Summer Vacation

http://huntleyvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/summer_time-1455175.jpg

Yesterday was the last day of school in our district and it is always a bitter sweet time of year for me and for the kids. There is joy in the air because school is out and there is sadness in the air over not seeing friends. There is also fear in the air for some over not having the security of being at school for 6 to 7 hours a day. For me I will miss the kids but am looking forward to some time off and getting away. I am looking forward to getting in the yard as well as retooling my curriculum in addition to the family vacations and conferences. Sharing this with staff at our end of the year party got me thinking that just because summer is here and school is out doesn't mean the learning is done; it is a time for the learning to begin or even continue. It is a time to possibly even apply the learning you did over the year to real life.

Summer slide

As teachers we often time talk to parents about the summer slide. For those not in the know it is what happens to kids learning over the summer. They tend to slide back a bit in skills and ability. It is something we have to account for in the fall when school starts up by reviewing basic skills to bring them back up the level they were at in the spring. It is something that districts struggle with and try to compensate for in many ways. I know I was a kid I would get summer math packets and reading lists every year. I came to loath them over time because summer was my time not teacher time. Now a days we have summer camps which focus on areas like Reading, STEM, math, outdoor skills, etc. There are reading contests, and learning centers open for tutoring. I know for me and my kids there will be some online classwork done to hopefully prevent some slide as well as bolster some of the skills they are behind in. However in a new twist I am going to be joining them this year in taking classes online with them. I want to prevent my summer slide as well. I am not talking about the a-fore mentioned conferences and training's I will be attending. I am talking about taking classes online in what I teach already (programming, 3d design, engineering, Google certification, etc.) so I don't slide in my learning. I have tried this in the past and found it to be helpful and also a good way to model life long learning for my kids. As a start off my journey I thought I would put together a list of resources for teachers, parents, and students who might want to join me in doing some basic skills learning over the summer to hep prevent the summer slide. Below is a list of resources I have found that you can use. This list is by no means complete and I hope that you will add to it.

Resources 

• STEM

• www.khanacademy.org/
• www.hourofcode.com
• www.codecademy.com/
• www.instructables.com

• Google & Microsoft office

• teachercenter.withgoogle.com/certification
• gsuite.google.com/training/
• www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/training.aspx
• support.office.com/en-us/office-training-center

• Reading list

• "Brain Rules" by John Medina
• "Social: Why our Brains are Wired to Connect" by Matthew Lieberman
• "Start. Right. Now." by Jimmy Casas, Todd Whitaker, & Jeffrey Zoul
• "Culturize: Every Student, Every Day, What ever it takes" jimmy Casas
• Any Fiction book in a genre you like

These are just a few of my quick ideas sits and book teachers can check out to keep their learning sharp. I invite and encourage you to share resources, books, etc. that you know about to grow this list for teachers.

As always: "Go Forth and Do Great Things!"

Prepping kids for the "Real World"

Credits: pic 1= https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Women_at_work_during_the_First_World_War_Q30804.jpg 

pic 2= https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6083/6102401113_68b228bb15_b.jpg

The two pictures above represent 2 different career paths that students can take but they represent a topic that has been on my mind for the past couple of years as a teacher, prepping kids for what I refer to as The Real World.

No I am not talking about the MTV reality series but life after/outside of school. For those who don't know I work in the curricular area of CTE (Career and Technical Education) and enjoy what the work I do greatly. I often times refer to my classes as the glue or the reason why students need to know Science, English Language Arts, Additional Languages (my own term since I consider coding to be worth a foreign language credit to graduation), Math, PE, Art, etc. In addition to giving students opportunities to apply their learning in other curricular areas, I also teach is referred to as employ-ability skills or 21st century skills.  

These skills include things like working as a team, problem solving, project management, improvising

These skills include things like working as a team, problem solving, project management, improvising, showing up on time, work ethic, and many more. It is the last one work ethic I have been struggling with over the last few years. Then a recent exchange with colleagues got me wondering how and if we are prepping kids for the real world of work or if the world of work is evolving.

Back when I was in school doing quality work, following directions, and getting things done on time were non-negotiable

. We did the work and if we didn't do a good job or turned it in late we understood the consequences. Now sometimes we were given grace but usually we had to ask for it or let the teacher know things ahead of time. However now a-days it seems that kids expect that they can turn something in late, or redo work that was not to the expectation, or can negotiate different expectations whenever they want. This is not something I usually allow in my class without a good reason and done before assignment is due. Yet it seems this is happening more and more and without students initiating the conversation. In conversations with my colleagues we debate giving test corrections for kids to improve their score or having flexible or no due dates because we are measuring a standard and turning in things on time is not the standard being measured (not a knock against standards based grading).

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I know that there are good intentions in these practices. We want kids to experience success, we want to know they have mastered that standard, kids learn at different paces and ways, and on and on. These are all great reasons but at what cost are they being used?

So my concern is that as kids move through K-12 if we are not putting an emphasis on things like getting things done on time, to standard/Spec, etc. are we really preparing them for life in the real world or has the real world changed to where you can redo things until you get it correct, there is no real time limit, etc.

I know in talking with employers in my biannual meeting I do heart the opposite of what we are doing in education yet I know that is a small subset of employers so I would like to hear from others about this. What are your expectation of people entering into the workforce these days?

I would also like to know how you teach kids employ-ability skills like the ones mentioned in this blog. What ways are you helping to prepare kids for the real world. I look forward to your comments.

As always: "Go Forth & Do Great Things!"