It’s easy to slip into a routine where I don’t think much about school in the summer time.  While it’s necessary to relax, spend time with family and friends, and have some room to do something of little redeeming value, the summer is also a time to think about the upcoming year and what you want it to be.

There are a few practices that can help you engage with the upcoming school year by joining other educators online.  And while there are plenty of articles about reasons for getting connected, and ways of going about it, those can often be overwhelming to teachers who aren’t sold on Twitter or blogging.  

My own story begins four years ago, when I finally gave in and joined Twitter.  I asked my students to teach me how to “do it right” and they were my first followers.  What I found was that it was more than comedians and celebrities tweeting about their own lives.  It was a powerful medium that re-energised my own practice through times of difficulty; engaging with social media saved my teaching practice and made me a more connected, reflective teacher.

When I joined Twitter, I loved teaching but was burnt out in many ways.  And suddenly I saw tweets from teachers who enthusiastically loved talking about their practice.  I also kept hearing about these “Twitter chats” on education-related topics, where educators would gather for one hour each week, and engage in conversations.

At first, it was a firehose of water in the desert and I was intoxicated. ​

A lot is changing next year.  I am the only returning 6th grade Core teacher; my colleagues are changing grade levels or departments and I have one teacher who started this year with me, and two new hires.

So I asked the experts, my students, what I should do differently.  The first thing I asked them to tell me about is Minecraft.  We used it to build neolithic settlements, we used it to learn about the agricultural revolution and the development of trading and cities, and we used it to build Greek buildings in Minecraftopolis.

But I never felt like I did a great job with the Minecraft work because it was all so new to me.  I was constantly learning and relearning.  I didn't know how to fix the issues that came up, and I had students destroying other students' work.  

So I asked students to help me reconceptualise it.  To start over and see what we could do with Minecraft that would be more meaningful.

They had some great ideas.