That first week off, alike many other weeks that one will experience this summer, is a week of perplexities. Teachers are used to routine. We get comfortable knowing what we have to do and what will come next. These two months off are a practice of destroying routine and being truly flexible to whatever, especially for those without children. Although this sounds like an exhilarating experience, for me it causes angst. I don’t have to worry about stepping back into a classroom for another eight weeks but I feel like I should be doing something now to prepare for that day. I have the anxious feeling that sitting around and lounging is wrong. A million thoughts enter my head; maybe I should go into the school and prepare my classroom and tidy up a little bit? Should I organize my binders? Should I start planning my math program for next year? Should I tweak some activities and lessons while I have the time and head space? A multitude of questions without any correct answers.

This is where the anxiety comes from. As teachers, we are accustomed to getting work done and being on a strict schedule. We follow a daily schedule and within each period of time we try to stick to a structured plan. Everything about the teacher’s life is structure, and when such openness comes it is truly hard to cope, especially in those first few weeks. So what I am going to try to do, as much as I can, is relax.

It is okay to relax, we deserve it. We have been through a ten-month marathon during which some days were harder than others. But to continue with planning and preparing only prolongs the anxiety and disenchants the heart. I am going to focus on reading, working out, maybe finding a new hobby such as learning how to really cook or meditating and doing things that are going to get me back to being centered. The summer should be your time to learn. Committing to the idea of being a “life-long learner” doesn’t just exist within the additional courses and workshops we take. Taking some time to develop yourself is probably the most important way you can come back to school feeling mentally fresh.

I will take some time over the next few weeks, when it is natural, to make sure that I am prepared for the upcoming year. My mind will not let me not do that. But I also understand that having the summer off is such a blessing and it should be taken advantage of. So when the time comes to relax, I am going to try to relax 100%. There is no time to be anxious and feel the need to constantly do something. That will all come pouring back in the fall. Believe me, take your summer. Enjoy it, and learn how to get back to you, the person, so when you do go back in the fall, you can become a better you, the teacher. More well-rounded and devoted and eager to connect to another crop of students.

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As I mentioned in a previous blog, I remember one summer I devoted a bunch of time to creating units and lesson ideas for a geography course. The school year came and went and I was never able to find the appropriate opportunity to infuse them. It is not that I forgot about them, it was just that they were not going to work with my students. Preparing over the summer was not a waste of time, I mean how many days do you actually need to “relax”. But it was slightly taxing on my psyche. For everything I emotionally gained by feeling well prepared and organized, I lost in thinking I had not done enough. So after that year was over, I made a promise to myself that I would keep in every summer break since then: do no think about school until it is time to think about school.

When you live in an area where school traditionally starts in September, once you catch a few pictures and videos on social media of kids back at school in other parts of the country, you know it is time to start shifting that brain back into “teacher mode”. And hopefully, you have to “turn it back on” because remaining in it for an entire summer can have you exhausted during a time when you are supposed to come back fresh and eager. We are at the t-minus a few weeks stage now, so over the next couple of days or weeks, it is the perfect time to start thinking and preparing for school again.

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Yes, right about this time of the summer break, teachers all across the country start to get a little fidgety as we all know half the summer vacation is over. The reason for the uneasiness of it all: there might be that slight notion that we are not enjoying our summer break enough. Well, if that is how you feel, here are three things you can do to make sure that you do enjoy your summer break.

1. Get Out

Please, please, please do not spend your entire 8-week vacation indoors. I mean it’s all good to catch up on some of your favorite TV shows and get in a few of the movies you’ve been dying to see, but you don’t want to be the person who comes back to work after summer vacation and lists off every “must see” show on Netflix.

Plus, if you live in a place like me (Toronto, Canada), these warm weather days are fleeting. Soak them up: go for a walk to the park with a book, take a trip to a public pool, or better yet, the beach, or head to the city and explore a bit. Who cares what you do outside, it is much better than anything you can do indoors.

2. Achieve one Goal

And no I am not talking about playing Pokémon Go. See, in real life, there are things that actual humans set out to accomplish. Think back to right before the school year ended. You probably whispered to yourself something to the tune of, “I swear this summer, when I get the chance I am going to…”. That thing, whatever it was, go and do it. I bought a bicycle right before the school year had ended and I have made sure I’ve used it at least a few times every week. It is not necessarily a massive goal to go out for a bike ride every now and then. But it is something I said I was going to do, so I am following through. However big or small, get a few of the things you promised yourself done.

3. Do Not Think About School Until it Is Time to Think About School

This might end up being a whole new blog onto itself. But it is true, many times we end up spending too much time tinkering with “school stuff” over the summer only to end up…never even using it! I remember one summer I devoted a bunch of time to creating units and lesson ideas for a geography course. The school year came and went and I never got the opportunity to infuse them. It is not that I forgot about them, it was just that they were not going to work with my students. It is never a waste of time to prepare for the upcoming school year, but preparing does not need to be done in bits and pieces over the entire summer break. Take a two-week block right before school starts and get back in “teacher mode” then.

Fully feeling like you are making the most of your summer vacation isn’t as easy as it seems. Hopefully these three ideas will help make August a little more relaxing for you.

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The summer break is probably the cruelest juxtaposition a teacher faces in her career. I mean, it is all good that we get an entire two months vacation right smack during the best time of the calendar year. I mean, yes the summer break, or some time off is definitely needed in this profession; by June we are all exhausted and in need of some R & R. But I am not talking about the meta-idea of the summer break. I am talking about the nuts and bolts of it. The “midway through summer break” summer break. That can be, at times, very excruciating.

Let me explain, so we are in the last week of July, you have been on break for about a month. Great. All fine and dandy. Maybe you haven’t gone away yet, saving those plans for later; perhaps right before the school year starts again. But then you start to think about all the time that you have left. Selfishly, each day that goes on, especially once August hits, becomes another day closer to the start of school and the grind continuing all over again. So what do you do to make sure you fully enjoy your entire summer vacation?

Well, I would assume that most teachers are type A personalities. That eagerness to get something completed is constantly on our minds. The time sensitiveness trait for me has me on the verge of an anxiety attack. I need to make sure I get the most out of my “free time”. Waking up at whatever time I please and rolling through a day with my main priority being “to relax” is just going to get me more strung up. I’ve tried this during my first couple of summer breaks and I just couldn’t help but feel that I had wasted my two months. Besides a vacation here or there and some memorable moments with family and friends, I always had this cloud weighing over my head that would never quite burst. But once the first weeks of school started it was too late to contemplate. It was back to work.

So this year I made a new plan. And my plan, well actually… was to make a plan. To avoid that feeling of a “wasted day” (I know, I am sounding really selfish right now to any non-teachers reading this), I would schedule mine out. Every day, I would start with the time I wanted to wake up and from there I would create thirty minute to one hour intervals of various things that all related to my overall goals for the summer. From small activities to big projects; the tasks ranged from reading to working out to painting the kitchen. Without planning my day, it may seem like I would be relaxing a lot more. But for many teachers, relaxing doesn’t consist of day after day of lawn chairs and canopies. There is always room for that, but when you have two months off, there are other things that equate to relaxing as well.

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Dear Next School Year’s Matthew,

Your fifth year of teaching was indeed a roller coaster ride. You taught 5^th grade for the third consecutive year and I think it was both a blessing and a curse. Perhaps the dichotomy of “blessing and a curse” is too strong a sentiment. Let’s just say for a person like you, teaching the same grade for many years in a row seems to have both its positives and negatives. The positive was that in this role you were completely well-versed on all aspects of teaching the age group; you had the curriculum and the time it would take to effectively cover it down pat and you understood the mentality of your students. Because of this, you had the ability to take risks and try new things. You shook things up, in a positive way, and this benefited your students as well as your craft as an educator.

There was also some downsides to this past year. Because you have been teaching the same grade for a few years now, in all honesty, there were times where you got too lax. You relied on what you had done in the past with less flexibility than what you had exhibited in prior years. This created less synergy in your classroom this year. There was enough teaching and talking, but there wasn’t enough listening. You were not as attached to your students as in years past. I don’t know, maybe that comes with the territory of transitioning from a fairly new teacher to a “vet”. Either way, you should not make excuses about your practice. In the relatability/compassion department, as compared to other years, this year your grade was a mediocre B.

Things will change next year. Not only are you going to be teaching a different grade, but you are also going to be doing it at a new school. Change is definitely a good thing. It allows you to get out of a comfort zone and grow as a person. Teaching in a middle school will also bring a unique perspective and experience. Embrace the opportunity with confidence and positivity. This year has been a grind. Perhaps this may have been the first time you truly felt what it meant to be “burnt out”. Take the summer to relax firstly. Use the summer break to grow personally and professionally. Organize your plan for next year and good luck!

See you in September,

MM

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1) Reflect on the year…collectively.

Again, been there said that. But the reason why I am so persistent on driving this point home is because it is imperative to pedagogy. Point blank, when you talk to your students you transform the dynamic of teacher-and-student into mentor/human-and-human. When education wasn’t called “education” Plato would sit in the corner of a room, cross-legged and his “pupils” would come up to him and simply talk: they would ask questions, converse, and even question him. This is where the foundations of educational system sprouted from. This is why, in 2016, we are finally getting back to the idea of the teacher being the “lead learner” in the classroom. In June, teachers should strive to harken back to that Plato-style of education through means of actually having conversations with their students. There is more guidance and insight that teachers can provide besides the mere curriculum. Sometimes your students need instruction about life. In June, you should be the person they can unapologetically turn to.

2) Reward students for the “little things”

We all know that the last month of the school year is a constant battle dissimilar to any other month of the school year. It is hard not to slip into a lax attitude when the classroom feels like it’s 90 degrees and you walk into the staffroom only to see the countdown to summer break sign somewhere around the high teens. In September, establishing classroom management is heavily reliant in dictating the way things are going to work in your class moving forward. By June, those things should be long instilled and hardly ever spoken about. So when the classroom does become lax, rewarding students for the positive things they do to maintain “order” and “conduct” despite it being only weeks until summer break becomes a great incentive (if not then merely a classroom management tip) to not only acknowledge those students who do so but maintain a sense of organization.

These 2 keys to teaching before the summer break will prove to be imperative when you are finishing off your year. Both provide a synergy of counter-balance in a way: on the one hand you will be breaking down the archaic space of the classroom by providing students with the ability to connect with you, and on the other hand you will still use “positive rewards” to maintain a sense of order in a time that can get a little out of hand as we wind down to those final days.

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1. Let your students teach a lesson

There are always times throughout the year where you work one-on-one with a student or perhaps a small group and, after demonstrating and “teaching” a skill, your kids look at you with a gaze that says, “I am more lost now than before I came to you asking for help.” On these occasions, I usually try to humble myself and call on another student to come to my rescue. I acknowledge that their lack of understanding is because I was incapable of explaining it efficiently. In June, you should provide students the opportunity to not only help their peers individually but on a grander scheme. Instead of giving students a worksheet for homework in June, give them a task. Give Marcus the opportunity to go home and prepare a Math or Science lesson that he will deliver to the class the next day. This will not only engage Marcus in the learning process but will change the dynamic of the classroom and subsequently result in gaining the attention of the class. A student is teaching a lesson – sounds like a win-win to me.

2. Have conversations not pertaining to “school” with your students

I have spoken about this over and over again. Albeit this “tactic” would be more effective to start the year, dialoging with your students during the last month of the year creates a finalizing synergy that is vital to the schooling process. Over the course of a school year, your class is supposed to become a family. There is no better way to complete this process by talking with your students about things that diverge from the curriculum. The added benefit to this is that it may also serve to maintain order in your classroom. Inevitably, June will be the month of all bodies “letting their guard down” but when you do it in an authentic way, by having daily conversations, that ability to switch from “strict teacher” in June (which is probably ironic to students as they are just waiting to let loose) carries a little more clout when you can direct the flow of the class by switching back and forth from teacher to mentor.

3. Play, play, and play some more

Let’s be honest, being a teacher in June is a breeze. Besides the final report cards that you have to write, everything is pretty much over and done with. There may be a few class trips or a graduation sprinkled in depending on the grade you teach, but June is a month where the hardest thing to do as a teacher is hold onto the reins. Ironically, at the elementary level, “play-based” education is one of the new buzzwords being tossed around when educators make amendments to teaching pedagogy and curriculum requirements. So why not loosely experiment with this in June? This key isn’t just for elementary school educators either. The word “play” has fluidity to its definition: in the primary grades, this can equate to taking your kids to the school playground in place of an art period. In the middle school grades, it could mean giving your students the opportunity to act out (I should probably use the term “Reader’s Theatre”) a portion of a book instead of requiring them to analyze its significance through the pen and paper medium. And in high school, it can simply mean holding an English class in the ambiance of the outdoors or taking your Science class outside to explore the phenomenon that they’ve been learning about through the year. At some point throughout the year, the “drill and kill”, in whatever form it is delivered, should cease. June provides that opportunity to learn through different mediums while still maintaining some semblance of school culture.

Whatever your philosophy is behind teaching in the month of June, it should be understood that this month should provide your students with the opportunity to explore and stretch their learning. These three keys are direct take-aways that any teacher can read, take up, and deliver in their classroom tomorrow. Many teachers approach June as a month to simply just get by. Because of that mentality, the school year, while offering a finalizing moment of achievement or completion on the year, has a Monday Morning Quarterback feel during those first few weeks of the summer. Breezing through the month with an attitude of maintaining status quo in your classroom is fine I guess. But, June should be a month of growth; hopefully, these three things can help you gain that closure of the year that is often fleeting after a few years of doing this job.

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Yep. It is that time of year. For most schools, June marks the end of a long run and the culmination of the school year. For the most part, tests, trips, and major lessons are in the rear view. In June, the sun is out on most days, our classrooms are filled with the buzz of fans blowing hot air mixed with the smell of “teen spirit”. In elementary schools, this is always an opportune time to talk about personal hygiene and “coming of age”! But besides the somewhat relaxed tone that this time of year takes, school during the last month of the year is always a rewarding time. We are in school in June, so when in June…I guess we need to do like June does…

For teachers and students alike, the month of June seems to finalize the nostalgia of learning. Once students and teachers simultaneously realize that we have made it out of the trees, we can finally take a step back and gaze at the forest. There are still things that I need to cover in terms of curriculum requirements over these last few weeks. But I am now able to slowly walk with my students in their learning instead of going Jesse Owens-status day in and day out.

I find myself breaking from a lesson to talk with my class about things that cross my mind through these June days. Today, towards the end of an English lesson, I abruptly paused and said to my class, “You notice we didn’t really get any new students mid-way through the year this year? I mean we have Morgan and Aeesha that are new to the school, but they came in September. It doesn’t even feel like they’re new.” On that note, we had a familial discussion about new students and reminisced about the new kids that came in prior years. That convo made my day.

I’ve always preached to my students that my class operates in a slightly-titled negotiation (obviously, “slightly-titled” in my direction) zone. But these days, I am a little more open to deals concerning time spent at the park on the caveat of a few solid periods of math and language instruction (I am also happy that I have used that word so much this year that my kids now understand it fluidly! Another win). In June, I also notice the little things more. Today, I observed a younger student walking in the middle of a 2nd grade line down the hallway with his index finger over his lips, signifying that he indeed was intent on making it to his next classroom quiet-style, just like he was taught back in kindergarten. If this was October or February, I probably would have marched right by him. But today I stopped, told him that I appreciated his hallway demeanor and gave him a high five. He smiled, kept it moving, finger still fixed on his lips.

There are a lot of great months to be a teacher. But the month of June may be up there near the top; simply for the energy that is in the building this time of year. We are still learning, but it almost seems like a different type of learning happens in June: a type of learning where both teachers and students are looking back and imaging ahead all at the same time. Thinking on through reflection and taking time while doing it. Before school is out for the summer break, I am going to really embrace these last few weeks. Because it is truly a time of transcendental experiences which leads to great learning opportunities.

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The summer is a time to relax. But the best athletes in the world don’t use their off-seasons to sit back and spend their millions (In case you want to argue with that point, I said the best athletes, not all athletes). Those who become All-Stars do so by putting time in when no one is watching. The teachers who become the best at their craft do not get there by simply carrying the same mentality into each new “school season”. They become All-Stars by growing to understand that each year is truly a “new” one.

How do teachers grow?

Every educator knows the easy answer to this. Good teachers devote a portion of their summer to some type of professional development. And the PD I am referring to doesn’t have to come in the form of traditional PLCs. I am alluding to the type of development that fosters a growth in mentality. Twitter chats, reading books that change an outlook one held, and simply reflecting on the positives and negatives of the last “teaching season” are what turns teachers into All-Star educators.

There are many teachers who will go back to school and use the same approaches they’ve used for the last ten years because their idea of education is built on the presumption that, regardless of generation, all kids need to learn a certain way. There are teachers who will step back into their classroom with a new set of students and photocopy the same worksheets they’ve used for the last ten years without the slightest inkling that perhaps children born in 2002 learn and respond differently than those who were born in 1992. There are teachers who neglect and malnourish children from the first day of school because they assume he or she is the same exact student from a year ago; they will treat “Deshawn” the same way they did for the last two years without giving the kid an opportunity to demonstrate his maturity or his growth. The same thing year in and year out. But we expect our students to grow, right?

All-Star teachers do not do this. They develop their “game”. They start every season understanding that “last season” has no bearing on this one. They take the break to re-evaluate and grow. All-Star educators understand the deepest meaning of the word “new”. Fortunately, the difference between sports and school is that in education every teacher can be an “All-Star.”

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1. Sleep

This one is a no-brainer. After ten months and most likely multiple colds, that first week of summer break is a great time to catch up on some missed rest. The first thing I do once summer break begins is shut off my morning alarm. And by sleep I don’t only mean sleep in. It takes a while to break that habit of waking up early, so if you’re still waking up at around 6:30 a.m., try taking a nap or two throughout the day.

2. Purge Your Classroom

When I first started teaching, I was given a classroom that was chock-full of resources, binders and a ton of other things. And while it was great that this teacher decided to leave me many things to help me through my first year, I realized by the end of the year that I hardly used any of it. And even with my own things, there is so much that I either never use or just print off when the time comes. Technology has changed things for teachers but it still seems as though we are trailing behind. Gone are the days of the stacks and stacks of photocopies. One USB saves a lot of space. Tidy up your classroom by getting rid of anything that can be uploaded and re-printed.

3. Un-Plug

This is similar to the piece I wrote on how to avoid teacher burn-out. For one or two weeks, whether it is at the beginning, middle, or end of your summer break, it is imperative to take some time to do and think about things that are completely unrelated to school. Vacation time, exercise, or learning a new hobby are great ways to keep the mind off of contemplating what little thing you could do today to be more prepared for next year.

4. Reflect on the Year

Reflection is key in helping you become a more polished teacher. Making a conscious effort to think about the things that worked well in class juxtaposed with the things that didn’t well help you narrate how to do better next year. Also, focus on things that caused stress and things that were most memorable. These insights can provide great clarity leading into a new year.

5. One New Thing for Next Year

I know it is summer break and many teachers want to spend the time trying not to think about that first day or first week back. But most teachers inevitably contribute some aspect of their summer break to their professional development. Whether it is reading a book related to education, gathering a new resource, or coming up with an engaging lesson, activity, or assignment, you should take the time to create one new thing to add to your teacher’s tool belt over the summer. Last summer, I learned a new classroom management strategy (simply a phrase) from reading a blog that I thought I’d try with my class. By the last day in June, I was still using it to get my students’ attention.

Summer is the time for teachers to get the “Three R’s” in: rest, relax, and recover. But who are we kidding? All teachers feel the itch to do just a little something to prepare for next year. Find the balance between being productive and enjoying your well deserved vacation. The right balance will lead to a fulfilling summer break that will have you equipped to head back in once the break ends.

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