Here's the deal....

Be honest. Do you really ever turn off the "thinking about school" part of your brain? I don't. I think I will, but I don't. I'm always thinking and applying my personal experiences to my work. 

I can't help it. I love what I do! Teaching is not a job for me. It's my vocation. I am passionate making education fabulous for both teachers and students. But, we all need to take breaks or we'll get burned out.

So...

Here are 5 simple (non teaching) things you can do this summer that will make you a better teacher. 

1. Take a break. No. I mean a REAL break. No school talk. No professional reading. No planning for at least a month.

2. Enjoy a hobby. Pursue your hobby, whatever it is, with passion. Get really good at it.  

3. Write. Write a book or poetry. Keep a personal or spiritual journal, field journal or write letters. Whatever. Just write every day. Think about your struggles as a writer. Note where you like to write and what your writing habits are. 

4. Read...

Looking for some summer fun to send home with your students or to use with your own kids? Here's a fun activity for families.

Rate Your Parks

One summer when my kids were all still young, we got the neighbors together and made a plan. Twice a week, we committed to a park day. We mapped out all the parks in a 15 mile area and assigned each a day and time on the calendar.

Then, I created a park rating sheet. Each child got a copy. As we visited parks, each child went home and rated them on various criteria.

At the end of the summer, we had everyone rank all the parks. I gathered the results. The park that won overall got a last visit from us all to celebrate with a picnic! Yippee!

Get your FREE Rating Sheet here!

If you try it out with your own kids, post your results below.

Teach joyfully,

Lisa