The Summer Me.

It's been a while since I posted something here, but please don't remind me that apologizing for not blogging is the first rule of blogging. I've been busy. Really busy. Actually, the next person who says that teachers "get the summer off" might just get punched in the face. No, not really, but it feels nice saying that for some reason. Maybe an overreaction to the overwhelmingly negative press teachers seem to getting far too much of recently. I will however, give them a quick lesson on what we do in summer. A post that covers that topic is already in draft mode.

Anyways, I thought I'd share one of the fun things I'm doing to stay connected to my former students and start building a relationship with my next class. I've written about how I felt about last year's class and how hard it was disconnecting from them towards the end of the year. So I thought I would try a novel idea that allowed me to interact with them a little longer.

I followed one teacher on Twitter last summer who let his students choose what stuffed animal would travel with him on adventures small and large throughout his summer. He posted pictures of him and his companion throughout the summer on his blog.I thought it was a very cool idea and I thought I would put my own spin on the idea, so I launched my version of 'Flat Stanley this summer.

  

I created the "summer me" in the form of a gnome. Of course I had to create his own Twitter handle (@MrJohnsonsGnome) and Facebook page. I threw in some history, geography, and guessing into the mix to keep it fun and fresh. The reactions have been terrific, albeit a little smaller than I would have liked, but the effort has been a lot of fun and certainly worth the time!

He's been clothes shopping.

Walked my dog

Studied and helped me write papers

and traveled the country

He'll be busy throughout the summer. Feel free to join in on the fun.

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