That’s an important professional lesson because if I do not have such experiences, how can I expect my students to act the same way when they face though situations?
We get thousands of opportunities to learn every day. Just like Treena said in her interview:
I know that the opportunities and lessons which will lead to my maximum growth, aways catch my eye and I am dedicated to learning from them.
So that was my summer! How was yours? 🙂
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