The end of June marks the beginning of a unique season for educators. We are given the opportunity to reboot after ten months of instruction, assessment, and exhaustion. If you have not yet established a plan for your summer reboot, feel free to use the URER model:
Since the summer months, seemingly, pass much more quickly than others, it is important to have a plan for managing your time and learning during this season, so you don’t find yourself unplugged come the end of August. 1. Unplug Take some time to set your professional goals temporarily aside to meet your personal needs. Whether that includes 24-72 hours to literally unplug from technology or it is a family vacation, your social, emotional, and physical needs should be met if you expect to find success in your professional life. 2. Reevaluate If you have been in the world of education for any length of time, you have most likely heard of John Hattie or, at the very least, his meta-analysis of 138 influences and effects on student achievement, Visible Learning. If effect size is something new to you, then it is important to note that effect sizes of 0.40 or more represent a growth of one year or more when you examine the updated list of factors related to student achievement. Effect sizes of less than 0.40 indicate less than one year of growth. Whether you are reevaluating your instructional practices by removing ineffective practices or refining your skills with larger effect sizes, Visible Learning is a great resource to reference as you prepare for the upcoming school year. However, regardless the resource(s) you reference regarding effective pedagogy, it is important that you reevaluate your instructional practices. Are your practices effective? How do you know your practices are effective? 3. Explore One amazing aspect of being an educator is also being a lifelong learner. In addition to reevaluating and refining our skills, we are able to explore new technologies, assessments, and instructional strategies among other things. Furthermore, the summer months are ideal for exploring new strategies since most educators have more time in their schedules to be flexible, reflective, and responsive. Whether you explore a new conference such as the International Society for Technology Educators (ISTE) conference, you independently research a topic, or you attend a workshop through CA BOCES, there are numerous avenues ready for exploration this summer. For a complete list of workshops through CA BOCES, visit the CA BOCES Registration System. The ISTE Annual Conference that took place in Chicago marked the first of many summer explorations for me. This year’s conference broke all of its records for membership, conference attendance, and vendor sponsorship, and with hundreds of presentations and several thousand people in attendance, learning opportunities lurked around every corner. In a few short days, I was able to embrace sessions and conversations focused on increasing accessibility through Universal Design for Learning (UDL), becoming a Microsoft Innovative Educator, empowering educators to share their best ideas in a TED & ISTE partnership, and a variety of others. My favorite learning experience was when I attended a session on accessibility with Kendra Grant, Chris White, and Keynote speaker Luis Pérez. The presenters provided a great means for thinking about UDL with clear goals (it’s as easy as your ABCs). When creating learning opportunities, we need to explore options for authentic Access to all aspects of the lesson prior to Building anything to ensure everyone is able to Capture the intended message and construct a path forward. In addition to the definition of UDL, the presenters shared some challenging questions such as “Bicycles are designed as a one size fits all, so why would your lessons be?” And “Are you providing the appropriate tools for all students to have access to deconstruct and construct the content provided?”
4. Repeat The most difficult aspect of summer break for most educators is moving past step 1. Too often educators find themselves unplugged for far too long, dreading the notion of plugging back in before summer comes to a close. However, if we can convince ourselves that learning isn’t on a ten-month time schedule, if we enter a cycle of evaluation such as the URER model, then I believe we will all begin to notice a vast improvement in the world of education. We will want to unplug less, improve our educational practices, and become better able to serve our educational communities. By: Mark Beckwith, CA BOCES Professional Development
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