The 2 Things Teachers Need to Refuel This Summer [episode 130]

Emily  0:37

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today’s episode, we’re talking about making purposeful summer plans and sharing a teacher approved tip for getting ahead on next year’s tasks. One of our favorite things to do.

Emily  0:50

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 do you do anything to thank your parent volunteers at the end of the year? I did always do something for my parent volunteers. But it was usually just some treat nothing particularly special or cute. But we do have a few responses from our community.

Heidi  1:13

Julia said that she always gives her volunteers a beach towel and a bag which I think sounds like the perfect start to summer.

Emily  1:20

I love that. Ellen school doesn’t have parent volunteers. But back when she was a volunteer in her daughter’s class, the teacher had the students put their fingerprints on a canvas bag and tuck the note and some candy inside. And she says that was 20 years ago and she still has the bag.

Heidi  1:35

That’s such a thoughtful gift. I bet she thinks of those kids who are now not kids anymore. Every time she sees that bag. And I have to say it never occurred to me to make volunteer thank yous until Pinterest came along. Yeah, kind of changed a lot for teaching. And then I used I felt bad for all the years I had missed it. I thought maybe like everyone had been doing it but me, which I don’t think is true.

Heidi  2:00

But when I did, I just went simple. I got oven mitts from the dollar store and I had all the kids sign them. And then I added a tag that said something like, we’re happy to ad-mitt with two t’s that we appreciated your helping him this year because you know I have a gift doesn’t have a punny tag is it even really thoughtful gift?

Emily  2:20

Certainly not Pinterest worthy.

Heidi  2:22

But I also have to admit that a lot of years and then we’ll say probably most years, this particular task was something that often got dropped from my to do list, because I was just too busy at the end of the year.

Emily  2:37

Relatable. If you do something for your parent volunteers, we would love to hear about it over in our teacher approved Facebook group.

Heidi  2:47

We’ve just got a couple weeks left in May. And for some of you that means the end is in sight.

Emily  2:52

And for some of you that means you still have a month or more left of school.

Heidi  2:56

If you are in the not done till June crowd we are cheering you on.

Emily  3:02

And you can laugh at everyone going back in August while you’re still lounging by the pool.

Heidi  3:08

But before anyone gets to the pool, let’s talk about how to end the school year strong. And I think one of the best tips for wrapping up on a high note is to just enjoy your students.

Emily  3:20

It’s so easy to get lost in the demands of daily life as a teacher. But now that some of the pressures off make time to remember why you wanted to be a teacher in the first place. Some of my favorite ways to do this are playing a game with my class or with extra storytime.

Heidi  3:36

At the end of the year, I tried to plan activities that I enjoyed teaching, and that maybe didn’t have to move the curriculum along as much.

Emily  3:44

It’s lot easier to get out of bed in May and go to work when you know you plan something that you want to do. Absolutely, and ending the year strong doesn’t have to mean more work. Even something as simple as being intentional about taking a moment everyday to stop and look around can go a long way.

Heidi  4:00

As some of my favorite teacher memories are standing at the back of my room or at the side of the class while the kids were busy and then just watching all of the wonder around me. Each class has such a unique personality and I tried to take some moments to really soak that in.

Emily  4:16

And when one of those kids starts flicking bits of eraser across the room, you have just a smidge more patience to go deal with.

Heidi  4:24

Yes, there are moments of course that you will not miss with your class. And if you are in a situation where you are counting down the minutes until the last backpacker walks out the door, this suggestion is even more important. If you have a really tough group this year, taking time to pause and look around at what’s going right can be a huge mood boost.

Emily  4:45

Plus, taking the time to make some happy memories can really help end a tough year on a happier note.

Heidi  4:53

And of course we are huge advocates for taking time to reflect. If you missed it, go back to last week’s episode. mode, where we shared some of our favorite questions to help you reflect on the highs and the lows and the now what’s of ending the school year.

Emily  5:08

Along with that we included a freebie journal page for you to record your thoughts as well as start some important lists like your Tada list, where you write down all of your successes for this year.

Heidi  5:20

We also include pages for your fix it list for everything that’s bothering you. And then you can use those two lists to start your third list. Every teacher summer frenemy, the to do list, and there is a link to that file in our show notes.

Emily  5:35

But wait, don’t get too bogged down in the To Do Lists yet, because we want to take a minute to figure out what do we want out of our summer?

Heidi  5:45

As a teacher, I swung between two summer extremes. I was either do not say the word school where I might hear it because I’m pretending that place doesn’t exist. Or I am doing everything for school. In fact, I’m doing three things right this minute. And please me that stapler.

Emily  6:02

Both of these examples are easy traps to fall into. We lean toward complete freedom because we want our summers to feel free and fun. Or we dig into schoolwork because we know the avalanche that awaits us in the fall and we want to ease some of that burden ahead of us.

Heidi  6:18

But neither of these approaches serves us well because we are just falling into patterns without taking the time to figure out what we really need to get out of our summer.

Emily  6:27

So dear listener, what do you need to get out of your summer? My channeling Bridgerton feel like I’m Lady Whistle Downing. If we’re trying to break patterns that haven’t served as well, that is going to require some reflection.

Heidi  6:42

Right. If I had been more reflective before flinging myself into the summer panic spiral, I might have realized that what I was looking for was a mixture of recovery and readiness. I needed to plan for recovery because I was beyond exhausted. And I needed space to learn to love teaching again. And then I needed to plan for readiness so that I wasn’t starting the year already behind.

Emily  7:10

Taking time to design your summer consult two problems. First, you can make sure you’re starting the new year from a position of strength. And second, you can make sure you’re getting the type of recovery you need.

Heidi  7:21

And we’re saying type of recovery because there is more than one way to recover. We have crunched the numbers, and we have uncovered four distinct types of recovery. Emily, fill us in on this groundbreaking discovery please.

Emily  7:36

Well, the first type of recovery is relax and we think this is probably the most essential type of recovery. To figure out what you need to relax ask yourself what’s fun in freeing? What makes you smile, laugh and feel carefree? Maybe you need to check out for a while with a fluffy beach read or check in with a novel engaging experience. Whatever you find fun is what you need to relax.

Heidi  8:01

And if you have forgotten what fun is, this is your wake up call that you absolutely need to prioritize fun and relaxation this summer.

Emily  8:09

Try a puzzle. Okay, just hear me out. That is the best way to relax.

Heidi  8:15

It does sound very restful. Okay, Emily, what is our second type of recovery?

Emily  8:20

That is 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, gardening, cooking, learning something new, engaging in the things that help you feel centered are the things that will help you feel refreshed.

Heidi  8:40

The third type of recovery is refocus what keeps you fastened to your foundation? With this type of recovery, consider what makes you feel most like yourself as a human. And not just as a teacher or a parent or whatever roles you play.

Emily  8:56

After a stressful school year, we all need to get back to basics on some level. Refocus on what you need to feel like a functioning adult. Is it staying on top of the laundry, having date night getting back into regular exercise or meal planning?

Heidi  9:09

Maybe you need to refocus on yoga in the park, daily devotional, starting the day slowly or being intentional about connecting with your kids. Consider the routines and rituals that help you feel like a person and not just a tired teacher.

Emily  9:25

And the last type of recovery is recharge. What fills you up? Think about the things you love to do that get you excited and energized and fill up your bucket so to speak.

Heidi  9:34

If you’re someone who loves a new project, maybe that’s what you need to add to your summer plans. Or maybe you recharged by learning a new skill or traveling or hosting dinner parties.

Emily  9:45

Maybe you would love to do all of those things. Or maybe they all sound miserable. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you set aside time to recharge during the things that fill you up.

Heidi  9:56

Recovery is incredibly personal. It varies from person to person from summer to summer and maybe even varies from day to day. So we share these four areas of recovery to help you consider exactly what recovery should look like for you this summer.

Emily  10:13

Don’t worry if you can’t remember all those questions. Do you remember that freebie we mentioned earlier in this episode? To help you be intentional about your recovery this summer, along with the To Do lists and reflection questions, we also have some journal pages so you can make a plan for exactly the types of recovery you need.

Heidi  10:31

And we also have a page for the next part of an intentional summer planning for back to school readiness.

Emily  10:37

Sometimes it feels like it has to be all or nothing. We’re either in summer mode or school mode, and the two cannot coexist.

Heidi  10:45

If you are in a position where you are ready to start the year without having to spend your free time on it, I salute you and you are free to skip to the end of this episode.

Emily  10:55

Wait, though, before you go. Tell us what you’re doing to get so far ahead because I think most teachers are going to have to do at least some summer prep.

Heidi  11:03

And that’s why along with our summer plan for recovery, we also want to plan for readiness. The last thing we want is to undo all of our recovery work by ending up burned out by the second week of school.

Emily  11:15

You can’t achieve back to school readiness without having specific goals about what readiness looks like for you. 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  11:31

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  11:40

Of course we’ve included these questions in our end of the year list making reflections summer planning all the things freebie.

Heidi  11:48

We need to catchier title. Fine, but at least you know what you’re getting with it. Check out the link in the show notes to download your very own end of the year list making reflection and summer planning pages.

Emily  12:03

After you’ve set your work goals, you need to set some work boundaries. Clear boundaries about when where and how you will work on school related tasks this summer will help you and everyone in your life know what to expect.

Heidi  12:16

And by knowing when and how you will work on school tasks, it will help you honor the time that you set aside for your recovery priorities.

Emily  12:24

If you want some guidance on how to really maximize your goals before school starts, make sure to sign up for our new course.

Heidi  12:32

Knowing how busy you are, we designed a back to school audio course. So you can listen while you’re hiking or watching kids at the pool, or whatever else you are doing to recover this summer.

Emily  12:43

In the course we’ll walk you through everything you need to do to set your intentions, identify your priorities, set up your systems, and actually get things done so you can have the best back to school season ever, without giving up your entire summer. So talk about back to school readiness.

Heidi  12:59

The first round of our course will be for a limited number of teachers so that we can offer you the best support possible. If you want to be the first to know when we open the course so you can make sure that you have a seat, head to secondstorywindow.net/waitlist to sign up.

Emily  13:15

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 tackle your Donkey Kong barrels in the summer. Can you please decode this tip for us Heidi?

Heidi  13:34

I wasn’t prepared for how crazy that would sound when I heard it. So back in episode 128 we talked about tasks that are Donkey Kong barrels. So if you were like us and you’re able to remember the original Donkey Kong game, Mario is trying to scale ladders and jump hurdles and collect hammers. But as if that weren’t hard enough, Donkey Kong starts throwing barrels at him so rude. So now poor Mario has to dodge as well as climb and leap.

Heidi  14:04

As teachers these barrels come at us all the time. We are just doing our best to make it through another day. And then the PTA wants everyone to decorate their doors for school spirit week, or you need a birthday gift for your team member. It’s the Donkey Kong barrels that turn us from busy into overwhelmed. If you are wanting to get some of your back to school tasks done this summer, consider tackling your Donkey Kong barrels. This requires four easy steps. So first, you identify your barrels.

Emily  14:37

And that’s probably the trickiest part because barrels are usually coming from outside events. They’re not the things that are typically written down. So try going back through the year thinking about things that your PTA asked you to do. Things your principal asked you to do and things you had to do outside your normal routine like parent conferences, field trips, having a sub etc.

Heidi  14:58

Also consider the things that you would have liked to have done. Maybe that’s birthday gifts for your students, parent volunteer thank yous, Christmas gifts for your co workers, end of year student recognition, all of that stuff that maybe you’ve seen other teachers do that you feel it would be nice to do. It’s just so hard to find the time for.

Emily  15:17

As you list each task, you need to identify the purpose of that task. And I know you’re probably itching to get to the check things off my list stage. But identifying your purpose is so important. It simplifies your decision making. It maximizes your efficiency, and it helps you identify if this is even a task worth doing.

Heidi  15:37

Right. It’s easy to think that the purpose of decorating your door for school spirit week is to have a display that will win the PJs contest.

Emily  15:45

Wait, it’s not?

Heidi  15:46

As teachers that’s automatic. Well, that’s the standard. So that’s what we got to shoot for. And that’s fine if it matters to you enough to commit that much effort to this task. But if deep down your purpose is to just get something up so you don’t offend the PTA, then that’s a sign to just do the minimum, same task, very different goals.

Emily  16:08

Once you’ve identified your purpose, it’s time to decide once, that means to make a one time decision about what you will do for those situations.

Heidi  16:16

So for example, if you have parent conferences in September and you need something to display in the hallway, decide once that you will have your students do a self portrait goal setting craft the first week of school, so you can just hang that in the hall and call it good.

Emily  16:30

Or decide once that you’re giving all your co workers a picture book for Christmas. And you’ll have your class write thank you notes to the front office workers for secretaries week.

Heidi  16:39

So far you have listed your barrel tasks, identified their purpose, and decided how you will accomplish those tasks. And the last step is the easy one, right, just to get it all done. For each of your tasks, consider the steps that will take to accomplish it. And then also notice what can be done in advance.

Emily  16:57

There’s probably a lot you can do ahead of time, even during the summer. If you get creative. If you know you want a goal setting craft for the hallway, you can cut out the construction paper and make copies now, make extras if you don’t have your class numbers yet, and you’re all ready to go for the start of the year.

Heidi  17:13

Or if you want to give your students twisty straws and lemonade mix as the last day of school gift. You can totally buy and prep all of that now.

Emily  17:21

It’s probably a great time to do it. Because we’re at the time of year it’d be easy to find those things in store ready to go. And then when those barrels start flying toward you in a few months, you won’t even have to dodge out of the way they will just evaporate.

Heidi  17:33

And since I was adding recovery and readiness pages to the end of school year list and reflection question freebie, I went ahead and I added a page for barrel tasks too. So now it’s an end of your list reflection questions summer planner and barrel test document.

Emily  17:48

Oh, I know how to shorten it. It’s going to be EOYLRQSPABT document. That’s better, right way better. Whatever we call it, you can find a link to it in the show notes.

Heidi  18:03

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

Emily  18:08

Well I’m giving extra credit to the TV show The Traitors and Heidi already gave extra credit to it, but I didn’t so I can do it now. It took me a while to get around to watching this. Everyone’s been talking about it for like a year at least. But I finally watched it and I’m totally hooked.

Emily  18:26

It’s a psychological reality competition where a few contestants are chosen to be the traitors and have to work together to eliminate all the faithfuls and try not to be discovered and banish themselves. Alan Cummings is the host of the US version, which is just a delight. I mean, you should watch it just for his wardrobe. I love him so much love it. But I also really love the contestants for season one of the UK version. You just can’t go wrong with any of them. And you can find all the various countries versions of Traitors on Peacock.

Heidi  19:01

It’s very fun watch.

Emily  19:03

What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?

Heidi  19:06

I’m giving extra credit to my favorite soda drink, because nobody appreciates it. I want to share the love. So Emily and I are recording this podcast on a Saturday. So we decided that we deserved a little pick me up as a weekend treat. So he got sodas and I am now buzzing with caffeine and appreciation for how much I love this drink.

Heidi  19:29

For context. If you don’t know Utah, soda shops are a big deal here like lawsuits, big deal. Of the many options, my favorite soda shop is Thirst and I don’t get a lot of soda. So I was kind of overwhelmed the first time I went. I didn’t know what to get. So I just ordered the drink of the week. And I thought it was something else completely something was Sprite I think and then they handed it to me and it was a drink called the Thirsty Three and I was too embarrassed to say anything because they’d already made it. So I just kept it.

Heidi  20:03

But that turned out to be serendipitous because this is now my favorite.

Emily  20:08

Oh, it was fate.

Heidi  20:09

Yeah, it was. And the problem is that this is a strange combination. And when they order it, the employees always double check that it’s actually what I want because it’s a mix of Coke and lemonade. I know. It’s weird. Don’t knock it till you try it.

Emily  20:22

But it’s like Coke with a like big shot of lemonade. It’s not like half and half. Yeah, Coke and lemonade.

Heidi  20:30

And then you add fresh lime and coconut cream. It’s an odd duck of a drink, but it really just has it to me, it has a happy summer flavor. So justic for the thirsty three, if you try it at Thirst or if you recreate it yourself, let me know. And we can start some kind of community outreach campaign and create awareness.

Emily  20:50

Well, I can verify that it is a very good drink.

Heidi  20:56

That’s it for today’s episode, check out our show notes for a freebie to help you design a summer full of recovery and readiness. And don’t forget to visit secondstorywindow.net/waitlist to get on the waitlist for our upcoming back to school audio course.