What plans do you have to enrich and revive your life this summer?

[guybrarian]

Hiking? Travel? Conferences? Reading all the books you couldn't read this year? What will you do rediscover that passion for your work!

[abeaman]

What a great question! Sometimes we don't think enough about how to recharge our batteries.
This will be a busy summer for me. Here are some professional activities on my list:
1. Teaching a one day workshop on Web 2.0 stuff for librarians
2. Teaching two professional development session for our teacher at our summer workshops - one on blogs & wikis, one on social networking
3. Attending a social networking in libraries workshop at our local university, featuring Michales Stephens (tametheweb.com) and Jenny Levine (The Shifted Librarian). I'm really excited about this one.
4. Attending the School Librarains Road Trip sponsored by our library system. We started this last year & it was a big hit. It's the first day of Alliance Library System's Summer Camp for School Librarians (5 days of professional development) and they rent vans and we all pile in and visit 3-4 school libraries in the system. It's a great opportunity to chat while riding and over lunch, then to see other libraries (something we don't usually have time to do). Librarians at the visiting libraries do a small presentationt to share successful practices, then we have time to "explore" their libraries. It's great fun!
5. Attending the Laptops in Education conference in Memphis with two fabulously fun teachers from our school - we're already making plans for river cruises & an evening on Beale St.
6. Oh, yes, and teaching that School Library Management course I mentioned elsewhere. I"m looking forward to using this teaching opportunity as a way to examine my own management practices and I'm hoping to learn as much as my students do!

Wow, putting that all in writing makes me tired...

Personally, I plan to catch up on my YA lit reading, which was very neglected this year. I'm also hoping to squeeze in a couple of weekend trips in June - one to go antiquing with my Mom, the other to Missouri wine country with my husband. If you've never been to Hermann, Missouri, it's a wonderful little town. I'm also going to take my 5 year-od goddaughter to her first St Louis Cardinals game, and hit a game on Father's Day with my dad as well.

[Durff]

I plan to teach summer courses in our computer lab. I plan to help run the concession stand at The Relay for Life in Chambersburg, PA. I plan to take online courses. I plan to read voraciously, especially Warlick's books, which I already ordered...so what does everyone else plan to activate their brains to light the passion in your life?

[Cathy Nelson]

My summer plans (so far):
1. Present at our school administrators state conference "Summer Leadership Institute"
2. Attend EduBlogger Con - the unconference before NECC in Atlanta
3. Attend NECC in Atlanta
4. Order and read Daniel Pink material
5. Begin to voraciously read middle school/young adult books since it looks like I am changing to middle school in August!
6. Visit Chicago to get my son moved out of a dorm (at DePaul) and into an apartment for the summer...
7. Lay on the beach sooner or later...

[Joyce Valenza]

See you at NECC, Cathy!

[Beth Ehrlich Slater]

I'm amazed at what those who have posted thus far have on their agendas!

I'll be working summer school held here at my school, but for seniors throughout the district. I'll also be taking two courses for the digital libraries certificate I'm working towards from Syracuse Univ. (I'm so happy - I ordered a laptop yesterday since I know I won't be able to work full-time and then come home and sit in front of my desktop to get all the work done!! I've always been a "works-better-among-people" kinda gal (coffee shops watch out!)). I want to finalize the yearbook course I'll be teaching in the Fall, as well as tweaking my library science curriculum. Oh yeah, and making the school and media center's websites better than ever. :) I've also been daydreaming of redesigning my personal blog and spending more time on the creative things I seem to put off during the year. Reading, too, of course, and though I usually spend the summers catching up on ya lit, I've been engulfed in Stroud's The Bartimaeus Trilogy to the detriment of a few public library books I'm yearning to read (that are sitting patiently on my night stand)! I can't put the third one down, though!!

Anyway, guess that's really it. Only travel plans are to go up to Syracuse to visit my fiance's family for a week in August. :)

Must admit, though, that I don't usually accomplish everything I want to in the summer. Mind you, I left out the "clean the closets and get rid of all the unnecessaries in my life" as I never seem to accomplish it to my satisfaction!

[Dr. Mary Ann Bell]

Summer is my absolute favorite time of the year even though, since I teach library science and most students I have are public school teachers/librarians, it is my busiest time. One very big thing I will be doing is taking a group to New York and Washington DC for a travel study trip. We have some wonderful experiences lined up! I can hardly wait. I will also spend some time in Portland OR, with my daughter who lives there. I hope to blog about my travels. Likely I will do that though my other blog rather than this community since I committed to it earlier. I just joined up here today and am excited to be here! My other blog is:
drmabell.blogspot.com
Oh yeah and I write a regular column for Multimedia@Internet&School and also have two books just in the very beginning stages. And at SOME POINT I must put in some time sitting in a Texas Hill Countrly river or stream, most likely Cypress Creek/Blanco River at Wimberley, or I will not make it through the coming year.

[Collette]

Road trips! YAY!! Also...
1. Working at a summer job....somewhere, but probably not teaching...I need a break from it. :-)
2. Going to ALA Annual Conference with another librarian in my school district. It's the first national library conference I'm going to, so I'm very much looking forward to it.
3. Reading Harry Potter 6 (and 7 when it comes out).
4. Catching up on some of the books and movies on "My Never-Ending List of Books to Read and Movies to Watch."
5. Moving out of my parents' house and into a new apartment!

[C]

Wow, everyone has such great opportunities for professional development (both teaching and learning.) I would really like to join some of you, but I think I will spend the summer fixing up some of our tired landscaping and house exterior (I especially look forward to sanding and painting the bulkhead doors.) I also plan on catching up on my adult reading, ya is great but a change is nice once in a while.

[Pam Burke]

In between camping & beach trips, I'll be designing a new website for our state school library association and getting together my new Moodle-supported info lit curriculum. Good thing the wifi reaches the sandbox!

[Lisa Hunt]

I am committed to renewal for my summer, and the puppies that my bullmastiff will be having in 2 weeks. I agree with Anita... lots of YA reading. I'm just coming off 3 years working with the Children's Sequoyah Award reading committee. That is the children's choice book award in Oklahoma, and I've spent almost all of my reading time reading books for that committment. I'm free to return to my love of YA literature. There is a group devoted just to that in this community. I've already been finding discussion about wonderful books I will be reading very soon! Formal experiences? No, just relaxing down time with good books.

[Mary Ann Harlan]

After ALA I will be doing exactly what I am doing in this picture - laying on a beach and reading a book. I will also be
1. going to ETS to do some work with/on the iskills test
2. going to Mexico with my friend who deserted me for a boy and moved to London (even tho' she was my greatest collaborator at school).
3. playing with my parents new puppy
4. meeting with teachers over coffee to plan for Eng 2 and Contemporary Eng next year
5. Coaching teachers through http://schoollibrarylearning2.blogspot.com since they are doing it but can't get official CSLA help since they aren't members - yet.
6. enjoying my backyard - provided we eventually get some sun - gotta love the Pacific Northwest in the summer
7. finding time to find something new I can use for school - last year it was Bloglines and Del.ic.ious.

[Terrie Hinojosa]

I am going with a group of teachers on a grant to Costa Rica to attend language classes (Spanish), cooking lessons,and dance lessons. While there we will be visiting the tropical rain forest and the sea turtle hatchery. We will be creating videos and some science units for our teachers to use next year. All this completely paid for! Thank you Fund for Teachers!