Matt Miller’s Blog has tips for reenergizing and taking care of number one during those summer months away from school.  My philosophy of teaching revolves around three areas that help make the most of each student’s education.  The first two consists of family and community.  We must be aware of each student’s family and community needs in order to help them to become a success at what they want to do.  The third part, and this is where Matt Miller comes in with his tips, is a dedication to ourselves.  We as teachers must do a little overtime work to improve and make ourselves better for the next group of students.

Matt Miller gives nine free ways to leverage your summer for better classes in the fall.  I will highlight two that are the most appealing to me.  The first is a GAFE summit and if you are like me and have too many acronyms floating through your head, it stands for Google Apps for Education.  Like the name implies these conferences highlight google apps and new ways to use them in education.  They are held all over the world and in Kansas City on July 11th and 12th.  The Missouri summit is sold out at this point but you can be put on a wait list.  Although I may not be able to go this summer I am definitely keeping on eye on this website for next summer.

The other option Matt suggests, and one that I will start right away, is listening to podcasts.  Downloading podcasts for summer listening or even on a vacation drive are a great way to improve yourself and enjoy your summer all at the same time.  Matt suggests seven different educational podcasts within his blog.  I am planning on starting with Every Classroom Matters with Vicki Davis.  Scrolling through the podcasts I found a large variety of topics for education.  These podcasts come about twice a week and are about ten to fifteen minutes in length.  With just twenty to thirty minutes a week, you will be on your way to transforming yourself into a Superteacher.

 

 

 

Using Osmo was unexpectedly exciting.  It is also extremely simple as it consists of a stand and a mirror.   It was something that is fun and engaging for any age group but especially for youth. I was so engaged, that the world around me melted away. It requires focus and attention to detail.  If you want a fun learning environment that has a family game night feel, then Osmo is a great resource.

The Tangram game was an immediate hit and was slightly forgiving if pieces were not in the exact angles but placed close enough.  Words is a game that I found very addicting and highly competitive if played in pairs.  I was surprised to see that it was very effective at recognizing letters even when multiple letters were placed down at the same time.  Newton was one game that I found to be slightly challenging for an adult.  I am afraid that a child in elementary school may experience some frustration with it.  For young children I would have them draw a single line and then move the paper to get the desired angles to bounce off of.  The last game masterpiece is very exciting for someone like me who has trouble drawing stick figures.  As evidenced in the above photo I was able to draw a dog and have it actually resemble a dog.  I am excited to take the games home and have my four kids test it out and see how my kids identify with it.

I was able to quickly put together a vocabulary game for a unit on the American Revolution through the Osmo site.  I used the following words to make up my game.

British, Washington, Proclamation, Treaty, Tax, Boycott, Parliament, Ally, Massacre, Repeal, Minuteman, Firebrands, Treason, Quarter, Olive Branch, Patriot, Loyalist, Blockade, Mercenary, and Levy.

The hardest part was finding large pictures to add into my game.  Osmo required them to be at least 1024 x 768.  At first I did not realize this requirement and saved many pictures that were too small.  By changing my search parameters I was able to locate only large picture files.  Other than that it was an enjoyable experience and hope that my future school will have Osmo so that I can take advantage of it.