FOUR THOUGHT FRIDAY - MAY 31, 2019

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Summer

This week, we are feeling the summer vibes. Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, evening thunderstorms are fierce and furious, and people are sporting their new what-is-this-bright-ball-in-the-sky-and-what-is-it-doing-to-my-skin sunburns. And, true to form, my mind is on summer learning and making the most out of the next couple months.

As always, if you find any of the following 'four thoughts' useful, please be sure to share with a friend or colleague via Twitter, Facebook, or by simply forwarding this email. I believe word-of-mouth is the best way to share knowledge with our personal and professional communities. So, without further ado, please enjoy this edition of Four Thought Friday!

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• Just as quickly as the summer sneaks up on us, it'll be gone. On this week's episode of the Truth for Teachers podcast, Angela Watson lays out the five traps to avoid, so you can make the most out of your summer. These traps include, under-planning your time off (Guilty), comparing your plans to other people's (Also, guilty), and perpetually being on your phone (Can she see me?!).

• This week, our Professional Learning Catalog has been updated to include several new summer learning opportunities. One such learning opportunity, called the Hive Summit, is an online conference scheduled for August 1st through the 14th. I attended this conference last year and have to admit it was a bit like drinking water from a firehose. Each day a new presentation is released by some of the preeminent names in the education field, including Angela Maiers, Kasey Bell, Quinn Rollins, and Hive Summit founder Michael Matera. It's like experiencing a keynote address, every day, for 14 days straight. Seriously. Water. Firehose. Did I mention you can earn PD hours? And it's completely FREE?

• While it is vitally important to feed our brains over the summer, we can also inspire young learners to feed their brains. Irrefutable benefits notwithstanding, encouraging students to read outside of school can be a challenge, especially during the summer months. Kids tend to fill their days with sun, socializing, sightseeing, and video games (Lots and lots of video games). Therefore, hooking students into summer reading requires books to be highly accessible and audiobooks can help. This year, AudioFile Magazine is hosting SYNC, a free summer audiobook program for teens ages 13 and up. Each week, participants can download two full audiobooks, which are pre-selected and based on weekly themes. This week's selections are The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter and Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen. Students can preview a short clip of each book before downloading via the OverDrive app. Titles and themes change every Thursday.

• I'm not exactly sure where the belief came from that success leads to happiness. It's wrong; full stop. In fact, research shows happiness doesn't follow success: it's the other way around. Happy people tend to demonstrate better career performance, receive more favorable evaluations, and receive higher pay (Not necessarily in the field of public education, but...); all indicative of what people typically consider 'success.' What does the research suggest, that employers only hire 'happy' candidates or we should all walk around like a bunch of syrupy sweet Pollyannas? Not exactly, but it might not be a bad idea to intentionally practice positive activities, such as performing acts of kindness or expressing gratitude. Couldn't hurt, right?

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That's it for this week! Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. If you feel like a colleague or friend could benefit from the information, please forward it or share your thoughts on social media. If you are discussing this on Twitter, please be sure to include the hashtag #FourThoughtFriday in your tweet, so I can check it out. Have a great week!

​With gratitude,

​Larry Zuares
Instructional Coach
zuarescoaching.com | @larryzuares
 
Currently reading: Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics by Dan Harris
Recently finished: Ghost by Jason Reynolds
Up next: Dead Voices by Katherine Arden

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