LEAven Blog

For those of you who think this post will help you help your students retain everything you painstakingly poured into their heads during the school year over this summer break, you will be a little disappointed. Yes, there is such a thing as the summer slide, even for the smartest kids. Yes, students need to keep their brains active, curious, and learning over the summer. Yes, children should keep reading, writing, and doing math even when they’re not at school. This is not that. Teachers need to prevent their own summer slide. How do we spend our summer so that we are ready for our next school year? I recommend this three-part challenge!

Do something hard

First, I am asking you to attempt something at which you know you will be less than awesome. For teachers, that probably won’t be related to academics. Taking a graduate class doesn’t count.  I dare you to pick something you have already tried and failed and make yourself try again. Perhaps you should try to change the oil on your car, learn to play a song on the piano, try to juggle, or knit. Put some effort in and see how resilient you can be. Nothing builds our capacity for empathy better than experience. We ask struggling students to do what they are worst at every day. “Read this.” “Just add the numbers.” “All you have to do is …” Pause in your own failure for just a moment, and then reflect on what makes you bounce back. How do you manage to be resilient after a failure? What encourages you to try again? Then save that memory in your school brain to share with your next students.

Do something new

Next, I want you to experience something totally new to you. Do something that takes a little bravery. The summer is a great time to visit a new place, learn about something that makes you curious, taste something exotic, or jump into a new activity with gusto. Perhaps there’s a bit of risk that you will hate it, but there’s also a possibility of a rewarding new passion. A new wrinkle in your brain. The absolute joy of a novel experience and a new story to share with friends, relatives, and students. That ‘aha’ feeling of new learning is refreshing. It feels great! Now you have a new anecdote to add to your icebreakers at the beginning of the school year. Perhaps it will help you relate to a hard-to-reach student.

Do something just for fun

Finally, please do something just because it makes you happy. Summer is the time to bring lots of joy into your life. Feel your body relax and your eyebrows slide back into their neutral position. Let your shoulders become less neighborly with your ears. Stop clenching your jaw and holding your breath. Aah! I think I feel a smile coming on. A happy brain works better than a stressed brain. (Watch this TED talk for more information about this.) Pause in your moments of fun and happiness and make a real memory of what it feels like. Review that memory often. Write about it so that it becomes deeper and you can recall it again in August when you need it the most.

I pray that these three challenges rejuvenate you in a new way and help you fill your teacher tool bag with memories that make you resilient, brave, and happy. May you slide into the summer with God’s peace and lots of joy!