Summer Professional Development

 I like to seek out fun professional development opportunities in the summer. I know there are teachers out there who shun the idea of using "their time" to work, but I have never minded taking classes in the summer. It gives me something to do, keeps my brain active, and I need it for re-certification. When my kids were little, I didn't seek it out, but neither did I turn it down if an opportunity presented itself. My husband has always been great about supporting anything that was going to further my career and keep me happy. When I read social media posts about teachers whose spouses are not supportive of their careers I have OPINIONS, but I try to keep them to myself since I don't know the whole stories. I guess I'm lucky in that my spouse has always been supportive of any of my aspirations. But I digress.

I became aware of the fun summer opportunities when I was in my first year of working for my current principal. He asked me to apply to the DIG Field School, a collaboration between the University of Washington and the Burke Museum. I told him I would, and then promptly forgot about it. Over spring break he took a group of us to the ASCD annual conference, which was in Houston that year. On the last day we had a two margarita lunch, and then headed to the airport. While waiting for our flight, the principal asked me if I had applied for the DIG Field School. I hadn't and the deadline was the day before. He opened his laptop, brought up the application, and made me apply for the experience right then and there, even though the deadline had passed and I was a little tipsy.I think he must have pulled some strings because I got in. The experience was awesome. The heat in eastern Montana, with no shade at the camp ground or out in the field, was intense and dehydration was real, but possibly preferable to finding a rock to do your business behind... but I got to help finish digging up a hadrosaur scapula, undercutting it and plaster casting it for travel to the Burke.

During the DIG Field School I met teachers who traveled every summer for hands on professional development. One of my fellow DIGgers told me about the Honeywell scholarship for teachers to go to space camp, and even sent me a link to the application when it opened. I got in and spent a week the following summer in Huntsville, Alabama at space camp's Educator Space Academy. Although the Educator Space Academy still exists, sadly Honeywell has discontinued their teacher scholarships, so educators who want to attend have to find an alternate source of funding.

However, these two experiences taught me that there is a bountiful world of FREE professional development out there for educators who know where to look, and are willing to travel for a week or two to meet like minded teachers from all over the country (or world - Honeywell made sure the group at space camp was international).

Now that I am a middle school social studies teacher, I have to shift my focus away from cool science trips to those that have bearing on what I am currently teaching. To that end, when I saw a post about the final deadline approaching for the George Washington Teacher Institute as I was scrolling through a teacher group on Facebook, I clicked the link and submitted an application. So here I am, in Alexandria, Virginia on the eve of "war week" ready to dive in to the legacy of our first President. I'm already hoping I get to come back as an alumni to attend a different week next year, with a focus on a different part of Washington's legacy. Or maybe I'll try to go to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello...