Blogs on Professional Development

This month, the U.S. Department of Education kicked off Connected Educator Month, with engaging keynotes, panel discussions, book chats, and more. During this month, educators in the U.S. and globally will have opportunities to connect themselves and their communities, online and in-person, to support their professional practice. The timing couldn't be better, as most teachers are preparing to hit the ground running as they gear up for back-to-school!

While we all know there is no such thing as having a "summer off" as a teacher, the summer does afford us the time to do some exploring. I wanted to share some things with you that I think are worth exploring while school is out.

When I was a kid, some of the things I enjoyed most about summer were swimming and banana splits! Yes . . . you heard right. Banana splits! They were my fave summer treat for many years, and I will always remember them with great fondness. As this summer has started, I've seen my PLN (personal learning network) sharing great ideas of how to spend the time in fun and frolic! I've also seen great ideas posted about how to get the most out of our summer learning time. I share this simply to say that as we seek ways to do some summer learning, we need to do it in a way that (like my banana splits) we will remember fondly.

More than 450 educators from around the globe, including 27 U.S. states, are converging on Napa, California, this week for the first-ever PBL World conference. Focusing on best practices in project-based learning and featuring a stellar line-up of daily keynote speakers, PBL World is co-sponsored by the Buck Institute for Education and the Napa Valley Unified School District. Can't make it? No worries. Thanks to social media, there will be plenty of virtual opportunities to expand your PBL toolkit right alongside attendees. Today is the first in a weeklong series of Edutopia blogs coming to you from the conference site, New Technology High School in Napa.