Summer Recharge Mode, ENGAGED!

 

Finding time at the end of the year to unwind and find yourself again after a stressful school year can be incredibly difficult.  I know that it always took a solid couple of weeks for me to get into “Summer Mode”, and then I felt as if I just lost part of my summer vacation to the burnout acquired throughout the year.  In this post, I hope to provide a few ideas on how to get your summer started in a way that keeps you invigorated, but that also allows you to grow in some form or fashion as a person as well as an educator

 

• Join a book club - Reading is an escape that can allow you to enter a completely different realm of existence.  By joining a book club, you are allowing yourself the benefits of reading while also finding an opportunity to discuss the book in a meaningful way.  Social media is full of various reading challenges and groups that you can join.

• Take time to learn a skill - Keeping your mind engaged in learning allows you to continue growing.  An added benefit is that you allow yourself to step away from something that can be incredibly rewarding and challenging (teaching) and focus on something that causes you to stretch in a different direction (playing the ukulele).  This change in direction can reinvigorate      you in your own teaching processes because you experienced what it is to be a learner again.

• Improve that “One Lesson” that has plagued you over the years - Although lesson planning may be the last thing you want to do after a grueling year, taking some time to truly examine that one lesson/unit/grading period that caused you grief can shed some light on what went wrong and what can be done to remedy the situation moving forward.  Instead of saying “the kids just didn’t get it”, you now have the time to examine why they didn’t get it and what can be done differently to ensure that they do in fact get it the next time around.  Don’t be afraid to throw everything out the window, but also don’t feel that you have to start from scratch.  Social media, friends, and potentially your own children or those of friends that are of a similar age to those you teach could all be good sounding boards when determining what needs to happen with the lessons you are trying to re-vamp.

• Plan for Down Time - Summers can be a time filled with trips to the water park, grandma’s house, and kid’s birthday parties, but it is incredibly important that you set aside some time for yourself.  It is very easy to burn yourself out on all of the expectations of your family simply because you “have summers off”, when in reality it can feel like summers are even busier and more demanding than the school year.  I’m not saying that you should take the entire summer to lounge around (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I do suggest that you keep your own sanity in mind when thinking of everyone else.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, I hope that these suggestions help you to create a restful block of time for yourself as you recover from a crazy (few) years of teaching.  Doing this will allow you to come back with your batteries recharged and a renewed desire to approach the next school year head on.  Happy Summer!