Do you ever turn off your iPad?

About 2 years ago I was lucky enough to win a video contest from Turning Technologies for an iPad - here is the video I created that won first place!  Since I received the iPad I have downloaded many apps - some are educational (TED, Elements), some keep me connected (Twitter, Edmodo), some are for a purpose (Evernote, Diigo), some are specifically for my kids (Fish School, Alphabet Games) and some are just a waste of time...but they are fun (Turbo, Hill Climb Racing).  But in the 2 years that I have used my iPad...I have only turned it all the way off two times!  Once was at a school in-service when another teacher said, "You know you need to turn it off at some point to let it reset" and another was this morning - because some of my apps were not working correctly (Google+ and Feedly).

This got me to thinking - as teachers I suppose we need to be turned off and restarted at some point too.

My family and I just returned from a week long vacation where we had no cell service and no electricity - we were "off the grid".  We stay in a little cabin in the mountains of Colorado with my in-laws and the cabin has no electricity.  This gives us family time with out the distractions of cell phones, computers, iPads or television.  To some this may sound horrible...and others may think it is the best thing in the world - it just depends on what you like for your vacation.  As for me I am happy to spend time with the family and fishing with my little girls is a great way to be together...but after they are in bed I would enjoy reading through a few blogs, checking my Twitter account and maybe play some mindless game.  But before you start to feel sorry for me let me explain that we were not totally out of reach to the real world!  If we wanted (or needed) to be a part of civilization again all we have to do is drive in to town (about 30 minutes) and we can get a signal on our phones - back "on the grid".  So I was not totally out of touch for the entire week...but to someone like me who is typically always "plugged in" - it sometimes felt like it!

Anyway, back to my thought about turning off the iPad.  When I turned my iPad off and let it restart, the apps I was trying to use worked.  This is something that we all do...but never really question - if a computer (or electronic device) isn't working...restart it and see if that works - and it typically does!  So as teachers we need the summer as our time to "restart".  Some people (who are not teachers) think that we have 2.5 months off in the summer and that is our time to rest, relax and re-energize for next year.  But if you are like me...and if you are reading this in August you probably are - you spend a large part of the summer months planning for next year.  We try to find new things/ideas to use in our classroom - new apps, different ideas, work on fresh strategies and just try to make our classrooms a better place for students.  So while we are not waking up at 5am and driving in to school - we also are not powering down and restarting either.

So I am glad that I was able to take this past week to unwind, unplug and relax.  I officially am due back to school in 2 days...though I was at school today and I'll be there tomorrow.  I am hopeful that my trip to Colorado will serve as my "restart" and will give me the energy and excitement for the first week of school.  I also hope that you have found time during the summer for your "restart"!  Have a great last few days of sleeping in, reading a book and not grading papers :)

How can you not be happy and relaxed when you see something like this?
Don't worry...she ate the fish :)