3R's of Summer for Teachers: Rest, Reflect, Renew

Our next several posts will focus on the 3R's of Summer for Teachers: How teachers Rest, Reflect, Renew over their break.

Today we will focus on REST. Like their students, before school is even out, teachers are thinking of summer. Did you know that “rest” is a verb? Google’s dictionary defines rest (v.) as “[to] cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength.” Yes! Teachers need this.

An important aspect of continuing to grow as an educator is taking time for yourself, resting, and doing non-school related things. Vicki Davis from CoolCatTeacher gives 12 Choices to Help You Step Back from Burnout. Summer rest is an important health choice for teachers who have just finished a 10-month marathon. Also check out this EdWeek article, “How Teachers Can Recharge This Summer.”

Play can also be an important aspect of "rest" for educators. Elena Aguilar, a Transformational Leadership Coach from Oakland, California, considers “Play” professional development for teachers. While teachers are often eager to learn new teaching practices and take PD courses over the summer, Aguilar believes that incorporating time for play into a teacher’s summer is just as important as professional learning.

Be sure to check out her recent article, Summer Professional Development: Play!

How will you rest - or play - this summer? We’d love to hear how you take time to recharge over the break. Share your comments below.

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Math Matters.

Math Matters.

For many students, math is hard. They don’t see the value or connection of solving pages of math problems to their everyday life. Will they ever need Algebra? As teachers of math, we see it’s importance. However, conveying that to our students can be challenging. Teaching a student to think creatively and to solve problems is one of the greatest gifts we can give them as a teacher. Karim Ani, former middle school teacher and math coach, founder of Mathalicious, talks about the importance of relating math to everyday life and making it relevant for today’s students in his recent Edutopia post, “Why Math?”. According to Ani, “Mathematics allows us to discuss important issues in a meaningful, constructive way. Why math? Because it allows us to be better citizens.”

EdWeek’s recent article, “What Two Schools are Doing About Teachers’ Math Anxiety”, states that retraining is the best way for teachers to feel comfortable teaching math according to new standards. 

Pepper offers a variety of math professional development courses designed by WestEd to sharpen your skills and help you relate math to your students, including “Conceptual Categories in High School”. 

Be sure to check them out here: Pepper Math Courses.

Welcome to Manteca Unified School District!

Welcome to Manteca Unified School District!
Thank you for choosing Pepper as your Learning Management System. Your educators will enjoy content collections from WestEd, Stanford and Accelerated Literacy Learning, and your leaders will work with Pepper consultants from PCG Education to evaluate and add district-owned resources to your own personal digital library--accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Check out some of Pepper's helpful features, like bookmarking and connecting with other educators after you complete a course, as well as collaborating with them.