"So just what do you do in the summer?"

I love being asked this question! Often, people assume that profs put their feet up, smoke a pipe, and brew themselves some strong coffee as a way to pass time in the summer. I wish!

My summer has been busy reading, writing, planning, and teaching. I've been working on multiple papers which I hope to get off in the next 2 weeks. One of these papers is looking at some of the data we've collected around the Digital Mentoring Project, another is around how my university has worked with community and school partners to support peace and social justice, a third is examining innovative leadership practices in education in the developing world, and, finally, there is a paper on the use of assistive technology in classrooms. I also have multiple book chapters which are in various stages of development. Finally, there is a second Haiti educational leadership book (my first one was in 2009) for which I have received all of the chapters from the contributors and which I am now editing.

I have also enjoyed the opportunity to do a lot of reading this summer as I build two new courses I will be teaching this fall. One is a graduate course in leadership and I have enjoyed engaging with the writing of authors such as Warren Bennis, James Spillane, and Michael Fullan. I have also been reading (for pleasure) a book by Jonathan Katz entitled The Big Truck Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster. This is a fascinating, and disheartening, examination of the failure of the large international governmental organizations in their attempt to rebuild Port au Prince following the 2010 earthquake. There are many, many lessons which I am noting for my own work there.

Beyond reading and writing, I have taught an on-line course and a two week intensive face-to-face course.

And, of course, I have been continuing the work with the Digital Mentoring Project. I am regularly on-line with colleagues in Haiti (and in Canada/US) as we build this project into a dynamic on-line community for resources and support. Plans are well underway for an October partnership trip and I will post those plans on the blog shortly.

So, what does a prof do in the summer? I think the next time I'm asked this question, I'll just refer people to this blog!