What I did this summer...

As the school year begins, and you run into colleagues and friends that you haven't seen all summer, the same question seems to pop up..."What did you do this summer?"

I can truly say that this was the most busy, professional growth, fulfilling summers that I've had in a VERY long time and I LOVED every second of it!!!

The summer began with me attending ISTE in Chicago.  Read all about my experience in Chicago here:  http://natasharachell.blogspot.com/2018/06/iste-2018thats-wrap.html
Meeting so many new edtech friends, learning about all kinds of new edtech possibilities for the classroom and catching up with old (in time, not age, lol) friends was amazing!  I always look forward to attending this conference as it's the largest edtech conference in the world and brings together passionate, innovative educators from all over the world!  This year didn't disappoint!

The week after ISTE, my family and I attended our annual family vacation to Myrtle Beach!  We had an amazing time, as always and got to spend some quality time with each other before the hustle and bustle of the new school year starting, my oldest returning to his senior year of college and my youngest starting high school!  CRAZY!!!  We enjoyed a lot of beach and pool time as well as ate a TON of food!  I even read 2 books!  That felt GOOD!  I haven't done that in a VERY long time!!!  I read, "Girl, Wash Your Face" by Rachel Hollis and "The Morning Miracle" by Hal Elrod.  Both are HIGHLY recommended!!!

The week after family vacation was spent in Los Angeles, CA, as I was selected as 1 out of 37 Google Certified Innovators!!!!  What an honor to receive such an elite certification!!!  Read all about my Google Innovator #LAX18 journey here:  http://natasharachell.blogspot.com/2018/07/im-google-innovator.html  This post does NOT do this experience justice!!!  Going into this experience, we had to identify a problem in education that we are passionate about.  In alignment with my dissertation research, I chose the topic of teacher attrition among new teachers.  Research shows that a lot of new teachers experience burn out and leave the teaching profession within their first 3-5 years of teaching, leaving classrooms and students without a highly qualified teacher.  I am very passionate about this topic, probably due to a previous job that I had that allowed me to work with paraprofessionals transitioning into teaching careers as middle school math and science teachers.  I can't wait to see where the next year of this journey will take my idea and I hope it makes a positive impact on retaining teachers to the teaching profession!

My friend's (@MariVenturino) book, Fueled By Coffee and Love, The Refill was released and I was honored to be able to be a contributing author!  This book is filled with the stories of teachers from all across the nation.  All proceeds of this project are returned right back into education!  Mari takes the profits from each sale and donates them to projects in Donor's Choose!  She's so generous!!!  And this truly is a labor of love for Mari!  Be sure to grab your copy, at only $13.00 on Amazon!

And then I got to spend some time with teachers all across the south east and share my passion and knowledge of Google with them!  Not only did I get to share my knowledge of this amazing educational resource, but I learned a LOT from those that I was with!  I met educators from North Carolina, Augusta, and Lagrange!  I expanded my professional learning network a TON and can't wait to share all that I've learned with my colleagues, teachers and students this year!

I was also fortunate enough to virtually be a part of Flipgrid LIVE where they announced a TON of updates to their already amazing product!!!  And in case you haven't heard...Flipgrid is now FREE for all students and educators!  They were acquired by Microsoft this summer and now all us have access to all of this powerful, student amplifying tool!  I was also a part of a "student voice matters" video that played during the event with several other amazing educators!  Lastly, as if that weren't enough (LOL) I was a part of the Flipgrid #GridGuides inaugural cohort!!!  There were about 20 educators that were selected to complete the requirements for the #GridGuides (Level 3) certification so it could be announced during Flipgrid LIVE!  What a HUGE honor!

Here's a look at my summer by the numbers!  Some other amazing things happened this summer and are mentioned in this graphic!  I found this template on Ryan O'Donnell's website: http://creativeedtech.weebly.com/  He has a TON of educational resources and templates ready for educator use.  Be sure to check it out!

What did you do this summer?  Did you learn anything new?  Take up any new hobbies?  Let me know!