Planning For Summer 2011 (More Work Than Play)

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   While many teachers start planning their summer vacation trips and experiences when the school year ends, I like to plan on what I will be adding to my sea bag (to use a navy phrase).

     There are many things I would like to accomplish, many things I want to learn, and many things I want to share with others.  Some of these I've written about in previous posts and some I have never mentioned in public.  This post is where I want to put these all down so I can map out my summer and early fall.  So, let's get started...

     The first thing I need to do is finish some business I started in previous posts.   Let's start with my post from March 29th on PBL in a math classroom.   That post said it was the first of two posts on the subject.  Well, it's been over 2 months - it's time to get hot!

      Next up I talked about how I needed to improve my teaching at our school (here, and here, and here), mainly in the area of classroom management.  This will take several weeks of planning so I am ready for the new school year and I may need to pick the brain of some of the awesome teachers at our school.  If I just take the time to re-read those three posts I'll have a good road map for what needs to be done.

     The third item I have written about here and on twitter, is the creation of Edcamp Manor.  It will be October 22nd at our school.  I have created a wikispaces, have contacted the tech folks at our school district to make sure we can handle it, and I have started working on getting a core group of three or four people from the Austin area to be in my planning group.

     The next thing I want to get a handle on is the professional development I'll be involved with.  First I'll be heading up to the Dallas area for the Texas High School Project Leadership Conference (14-16 June).  Then I go to Grand Rapids for the New Technology Network All Schools Conference (19 - 21 July), followed by training with Region XIII on the End of Course exams for Physics (27 - 28 July).  Who knows what else will get added to this so I need to have all of the other requirements in place so I can have a flexible response to new items.
    
     The last things to figure out is what I'll be teaching next school year,  a turn-over of parents for the school's Parent Involvement Committee (PIC), and final preparations for a Freshmen Orientation Program (FOP) that will happen on Friday of the first week of school.  The PIC will fall into place.  We've already met with students who will be running the FOP.  And, that leaves the always huge question of what subjects I'll be teaching when school starts up.

    That covers just about everything except vacation.  Like every year I'll end up doing some local things on the weekends.  I'll also be flying into Chicago prior to Grand Rapids which allows a day before and two days after the conference to relax and see Lake Michigan.  Now I need a big calendar to put everything on it and get to work.  Work days will be Monday through Thursday until (about) noon.  That gives me a three day weekend every week.  Planning (step 1) complete.