What Is It You Plan To Do with Your Wild and Precious Summer?

(Brian) I spent way too many summers the wrong way. My foolishness would start before it ever began. During the last weeks of school I would craft a master list of hopeful summer ambitions:

I wanted to revamp all my units
I wanted to read a bevy of professional books
I wanted to redesign and organize my handouts
I wanted to immerse myself in the complete works of a canonical author

What I was really doing was setting myself up to play the martyr, sacrificing my summer for the betterment of my students.

Thank goodness my ambitions always outran my abilities. Little to none of it ever came to fruition. Had I accomplished all I set out to achieve, I would have returned a lesser teacher, not a better one.

What student wants to come back in the fall to a teacher that whines about all the sacrifices they made for their students’ betterment? When building student relationships, resentment easily becomes a two-way street.

My summer goals have matured and been narrowed down to one:

I WANT TO LEAD AN INTERESTING LIFE OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL SO THAT I CAN BRING AVENTURES AND TALES BACK TO THE CLASSROOM.

I rarely step foot in school or do things for school. Instead of lists, my days don’t have a set agenda.They are now a mosaic of a little bit of everything that I find interesting, like:

We travel a bit as a family
I try to read at least one novel for pleasure
I want my bare feet to touch the earth each day
We get morning bagels and drive onto the beach
There are lots of afternoon naps, especially after a swim
I conduct a handful of summer workshops for AP teachers
I write if the mood strikes me
I coach summer basketball

(Susan) I am Kate Bowler obsessed these days (pardon my girl crush), and when I saw her commencement address at the University of Manitoba this year, my summer plans were set:

Be interested and be interesting.

Treat yourself today by carving out seven minutes to watch her charge yourself; start at the 2:55 mark is you only have 4 minutes to spare.

Here’s how I plan to be interested and be interesting this summer:

Visiting each of my kids where they live (all things Atlanta with the oldest, catching some shows in NYC with the middle, and an afternoon at Lake Michigan beach with the baby)
Reading Lonesome Dove for my summer book club and pairing with George Washington Gomez (Brian is joining for LD – anyone else want to for an online book club???)
Lunching with friends (Erin – this is our week!!!)
Trying a new recipe each week (@seattlehanddoc, @oldschoolkevmo, and @mackstonedad are my favorite food influencers at the moment)
Changing up my exercise routine to include yoga and swimming
Exploring Atlanta Happy Hour places that have been on the list way too long (shout out to Phoebe and Kate who have built in Tuesday afternoons in their schedule for this pursuit)
Leading some workshops for AP teachers – I’m 2 in and am already inspired, challenged, and hopeful for the future of education. Teachers are THE BEST!!!
Catching up on The Bear and finishing The Residence
Slowing down and noticing more like Mary Oliver

Notice what’s not on the list:

Reflecting on last year – I build some of this into the end of the year and will do some more when I go back to school
Planning for the upcoming year – nope, nope, nope. And if you need to do this to live a more sane life during the year, the by all means, do so. But I suggest putting limits on your planning time and not let it consume your summer.
Organizing/cleaning my room at school. I don’t even clean my house like I should, so this is definitely out.

The paradox is this: in order to be engaging in the classroom, teachers must set aside time and space to engage with the world around us.

We would love to hear what you’re working on and feature our collective talents and projects in a blog. Share your passion projects through this Google form.

Enough writing. Enough reading. Time to get on with summer.