Technolandy

Day 184 (of 2025/26)year end reflections on #summertimesdness  lack of routines; summer reading (and graphic novels) and summer maths (and history of maths) and summer social media (yep – I’ve got some good thinkings on that too)

I know people love summer break… or want to love summer break… but I’m the nagging voice reminding us all (as we post a bunch of things in the soon to be forbidden social medias) that not everyone enjoys the summer without school! The lack of routine and structures is hard on people (especially when they know they will have to restart a whole bunch of new ones in a dozen or so weeks.

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Ugh.

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And yes, there is value to the recharge-time. Not arguing that, but unpaid time off may be nice in theory but in practice, it’s always a week or so (2) of winding down before a couple of weeks ‘off’ and then a week or so (2-3) of getting wound up for the next cohorts startup (though I do enjoy being in a provincial online learning school where we loop students with teachers for a lot longer of a time than normal schools would to maximize the value of the relationship that enhances the learning journey.

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But how to do some routines – read and math.  Oh, wait – I don’t mean go to the store and get workbooks; explore more holistic approaches to it – not every book reading should come with comprehension questions nor should every mathematical concept come with multiple pages of the same question remixed. 

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So, what to do over summer: read. But I want to point out that comic books (and their more education-friendly designation of ‘graphic novels’) are having a complete rejuvenation with a second golden age (platinum age??) with amazing quality and quantity of available readings. The ‘golden age’ (and then the ‘silver age’) of comics referred to the initial surge of popularity of pulp magazines (poor quality paper) that were cheap and available at every corner store… today the quality of the publication is so much better, but the availability has become more… specialized. Graphic novels are fortunately taking up more and more shelf space in book stores (even the spaces on our local ferries!) with some names being the best selling books whatever the genre… some teachers hate Dav Pilkey, but I can’t wait for his books to be re-analyzed by universities the same way other ‘for-the-masses’ authors are now (Shakespeare… Dickens… Chaucer…) social commentaries abound in graphics… and comics.

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So read – but explore the rich realm of graphic novels – check out @NoeTheMatt – an amazing librarian who has been curating a lot of great non-fiction titles (under the guise of Health). Check out the books of the popular artists – Pilkey, ETCETERA but then explore some of the indies… go to a comic/art festival and see who’s there (that’s how I connected with two people who did presentations at this years school based comic con!!) But also go to a local (or non-local if you hit a ‘big city’) comic book store and check out the ‘monthlies’ – it can be fun to explore a series – whether a limited run or a re-invention (the Absolute series has been fun to dive into – I think I will get into it more this summer) or an ongoing series – even though Batman has been running for decades, you can join in at any time! For me, I am chasing the Fantagraphics Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck series; the Groo Prophecy series (bi-monthly) and then others that ‘catch my eye’ (most recently, I could not help but pick up Bizarro: Year None – I love that character from the Superman universe… one of his deaths still haunts me… My schools comic book library has some graphic novels, but I am toying with the idea that even those are now ‘too popular’ and available at more proper libraries (and our soon to be launched association with an online ‘library’ (book store format, so every copy is available to everyone whenever they want it – Rally Reader! Free for the next two years thanks to an Angel Investor). Can’t wait to do some more readings (I will be sharing some top-threes on Friday – Day 187)

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Mathing – I love my morning puzzle games. I love thinking about math. I do NOT miss mad minutes. But this is also why I became a huge fan of History of Math 11 – as I call it (with a tribute to The Princess Bride) – the ‘good parts’ version of math. Thinking about math is fun, but for many of us, pages of converting fractions to decimals is not. A couple to understand the process, sure – but much like writing – ain’t everyone who’s gonna be publishing writing… so likewise not everyone needs a rote memorization of some charts (times tables are very helpful, but I will still value someone who understands and can visualize how the equations ‘look’ more than someone who knows the two digits that are on the reverse of the 6×7 flash card.

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So do math: hit up an online soduko game. Play Oodle. Get nerdy and dive into why Pi was figured out by every civilization and why how unfortunate it is that so many only know it as a way to figure out the area of a circle. Go to websites like Engineering.com – their game section will have something you enjoy – puzzles or otherwise that all have connections to tickle the brain in a way that makes math less about problems, and more about solutions. Explore different math technologies – calculators can unlock some amazing patterns; abacuses are fabulous tools once you decode them; 

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And yes – a lot of this can happen on screens. I will continue to defend the screen as not an enemy, but a reflection to which people are realizing there is a lot more distractions in the world that we wish happened (while forgetting how often and in what ways we would distract ourselves and bully others while in learning spaces). I continue to advocate that screens provide ways to be creative and productive in ways unparalleled, while acknowledging that when we don’t blend pedagogy and training, we are unleashing huge distraction devices (much as the fears of books, movies, radio, and tv were – and even Wikipedia despite it being the most solid source of initial research available to the masses). I would wish algorithms would work differently based on ages, but my end thinking still is based on:

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Creating > Consuming content.

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But mindful consumption is valuable too. Sometimes we need a distraction (Tetris has a research supported value to the brain if played shortly after a traumatic event has taken place). Sometimes we need entertainment – and I have a lot more books on my screens than I could ever fit into my travel bag when on the way to visit family over the summer. And while many decry the videos of social media… it is the ‘OG’ format of communication – oral story telling with visuals. Books and writing would not have been needed if story tellers and knowledge keepers could be accessed across civilizations (in fact, the oral story telling of some cultures is/was so good that it could be argued that is the reason they did not need a ‘lesser’ form of communication limited by an alphabet). 

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Social Media (is youtube one?) have a lot of value in sharing stories and taking in information. The messages can be awful and should be better examined by “big tech” along with the algorithms. But as far as making connections and finding ‘others’ like you? Nothing has been better for individuals who felt alone. We can’t pretend bullying and cruelty did not happen IRL before screens – heck, I experienced more fights and more friends who self-harmed as a student than as a school administrator. 

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So perhaps that is my annual reminder as summer arrives.

Keep some routines. Read something. Think about something. Create something. Connect with someone.

Not because school should continue through July and August, but because learning was never supposed to be confined to a school calendar in the first place.

Summer can be a chance to explore the things that don’t fit neatly into a timetable or curriculum guide. A graphic novel that sends you down a rabbit hole of history. A puzzle that makes you wonder why mathematics works the way it does. A video that introduces you to a community, hobby, or perspective you never knew existed.

The goal is not to replicate school.

The goal is to remain curious.

Because whether it happens in a library, a comic shop, a Discord server, a ferry lineup, a family road trip, a YouTube rabbit hole, or over a morning coffee with a Sudoku puzzle, learning is still learning.

And for those who struggle with the loss of routines, perhaps curiosity can become a routine of its own.