5 Best Ways Teachers Can Spend Their Summer Vacation
What are the best ways teachers can spend their summer vacation? Educators need their free time as much as students do. Summer break is the perfect occasion to enjoy refreshing activities, reset their minds, and prepare for the next school year. Some prefer to fill their summer by taking some extra courses for personal and professional development or even taking a second job, others choose to travel, catch up with their readings, and simply relax.
1. Recharge your batteries. Do something for yourself.
It is important to identify the activities that help you relax the most. Make sure you get enough sleep and recover from all those nights you spent grading papers. Consider going to a spa resort. Get a massage or enroll in yoga classes, or even in a gym. Take care of yourself, of both your mind and body. Make this summer break all about yourself. Get in shape; your level of energy will increase significantly.
2. Make some extra money. Get a summer job.
Many teachers prefer to keep themselves busy during the summer vacation, not only to put some money aside but also because it is the perfect way to keep busy and get out of the house. Some of the most dedicated educators prefer to teach summer schools and help the students in need learn better. Others go for tutoring or simply pursuing their off-schedule passions (such as photography, cooking, singing, and many more).
3. Catch up with your reading. Stay informed about your profession.
You can use this free time for reading. While looking over some of your favorite authors or some really good novels might bring you great personal satisfaction, remember to stay informed about your profession. If you are really lucky, you could do all this while getting tanned at the beach. Add to your list of readings the new curriculum, books about pedagogy, and the latest publications about the topic you teach.
4. Back to school! This time as a student.
What better time to continue your education than summer break? You will finally have enough time and energy to work towards your Master’s or simply collect your education units. Better yet, enroll in an online course that allows you to earn credits while on vacatio! Be a student yourself and improve your knowledge and skills. No worries, your summer vacation will not be ruined. You can still enjoy the nice weather at the seaside with a textbook in your hands. Multitasking at its finest!
5. Analyze your last year’s teaching experience. Prepare for the next one.
You could spend a portion of your summer vacation assessing the previous school year performance. While analyzing both the accomplishments and failures, remember to put a bigger accent on your success. Chances are, you will achieve better results in the future if you focus more on what you did good, and less on what did not work as planned. Work on your lesson plans; update them. If you feel it is needed, improve some of your lessons; add some external material, or even rewrite them.
You could also spend some time redecorating and organizing your classroom. A teacher spends around 180 days per year, 8 hours per day in class with their students, so you might as well enjoy it. Make that space as enjoyable and inspiring as possible.
Conclusion
Now that you know some of the best ways teachers can spend their summer vacation, try to get the most out of your summer break. Maximize your summer by planning ahead what you want to do. Summer is an endless resource of opportunities and no matter what you decide to do, make sure it is relaxing and gets you ready for the next school year.
INcompassing Education offers on-site professional development for teachers, off-site PD through workshops and seminars, and online PD through our training materials and webinars. See our online training modules here. If you have any questions, send us a message through our contact page.
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