What have you discovered this summer?

This summer, I've been taking part in three separate book studies- What Schools Could Be, Fair Isn't Always Equal, and Innovator's Mindset.  It's been a juggling act but I have been able to learn a lot about myself and what I believe about education.  The blog posts I've shared below have also been sparks of discovery.  Ultimately, it comes down to relationships- those we have with the kids, those we have with each other, and those we have with our families (both our own and our students').  I hope that you've also discovered that time off in the summer can really help to get yourself refreshed and refocused.  I'm looking forward to our time together in a month, but I'm not trying to speed that time up.  I still have plenty more to discover, including three golf courses in Atlanta and the sites of New York City.  Enjoy the rest of July!

Calendar
Full School Year Calendar can be found here

Monday, August 20th- Thursday, August 24th
Summer Academy

Monday, August 27th- Thursday, August 30th
Summer Academy

Wednesday, August 29th
Open House

Tuesday, September 4th
First day of school!

Tuesday, September 25th
Boosterthon pep rally

Saturday, September 29th
EdCampMiddleLevel at Concordia University

Thursday, October 4th
Boosterthon fun run

Tweets, quotes, and blogs

"We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves."

Galileo Gallilei

3 Ways We Can Learn from Past Success (from George Couros)

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

John F. Kennedy, 35th US president

Come Teach Again- On Teacher Guilt and the Platitudes that Grows It (from Pernille Ripp.  This hit home with me on so many levels.  If you read it, you'll see why.  I'd love to teach with you, or for you, this year.)

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.  Action always generates innovation.  Inspiration seldom generates action."- Frank Tibolt

We Send Our Best (from Pernille Ripp)

We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.

Alan Turing, computer scientist and mathematician

I Know Things (from Dan Rockwell)

Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.

Aldous Huxley, writer and philosopher

Model the Way (from George Couros)

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

Frederick Douglass, orator, writer and abolitionist

To get real stuff done, focus on the 20% of your work that leads to 80% of your results (from Thomas Oppong via Joe Schroeder)

I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public -- talent in privacy.

Marilyn Monroe, model and actress

Connected- It's what makes us better for our kids! (my reflection on ISTE and NPC)

The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter -- to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.

Leo Rosten, writer

3 Thoughts on Innovation in Education Heading into the New School Year (from George Couros)

Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.

Mitch Albom, journalist and broadcaster

On the First Day of School (from Pernille Ripp)

Moving Beyond a "Growth Mindset" (from George Couros)

Have a great weekend!  I leave for Atlanta tomorrow morning and will be doing my best not to check emails.  If you need me, please text me or call me.  I'll be back in touch with all of you in a couple of weeks.
Be the one!
Jay
Take care of the kids.  Take care of each other.  Take care of yourself.- John Gunnell