UNESCO Cities of Literature Tour

 I had the most amazing summer! My current school offers teachers the opportunity to apply for grants to further their professional and educational goals. As a major goal is to cultivate a culture of readers, I applied for a grant to visit a number of UNESCO Cities of Literature... and I got it! I was gifted the opportunity to travel to Dublin, Barcelona, Prague, and Edinburgh to understand why these European cities are recognized for their literary culture. By exploring ancient libraries, writer's hangouts and museums, and scenes of brutality and sadness, I came to understand the absolute necessity of literature to tell the story of the people. Literature gets banned for a reason; it makes people think and connects people even as there are others who fight those important human necessities. I am leaving Europe with a newfound sense of the pure privilege of literacy. 

The Library at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. 

Outside The Elephant House where much of Harry Potter was written in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Books on display about the Spanish Revolution in Barcelona, Spain.

A list of names of those lost at the Terezin Camp outside of Prague, Czech Republic.

Professional Development with Advancement Courses

My summer plans include some PD! Advancement Courses offers online courses covering a variety of topics related to education. I'm taking a grammar focused course to try to revamp my grammar curriculum.

The courses can be taken for credit or for a certificate. There is a higher cost for college credit courses. So far there have been a number of great articles, videos, and participant discussion threads that are inspiring me to add more movement, music, and gaming to the language arts curriculum!

Google Level 1 Certification

I did it! I passed the Google Level 1 Educator Certification Exams! Woo hoo!

I totally recommend this online course to teachers who use the Google apps. While I have been using Google apps for a number of years, the online certification program taught me many tips I hadn't known before. The actual certification exam only costs $10 for Level 1, so there aren't many excuses not to try it! Even if you don't want the certification, the helpful info and videos are definitely worth checking out.