Ah, July—by now, summer is in full swing! This time of year hopefully means getting some well-deserved rest and relaxation, and having fun somewhere in the mix. If you have children, it might mean spending time at the park, pool, on vacation, or being the taxi driver to various camps throughout the summer. For educators, summer might involve continued education workshops, graduate classes for recertification, reworking curriculum, or catching up on some reading.

As an educator, I enjoy my summer break as much as anyone else. However, I find it hard to completely shut down my school mode that is so ingrained in me. With the time away from the classroom, you have the capacity to focus on other things you haven’t had a chance to think through, or work on things you just don’t have time to do during the school year when you’ve got to be on point every day. I like to catch up on some reading that can impact my school and provide insight as a school leader during the summer. My current readings include Relentless by Hamish Brewer (aka the tattooed skateboarding principal), Humanizing the Education Machine by Rex Miller, and Start With Why by Simon Sinek. I’m discovering that I need more highlighters as I’m two books in so far and have reaped many inspirational ideas.

For educators looking to learn something new during the break, we continue our flagship Quick Learn training sessions throughout the summer months to help you embrace the technology resources you may have at your disposal. Throughout July, you’ll be able to make the journey through each of our teacher-led training sessions to catch up on things you may not have had time to do during the school year. We conveniently schedule most of these at 11:00am ET each day in July to accommodate various summer schedules.

If you’re just easing into things, we have you covered with a few suggestions for where to start:

• MimioTeach: Setup and Overview
  Discover how to fully use your MimioTeach™ portable interactive whiteboard or Mimio Xi interactive device you may have in your classroom. You will learn how to get started and begin integrating this fantastic technology in just a matter of minutes. The MimioTeach or Mimio Xi will totally transform how you teach and how your students learn, unleashing your creativity and potential of learning in the classroom!
  
  This informative session is offered on July 15 at 11:00am ET.
  
  
• MimioStudio: Putting Instructional Design to Work
  See what is possible with effective lesson creation and implementation with this hands-on, interactive training session. You’ll learn from two expert teachers how to take an existing lesson and transform it using some of the various tools available in the MimioStudio™ classroom software. Everything about this session can be applied to any grade level or curricular area, making it very powerful.
  
  Join us for this session on July 23 at 6:00pm ET.

• A Tour of MimioStudio
  Designed especially for those who are new or need a refresher, this interactive session will guide you through a variety of handy tools and features that can take your instruction and learning to a new level. You’ll learn from teachers using the MimioStudio classroom software in their classrooms each day and get handy tips along with way. The MimioStudio software has so much to offer to make it easier for teachers to do what they do best: teach! Learn how to integrate easy-to-use tools into any type of classroom learning environment—whether it’s whole-class, individualized, or collaborative learning.
  
  You can catch this session on July 8 and July 24 at 11:00am ET.
  
  

New Content for the New Year

For those who are still in the classroom over the summer—or getting a jumpstart on next year’s lessons—we’ve got you covered with fresh content!

• Lesson Renovation | Summer Gallery Pack: This pack has been updated with fun summer images, templates, and lessons/activities to engage your students. Happy summer!
  
  
• Batter Up!: This series of lessons is a home run! It includes a brand-new baseball game that students can play in either a multiplication, subtraction, or addition format.
  
  
• End-of-Year Review: This math and language arts review lesson is perfect for summer school or extended learning opportunities to go over skills practiced during the year. Choose from K–2 students or grades 3–5!
  
  

Don’t miss your chance to learn something new in between the rest and relaxation over the break. Plus, Boxlight is offering MimioStudio Educator certification at 50% off this summer, so you can get six hours of PD for only $75! Learn more now.>>