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Post/Episode Summary:

Ready for summer? Haha... that was rhetorical.

Not a teacher we know isn't ready for this time... and you should do whatever you need to recover from the year.

But have you ever gotten to the end of summer and felt like you didn't know where all the time went and there were still things you wanted or needed to do?

This week on the blog & podcast we share our process for making the MOST of your summer teaching break.

When you go into your summer with a little bit of a plan, you can absolutely maximize your time to rejuvenate AND take action to feel more prepared going into the next school year.

What NOT to do on summer break 

I remember one summer earlier in my teaching career, when I was determined that my next school year would be better and less stressful than that year had been.  I spent hours over the break reading books, making plans and figuring out how to strategize my way out of the challenges I had experienced the year before.  The result?  I felt pretty good at the beginning of the school year but then I felt burned out waaaaaayyy earlier than I ever had previously.

Flash forward to a different summer. Probably the next one.  I was pretty burnt out from the year and decided I would not touch anything related to work until the end of July or beginning of August. 

Two problems with that:

• Turns out I couldn’t hide from the worry of what what my classroom would look like if I didn’t plan for changes I wanted to make so it made my unplugged time SO MUCH less relaxing and

• I ran out of time to figure out all the changes I wanted to make and started the year underprepared compared to where I wanted to be.  

A better plan

So in my last few years in the classroom I came up with a much better way to leverage my summer break that prioritized both my absolute need to recharge and the need for revisions to how my teaching life would go the next school year. 

The process I created for making the most of your summer break has 3 parts:

• Part 1: Rejuvenate

• Part 2: Reflect

• Part 3: Reimagine

Let's break those down.

QUICK! Download the summer planner at the end of this post so you can follow along! If you prefer listening to reading, you can also get the same info from the podcast version linked at the top of this page!

Part 1: Rejuvenate

Make a plan so you avoid the easy trap of junk food rejuvenation.

Ever woken up on a summer day, turned on Netflix, felt immediate relaxation gratification only to feel irritated with yourself 6-8 hours later when you were still binging Netflix?  Me either.  Just kidding.  When I do that I almost feel like I have a hangover but then would still fall into the trap of doing it again a few days later.   

I’m definitely not demonizing tv and social media as a way to unplug and relax, but just like junk food it’s so easy to overdo.

So here's how you can plan for a balanced summer rejuvenation diet (again...we have a free workbook to help you go through these steps):

1) List out the big things you have on the calendar for the summer that you have to look forward to. And literally... add them to your calendar (there's a handy one in the workbook). Don't have anything planned? Pick some, schedule them, add them! (Unless that's not your thing).

2) List out the little, easy things you could do any day without scheduling that make you feel joyful and relaxed. Gardening? Pool time? ONE HOUR of Netflix? Hiking? At the beginning of your day pick something from your list that you feel like doing that day.

3) List out daily habits that if done consistently would make you feel like you are the boss in charge of your life. Walk in the sunshine first thing in the morning? 10k steps a day? 60 oz of water a day? Journaling before bed? Set yourself up to feel successful by not choosing too many.

The key point here is to be mindful of what is going to refill you and relax you over the summer so when you get to the end, you truly feel like you have taken care of yourself and not just numbed your feelings of burnout. 

Part 2: Reflect

This part can feel challenging, especially if you had a challenging school year.  But if you take care of this now while it’s fresh, you can walk away from thinking about any of this until you are ready again.

1) What went well this year both at school and personally? Brain dump everything you want to keep and incorporate into your classroom or daily life for next year.

2) What was hard or didn't go well this year both personally or at school? Be specific so you can use this info later.

A key element of this is to let go of any guilt or shame you have around any of the things that didn't go well. Guilt and shame leave us stagnant and you are writing these down so you can move on and do something different. You did the best you could at the time.

If this is bringing up unproductive negative feelings walk away after you complete the exercise and go back when you are feeling better.

Part 3: Reimagine

When you're ready, go back to your Part 2 reflection and get ready to go through these steps:

1) In the workbook, or by creating your own chart with three columns, list the challenge, reimagine what it would look like if you could transform it to the best possible scenario, and then list what resources, training or support you need to find at some point to get from the challenge to the transformation.  

2) Now go back to your calendar.  For each of the items in the third column, designate when you want explore or knock those off the list during your break.  Spread it out in a way that works for you… and then forget about it when its not on your calendar because you know you have a plan to get it done before the school year starts.  Hello worry-free brain!

Wrap up

When I engaged in all these pieces, I truly felt like I could deeply relax and give myself the needed time to prepare for things to go better the next school year… which also made me feel more deeply relaxed.

Next steps

1) Request the Summer Planner to be sent directly to your email so you can print it (or if you have an ipad with a pencil and an app like notability.. You can just upload it and fill it in there!

2) Share this post or podcast episode with teacher friends who would also benefit from this content!  We want everyone to have the best possible summer ever.