Make an Easy Plan For Your Perfect Teacher Summer: Recovery and Readiness [episode 65]

Emily
Hey there, thanks for joining us today. In today’s episode, we’re sharing ideas for making summer plans that incorporate recovery and readiness and a teacher approved tip for getting your students involved in your end of year to do list.

Heidi
We start our episodes with a morning message just like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This week’s morning message is what is the best part of summer as a teacher? Emily, what’s the best part of your summer?

Emily
Well, for me, I just love being free of schedules. I tend to set a summer schedule on my own. And we’ll probably talk about that later in this episode. But setting my own schedule is totally different than living by the schedule that set for me by school and kids activities and work.

Emily
I live for that freedom from the alarms that I have going all day long to keep me on schedule of all the places I need to be so I just like having more whitespace in my day.

Heidi
Oh, understandable. Especially because you have a lot of alarms.

Emily
Yes, I really do. How about you, Heidi?

Heidi
Well, I think the best part of summer is getting to turn off that alarm clock. Yeah, it was much more fun when I had like a clock radio and you could like flip that switch. You know, you didn’t have to attach again. Yes, less exciting on a phone but still. And I have a feeling that I am not alone.

Emily
No, you’re sure not because we have some responses from our teacher approved Facebook group. And the first ones for Marsha, who said sleeping in and reading more books is the best part of future summer. And lots of others echoed that sentiment of being able to sleep in because it is truly such a gift every day every day.

Emily
Aileen said, not hearing the question, can I go to the bathroom. And Kimberly said being able to pee and eat when I want to. That’s true freedom. Many of our community members responded that the extra time with their family was their favorite part of summer. Christie said lunch dates with my husband and time spent with my children.

Emily
Candace said being able to just be a mom and not feel like my daughter’s aren’t getting the time and attention they deserve. I think that’s a real feeling for teacher moms. And Jeff said enjoying my time with my family. Being able to take my son to the park or library during the day versus just the weekends. Sitting outside and enjoying my coffee without feeling rushed to get somewhere. I love that.

Emily
Casey said the sweet, sweet sound of silence. Laurie said the sun all day long, amen, Laura. Patricia said becoming a human again. And I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling. Susan said not hearing my name called 1000 times a day teacher teacher. Anne said being able to take long trips. And Lori’s looking forward to travel too, she said road trip with my hubby on his work trips.

Heidi
Sounds like everyone’s got some fun plans this summer. We would love to hear your response to this and what your summer plans are. And other questions in our teacher approved Facebook community.

Heidi
It’s hard to believe that the end of another crazy school year is in sight.

Emily
And some of you when you’re listening to this, it might be your first week of summer. And summer is more magical as a teacher to me than it ever was as a kid. Assuming you think unlimited bathroom access is magical.

Heidi
You know, it kind of is. When it comes to summer, teachers typically fall into two camps, either they’re team, I do not even want to hear the word school yet. Or they are team I am doing everything for school right this second I just checked two things off my list.

Emily
Both of these examples are easy traps to fall into.

Heidi
And we have fallen into those traps multiple times.

Emily
Because sometimes as teachers, we lean toward complete freedom, because we want our summers to feel light and fun. And we deserve that for sure. Or we dig into school work because we know the avalanche that awaits us in the fall. But either way, we are just falling into patterns without taking the time to figure out what we really need from our summers and it might change from year to year.

Heidi
So with that in mind, Emily and I have done the highly scientific research. So we have uncovered that the key to a beneficial teacher summer is a mix of recovery and readiness. We need recovery because we are beyond exhausted. And we need to plan for readiness so that we aren’t completely burned out by September 15.

Emily
Oh, yeah, we’re trying to break the patterns that haven’t served us well in the past. And that requires some reflection. So because we live for lists, Heidi and I identified four types of recovery you may want to consider after a hard school year. So Heidi, kick us off.

Heidi
I would love to. The first type of recovery is relax. And this is probably the most important one to consider. For this type of recovery, ask yourself, what is fun and freeing? What makes me laugh, smile or feel carefree?

Emily
So whatever you find fun, is what you need to relax. And if you’ve forgotten what fun is, which I think some of us are there, this is your sign that you definitely need to make a plan for some relaxing this summer. Heidi, what’s the second type of recovery?

Heidi
So besides, relax, we have refresh. To identify what you need to refresh, ask yourself, What makes me feel like me? Maybe it’s reconnecting with friends, spending time outside, writing, binging a TV show, crafting, walking the dog, all of that stuff. Think about the things that help you feel a little more centered.

Emily
Okay, so we’ve got relax, refresh, and of course, we’ve got another R. The third type of recovery is refocus. What keeps you fastened to your foundation? That’s the question to ask yourself. With this type of recovery, consider what makes you feel most like yourself as a human, not just as a teacher or a parent or whatever roles you play.

Heidi
For a refocused recovery, think about what you require in order to feel functional. Is it staying on top of the laundry, having date night, exercise or meal planning? Maybe you need to refocus on yoga in the park, or your daily devotional, any rituals of starting or ending your day or being intentional about connecting with your kids. Think about the routines that help you feel like a person and not just a tired teacher.

Emily
I think we could all use some sort of refocused recovery at this time of year. Oh, definitely. And that brings us to the last type of recovery, which is recharge. So ask yourself, what fills me up. Think about the things you love to do that gets you excited and energized and fills up your bucket, so to speak.

Heidi
Recovery is incredibly personal, what lights one person up can be completely draining to another person. So we share these four areas of recovery to help you consider exactly what recovery should look like for you this summer, and what plans you can make to help foster that recovery. You might need to relax, refresh, refocus, and recharge, or your recovery might lie in just one or two of those areas.

Emily
The important thing here is that you’re taking the time to consider what you need to get out of your summer, instead of just defaulting to off duty teacher mode, or manic get ready for next year mode.

Heidi
So with that in mind, I am coercing Emily into a public discussion about our summer recovery plans.

Emily
Yay.

Heidi
It really it really helped me last year, I don’t know if it helped anyone else. But I know if I don’t do this as part of the podcast, I will tell myself, I’ll do it. And I will never actually make the time for it.

Emily
Well, at least you’re honest with yourself.

Heidi
So going into summer this year means that we are gearing up for a busy busy work time. But I’m also finally wrapping up a year long work project shout out to our fourth grade teachers who have used the morning work.

Heidi
So I am pretty tired going into summer. And I need to refill my bucket while also allowing for lots of work time, but not too much work. Because if I am not careful about managing my stress, I’m going to trigger an autoimmune flare and then I just have no choice but to rest. So it does feel a little like I’ve got high stakes relaxing to do. But you know nothing feels relaxing about high stakes. So that is how I’m feeling going into.

Emily
Well, high stakes relaxing does not sound like a recipe for real rest success. So why don’t we call it radically intentional rest, instead? What kind of recovery do you need most then Heidi?

Heidi
I actually think I need all four areas this summer.

Emily
Okay, I think you’re probably right. So let’s start with relaxing. What is fun and freeing for you?

Heidi
I think that I’m leaning toward regular friend lunches.

Emily
Oh, that’s fun.

Heidi
I don’t know if a weekly lunch might impact work time too much. That’s always the worry.

Emily
Especially if they like stretch on and on and on.

Heidi
But, you know, that’s kind of what I’m leaning towards. It’s just it’s so easy to feel like oh, I’ll catch up with my friends when life slows down and I don’t know when that will ever happen.

Emily
It’s like how or is like this week is crazy, but next week will be better and it’s never better.

Heidi
So I guess I just need to be proactive about it. But you know, see how it goes.

Emily
I like it. So what are you thinking for refresh? What makes you feel like you?

Heidi
So, you know, we talked about recovery being very personal and what some people like other people. Yes. So just I understand that this will be controversial, but I want to catalog my teaching supplies and organize my basement, which was also our preschool room back in the day. Yes, it is a straight up disaster at the moment.

Emily
And my kids are to blame for that because it has been in their playroom since the pandemic every time we come to Auntie Heidi’s, they have unfettered access to the preschool fun.

Heidi
At least someone’s using it. Yeah. But really having an organization project that’s kind of low stakes brings me pure delight. And hopefully making it part of my summer plans means that I will force myself to make time for it. Even if it feels like I have other more pressing things to do on my to do list.

Emily
And you did that recently with your pantry. Right? And your linen closet. Was that right? Yeah. And you got those done. And they look great. Well, thank you. So that’s a fun challenge for the summer. So what do you have in mind for refocused? What keeps you fasten to your foundation?

Heidi
I have found that I really benefit from a slow, intentional morning routine. It really just kind of carries me through the rest of the day. But it’s so easy to brush it off in the name of like, well, I just need to get to I need to start work because I work at my house.

Emily
This is why I don’t have a good morning routine because of that feeling.

Heidi
But I think really that sticking with a consistent morning routine is the key to not letting the stress get to me. So I just I need to be really solid in that commitment.

Emily
It’s an intentional choice that pays off in the long run. So you you have to remember that and I’m saying that out loud for myself as well. Okay, the last ones recharged. What do you have in mind for that?

Heidi
So I mean, quite nailed down the details on this one. What fills me up is having a like a fun light hearted project. A few years ago, I did the summer of Harry Potter. And before that I did the summer of Audrey Hepburn just kind of random and fun. I read books, I listen to podcasts, I watch the movies.

Heidi
And I want to do something similar kind of like light hearted, but ways that I can incorporate it easily into my life. But I have zero ideas. sounds appealing. So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Emily
Well, I’m excited to see where you find out.

Heidi
I guess have a couple of weeks to decide. Yes, that’s true. Okay, Emily, your turn. How are you feeling going into summer?

Emily
Well, on the day that we are recording this, we’re in deep, May-cember crazy and I am feeling burned out. I don’t blame you capital letters. Heidi and I lived through a two and a half hour band concert, a middle school band concert on Friday night. And I’m I have not recovered you guys.

Emily
So I am ready for a break from pretty much all the demands in my life right now. But I’m not going to get a break from all of them. So I’m going to need to be intentional about crafting some rest and recovery.

Heidi
Well, that sounds like you’ve got some good insights. So what does recovery look like for you this summer? What areas do you need to focus on?

Emily
I think I’m mainly being drawn to relax and refocus, although I just had an idea while you were talking for recharge, so I might stick that in at the end of your time.

Emily
So for relaxing, I want to start with having our first week of summer be kind of a free for all, which is against my nature, I really like to hit the ground running on day one, usually. But last year, I hadn’t planned on doing that we were going to start all of our routines on day one. But then we got COVID.

Emily
For the first time, all of us at the same time for that very first week. We like all tested positive like the day after the last day of school. So we really just relaxed all week. And it was surprisingly a nice transition to summer.

Emily
By the second week, we were really ready for a little more structure. And so I’m planning on that low key, anything goes week to start things off, I’m still going to need to probably do more work than I did when I had COVID. But I’ll be able to not worry so much about making sure that kids are being productive. We can just kind of have a week to ourselves.

Heidi
I totally forgot you guys all had COVID. Better way to kick off the summer. Well, hopefully you can get that low key start without needing COVID Yeah, fingers crossed. What are you thinking for refocus? What keeps you fastened to your foundation?

Emily
So I’m someone who wants freedom but actually desperately needs structure. So I’ve been thinking a lot about what kind of structure will keep me feeling grounded this summer without unintentionally locking us into a super strict schedule that I don’t feel like I can stray from.

Emily
I’ve decided that I need structure that includes more responsibility for my kids. So I’ve got good kids who mostly do what I asked them to do without well, a medium amount of complaining from a particular especially, but they don’t do anything, literally anything without being reminded to do it, particularly when it comes to helping around the house.

Emily
And so I’m always having to be on their case and I really don’t enjoy that. But then if I take a break from being on our case, some things don’t get done. So I’m leaning towards a schedule that has certain loose expectations of what sort of things we do in each part of the day with room for flexibility. So then I want to have certain tasks, though, that get delegated to the kids, and they are responsible to remember to get them done.

Emily
I’m tired of being both the cruise director and the shift manager who needs to plan all the fun, and make sure all the jobs get done is too much, especially while I’m trying to work. So last year was my first year without any childcare during the summer while also trying to work. And we made work, okay, but I think I learned some things. And this year, I have a better idea of how to make it work.

Emily
And this plan for sort of a loose schedule, but with increased expectations for what my kids will be responsible for doing might be the ticket there. So I’m hoping my kids will rise to the occasion, they’re old enough to take on more responsibility than they have so far.

Heidi
Yeah, I think that sounds like a really solid plan. What were you thinking about for recharge?

Emily
Well, so the thought I had while you were talking is that last year, I was kind of doing the movie thing of like, yeah, and we’re doing that more, I’m doing that across the board more, because you gave me that movie pass for Christmas. So we’re seeing usually like a movie every month, which is good.

Emily
But for the summer, I was trying to think of something that I could do with my kids. And I just had the thought while you’re talking that I think we’re gonna do we I read aloud from a chapter book to them every night. And currently we’re reading Holes, which has a movie and the kids are really excited to watch the movie.

Emily
So I think maybe for the rest of the summer, I will choose read alouds that have a movie we can watch after, because they seem really excited about that. And it makes them more invested in the read aloud. So that’s a fun idea. That will be a fun theme for summer.

Heidi
And then you’re not committing to too many movies. That certainly read so fast. Yes.

Heidi
Well, besides our summer recovery, we need to plan school readiness into our schedules. The last thing we want is to end up undoing all of our recovery work by ending up burned out the second week of school.

Emily
So with that in mind, we have two keys to help with readiness. And that’s goals and boundaries. You can’t achieve back to school readiness without having specific goals about what readiness looks like for you.

Emily
So the first step is to imagine how you want to feel as you head into the new school year, and identify specific goals you can set for the summer to help you get there.

Heidi
And next you need boundaries. Setting clear boundaries about when where and how you will work on school related tasks this summer will help you and everyone else in your life know what to expect.

Emily
And by knowing when and how you will work on school tasks. It will help you honor the time you set aside for non work related priorities as well.

Heidi
Setting clear goals for your back to school readiness will guide you to make the most of your summer work time. Imagine it’s the end of the summer, and you are starting school feeling more prepared than ever. What tasks would you need to accomplish to give you that feeling?

Emily
If you’re not sure what types of activities lend themselves to summer prep, check out episode 61 of our podcasts where we share some specific things you can do now for next fall. So think of it as giving your future self a gift.

Heidi
But remember, we aren’t losing our whole summer to work goals. So we need to set clear boundaries.

Emily
For example, you may decide that you’re not going to do anything for school in the month of June, and you’re going to prioritize recovery instead. Or you may decide that you’re going to work in your classroom only on Wednesdays.

Emily
Setting clear boundaries about when where and how you will work on school related tasks this summer will help you and everyone else in your life be clear on what the summer will look like and what to expect.

Heidi
So Emily, how are you implementing goals and boundaries this summer?

Emily
Well, like last summer, we have a lot of goals already set for the summer for our work. So I’m not too worried about setting work goals this year. But in terms of boundaries, something I’m always working on is setting a specific time that my work ends for the day.

Emily
And it’s tricky because if my kids end up playing outside with friends for hours in the late afternoon, I’m like sweet, I can fit into more work. But that does make it harder to honor the end time I set if I do that. So I would say the main boundary I’m working on is just set finishing work time.

Emily
And then trying to be fully out of work when it’s family time like I’m done for the day. I’m not going to go back to it, then maybe I’d have time to do other things in my life besides work and just be with my kids. What else is there? I know. Well, what about you, Heidi? What are your goals and boundaries?

Heidi
Well, I agree with what you said that we’ve got a pretty clear sense of the work that needs to get done this summer. So you know we’re ahead of that for when that’s nice. But same with human work boundaries are just a different matter.

Heidi
I like your idea of having just a set end of day work time because now that it is staying so light into the evenings I’m just working till dark. Yeah, I’m starting to think that maybe that’s not good.

Emily
But I fall into the same trap when I’m presented with the opportunity to do that, which is not every night. But I find I’m actually getting in the groove a lot easier in the evening than I am earlier that day. So it’s just really easy to like when I’m working, I’m getting so much done. But it’s really not good for your sleep schedule.

Heidi
I know that’s a problem, because then it’s like, takes forever to unwind. And then I’m staying up too late. And I’m gonna start too late the next morning. Yeah, and I know every time I’m doing this and setting myself up, but you haven’t learned yet.

Heidi
This summer, though, this summer says the summer gonna, I’m gonna figure this thing out. Those are my boundaries, I’m going to try and have end of day work time, even though that feels terrible. I am be cautionary tale in this situation.

Emily
It sounds like we’re both going to be working on those boundaries between our work and personal life this summer.

Heidi
And as you may have noticed, from our discussion, it can be tricky to figure all of this out. But I found it was such a huge help to me last year, that I knew we needed to do this again before this summer. So thank you for going on this journey with us today.

Emily
And we hope this discussion has helped you start thinking about how to design your summer. So consider these guiding questions. How are you feeling going into summer? What would these four areas of recovery look like to you?

Emily
Relaxing. What is fun and freeing to you? Refreshing. What makes you feel like you? Refocusing. What keeps you fastened to your foundation? Recharging. What fills you up?

Emily
Is there one area of recovery that’s calling to you more than the others? How can you make plans to include time for that recovery in your summer schedule?

Heidi
And then also consider your goals and boundaries? So how do you want to feel in August when you are starting to get your classroom ready for the new school year? What would you like to have accomplished for your classroom before the school year starts? And what specific goal or goals would help you achieve that? And last of all what boundaries, should you set around your work goals to protect them, while also honoring the other priorities in your summer?

Heidi
Tweak these guidelines, however, you need to tailor them to your situation. And when you have your recovery and readiness plans, please come share them in our Facebook group because we could all benefit from your ideas.

Emily
Yes. Now let’s talk about this week’s teacher approved tip. Each week, we leave you with a small actionable tip that you can apply in your classroom today. This week’s teacher approved tip is make a list of tasks students can help with at the end of the year. So Heidi, can you tell us more about this tip?

Heidi
Absolutely. So if you have taught a while, you probably already involve your students in the end of year cleanup. You know, the kids can be the ones to check the markers and sharpen pencils, and peel off labels, all that fun stuff.

Heidi
But when I taught second grade, every year, we would get to that last week of school and I would be scrambling to come up with my student to do tasks. I just assumed that I would remember what I had the kids do last year. But you know, after a year, that memory is pretty hazy.

Heidi
So this is your call to action. As you’re assigning kid tasks at the end of the year, start adding them to a list that you can reference in the future. And if you find yourself doing something that kids could do like taking down displays in the hallway, just add it to your list for next year.

Emily
Everyone has a different system for holding on to lists. So do whatever works best for you. You could make your list in the Notes app, send yourself an email, schedule a reminder to send next year before the last week of school, or add a tab to your planner.

Emily
Do whatever you have to do so that you remember that you even made this list for starters, and then that you know where to find that list.

Heidi
The double whammy there. Just getting your list made will put you ahead for next year. But you can make it even more beneficial by rating the difficulty of each task. In my cleanup plans, I had certain tasks that I like to reserve for my let’s say more responsible students.

Heidi
You know, things that involve a lot of details like I would have the kids sort the word wall words into their weekly baggies, that was 180 words that had to get sorted. And that could really only be done by certain kids, no matter how willing everyone else was to help.

Heidi
If you have tasks that require a little more thought, make a note of that on your list. Maybe you could rank a task from a one to a three in difficulty, or just add a star next to your trickier tasks. Then next year, you can make sure that you are trusting the complicated tasks to your more reliable students.

Emily
I love the idea for adding the rating too, that really makes it an even better list. And we have crowdsource a few of these ideas in our Teacher Approved Facebook group. But now I think maybe we’ll start an official listed there that saved in the files area of our Facebook group that people could come and add theirs too so that we can crowdsource our best ideas for that. So head over to our teacher approved Facebook group to check that out.

Heidi
To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we’re giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?

Emily
I’m giving extra credit to Queen Charlotte on Netflix. I enjoyed the first two seasons of Bridgerton but I wasn’t actually that excited about Queen Charlotte when I heard about the miniseries. But the joke is on me because I loved it and probably enjoyed it even more than I liked Bridgerton. I always enjoy a story that’s history adjacent. And obviously we know that this isn’t historically accurate, although they do seem to be putting in some details that seem to be accurate.

Emily
But I really love the casting for the show and I would be delighted if they end up making another season because six episodes was just not enough. So if you like Bridgerton or Outlander, I think you’ll like Queen Charlotte. And just be forewarned, it’s definitely on the spicy side. So keep that in mind if that’s something that bothers you.

Heidi
Yeah, that’s Britain’s.

Emily
Yes. What are you giving extra credit to Heidi?

Heidi
My extra credit goes to something also spicy but less. But less sensational. How’s that? Okay. I know the sun already has an A plus, so it doesn’t need the extra credit. But I am awarding an extra credit anyway. Having the sun stay up late, it’s just been so lovely.

Emily
I know. It’s like we come awake and game really.

Heidi
It’s amazing how much more human I feel now that it’s not getting dark in the middle of the afternoon. Yeah, that’s why I’m working till nine o’clock at night. The double edged sword. It’s crazy what a difference the longer days can make.

Emily
Absolutely. Extra credit to sunlight.

Heidi
Yay to the sun. But don’t be too hot. Yes. We have a fraught relationship. Anyway.

Heidi
That is it for today’s episode. Plan your summer recovery and readiness. And remember our teacher approved tip to make a list of the end of year tasks your students can help with so you are ready to go for next year.