What Can You Do Over the Summer to Prepare for the Next School Year?
Teachers can finally take a deep breath now that summer break has started or will in the next few days! However, many wonder: What Can You Do Over the Summer to Prepare for the Next School Year? While teachers deserve this much-needed break, they also want to use some of the time to make next year less stressful. Thankfully, teachers can do a few things while still relaxing!
1. Plan and Organize for Next Year
Before planning for next year, decide what went well last year and what you want to do again. Additionally, look at what did not go well. This powerful reflection helps you consider the previous year and how lessons impacted students. Then, make adjustments to units and plans. While students drive the specific lessons, teachers can create a framework for units and make changes based on the previous year. This will help ensure next year moves at the desired pace and focuses on student learning.
2. Professional Development
Teachers are always learning! However, it can be stressful to attend a conference or training during the school year. Sub plans are such a pain to make! Teachers could attend a conference in person or online, listen to a podcast, or read a professional development book. My favorite PD books right now are: Uncovering the Logic of English, and Teachers These Days. There are so many options over the summer to help build teaching strategies.Â
3. Connect with Colleagues
Teachers and school staff spend so much time with each other during the year! However, these relationships often dwindle over the summer and need rebuilding when school returns. Instead of this happening, connect with colleagues sometime over the summer. This can be keeping in touch with a few text messages or going to lunch occasionally. It can also be to bounce ideas off each other. Whether connecting personally or professionally, this conversation will help build bonds that make the year enjoyable.
4. Classroom Preparation
A welcoming classroom environment is so important as students adjust to school. So, take some time to prepare things for the classroom over the summer. This may be making or picking out a few decorations, or it may be planning for the first week of school. For instance, the First Week of First Grade ensures students have a fantastic start to the year! Best of all, planning now will allow you to be ready for lessons and not stress about them during in-service days. Additionally, this helps teachers spend time assisting students to handle all their emotions at the start of the year versus preparing lessons.Â
5. Relax, Recharge, and Renew
This is the most important thing teachers can do over the summer to prepare for the next school year! They have worked hard and need this time to relax and engage in activities they enjoy. If they do not take this time, they will not feel renewed and ready to conquer another year. So, take this time for yourself and whatever helps you relax, recharge, and renew your energy!
Teachers work tirelessly all year long! So, they deserve every minute of their break. Since teacher mode is impossible to completely turn off, just take it easy. Yes, you will wonder, What Can You Do Over the Summer to Prepare for the Next School Year? However, don’t stress yourself out! Just do what allows you to relax, recharge, and renew.Â
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These are great ideas! I especially like the part about reflecting on what went well and what didn’t, so you have a starting place for the next year. I’d like to add, though, that what worked one year, may not work the next. It really depends on your students. So if you try something that worked well this past year and find that it doesn’t work for your new crew, it doesn’t mean it will never work again. File it away for later. It may work again in a future year!
Heya to you in order to start this off with.
I also love to read your blog too. My role is to teach literature at a school to children of all abilities and ages on a full time basis during term time each week. On my weekends home not teaching I do a lesson preparation session to help. I look at free teaching resources online first of all. Best wishes in addition. Thanks for the resources as they are so helpful too.
Then I make some brief summary notes. It helps to make things easier for me when I am at school teaching a lesson to little children. We do things like write a poem and so on each week to liven up things. I plan weekly themed spelling tests. I’m currently doing a twenty word one linked to Christmas for the entire class to complete. I have used free word searches from time to time. I’m hoping to create one related to Christmas. I also want to try to include a Christmas story competition and so on.