English teacher Starr Sackstein, for SmartBlog on Education, shares with fellow teachers some of her favorite and most useful resources for professional development over the summer months.

Sackstein's first suggestion is the "edcamp," a conference model that is actually referred to as an "unconference" model because of the fluid nature of it all. Sessions are not scheduled until the morning of the event, and "sessions range from basic conversations around teaching methods to sessions sharing digital projects by students or sessions based around just having fun," according to Edutopia.com. Attendance is totally free, and you can find a list of upcoming camps and also suggestions on how to start your own here.

She also recommends attending online conferences, signing up for live webinars, or participating in Twitter chats on a weekly basis to learn more about selected topics.

"Not everyone can afford to travel to conferences, so perhaps virtual conferences operated by teachers are a better alternative. Teachers can attend live webinars addressing particular skills or topics they are interested in learning more about," she said.

Twitter chats are a great option for teachers looking for easy and free professional development over the summer months because they address "all kinds of topics and some are regionally located. New topics every week allow you to interact and get ideas from educators from around the world. They have something for everyone."

The list of education chats is listed here; for today alone there are almost fifty different chats available for participation that span different times and cover different subjects such as Programming in Education, Rural Education Chat, Elementary Music Ed Chat and more.

Read more about Sackstein's suggestions here and comment your own suggestions below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

06/23/2015