Summer camp is about having fun, trying new things, and connecting with friends. That’s what Anna ISD's Teacher Summer Camp is about too! Through a series of creative challenges, you will build your own knowledge and skill in using technology to create and share. Join us for a summer learning adventure!
WHY PARTICIPATE? In addition to providing an opportunity for having fun, building community, and being creative, Anna ISD's Teacher Summer Camp will offer friendly, shared, hands-on practice with technology, build a common baseline of knowledge and skill with digital tools that have proven to be useful in Anna ISD classrooms, develop skill to support digital creation, collaboration, and sharing, and lay groundwork for individual goal-setting around technology integration for next year – we'll talk about this more in the fall! This isn't the full professional development package – it's more of an introductory virtual playtime with some great tools you can use in your classroom. We'll talk more about pedagogy and classroom integration throughout the coming school year. For now, Teacher Summer Camp is about building our technology awareness and togetherness... and having fun doing so!
HOW DOES IT WORK? You will find instructions for a series of challenges on this website. After completing each challenge, you will share your learning on a private blog. You will categorize each post by challenge number for easy access. Through blog comments, you will interact with your fellow campers and support their learning adventure. You might even freestyle a bit and share your own digital explorations in the Arts & Crafts Shed! The bottom line? Together, we will play with digital tools, share our learning journey, and build a foundation for
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE? You will complete these challenges over the summer, devoting time as it suits your learning needs and availability. You might want to spend 30 minutes a week and complete one challenge at a time. Or you might prefer to sit down with a friendly colleague and knock it all out at once. For the average tech user, 8 challenges should take about a day to complete. The timing is up to you. We want this to be a fun, flexible process – not an onerous intrusion into your lovely summer. If all or most of these tools are new to you, breaking it up into a challenge or two a week will give you time to absorb all the new information -- but again, the timing is up to you! continued professional growth and technology integration.
CAMPFIRE DAYS If you are the kind of person who prefers learning with others, we are offering two on-site days when you can come to school for Camp Counselor support in completing the challenges. See the Counselor's Corner for more information.
CAMPER EXPECTATIONS We encourage you to try all 10 challenges, though each camper is expected to complete at least 8 of the 10 challenges before the first professional development day in the fall.
For a challenge to be complete, see the right-hand section of each challenge where it says: To Earn Your Badge. That section lists the basic requirements for each challenge. To get the most out of each challenge, take some time to dig in and explore multiple features of the app or tool. As with all camp activities, you will get out of it what you put into it.
Also, please provide comments on at least one post for a fellow camper for each of the 10 challenges (a minimum of 10 comments -- but you don't have to limit yourself to just 10!)