What Did I Do All Summer?

It's August! My "new year" has kicked-off; many teachers, school staff, students, and parents will start their "new year" within the next few days and weeks. Where did summer go? What did I do all summer?

Now before I answer that question, I want to give appropriate credit to Nick Proud who is a principal in the Iowa City Community School District for inspiring this blog. Earlier this summer, he posted a blog where he answered the question, "What do you do all summer?" I, like him and every other educator, am also frequently asked that question throughout June and July.

Olivia, almost two months old

Olivia, as a newborn

Now this summer has been a little...a lot different from past summers because on June 7th my wife, Amy, and I welcomed our new daughter, Olivia, into the world. Despite the shortage of sleep that we are experiencing as new parents, Olivia's addition into our lives has been pure joy. And the timing of her birth was ideal as it allowed me to spend extra time at home with my newborn daughter, as well as help Amy with various things.

Olivia and Ryne looking out the top of The Arch

Ryne and I at Wrigley Field

With the birth of a new baby, we weren't allowed to do nearly the amount of traveling that we like to do as a family (my wife is a teacher, too) over the summer months. However, I did find time to sneak-in to Chicago (twice) to catch a couple of Cubs games with my son, Ryne. We also, as a family, managed to drive to St. Louis in late July to spend a day/night with my brother who lives down there.

Professionally, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to present at a conference for the first time in my professional career. Our Grant Wood Area Educational Agency technology consultant had asked me to be a part of Grant Wood's #iPadU, a three day course in July covering all things iPads in education. The breakout session that I led explained how our Elementary Support Organization (ESO) purchased iPads for all of our teachers, and then how we rolled those iPads out to our teachers and provided them with professional development regarding their new iPads. It was very flattering to see a room full of other educators that wanted to hear our story.

I also took a team of teachers to a two-day training to learn about FAST. FAST is the new universal screener that we will use for our students, kindergarteners through fifth graders, which will replace DIBELS. This is the literacy screener that the State of Iowa is sponsoring. My favorite thing about moving to FAST is that very little changes for our students with this new assessment. An additional thing to like about this new assessment include the fact that because the teachers are using a computer to assess the students, all of the data is uploaded and available immediately upon testing. We will be sure to share more information regarding FAST as we move forward throughout the school year.

With what little remaining time that I had, I spent some time enjoying two of my preferred hobbies - reading and running. Over the summer, I read (for both pleasure and professional growth): Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind, The Advantage, The Perfect Mile, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, and World Class Learners. In regards to running, I've been preparing myself to run another half-marathon in Madison later this month.

Back to Nick Proud's blog...as he said, "Summer is key to setting the stage for the upcoming school year." Fact. I, like all principals, have spent ample time planning, preparing, reflecting and reenergizing for the upcoming school year. That work is now done (or at least very close to being done). The school has been much too quiet for too long. It is now time for staff and students to come back to work and resume growing and learning from and with one another. This is one of my favorite times of year. Happy New Year.