We've all heard the saying "the best 3 reasons to teach are June, July, & August" (although nowadays, at least here in Florida, we'd have to revise that a bit to "2 reasons: June & July").  Still I feel incredibly blessed as a teacher to have this time off--even with PD & other summer school obligations here & there, I know I'd be hard-pressed to find another profession where you have this kind of extended break to step away from the daily grind.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the type of teacher who grits my teeth all school year because I'm only in it for the summer vacation; on the contrary, I love what I do & am far from lazy (sadly, relaxing takes effort on my part).  The reason I love this schedule so much is because it affords me the opportunity to step back from the daily routine, breathe, & "reset" once a year.  In addition to giving us the opportunity to get a little more sleep, actually finish a cup of coffee in the morning, & enjoy a family vacation,  summer allows us to take a mental, emotional, & spiritual break every year--an opportunity to have enough time, space, and peace to take inventory of what's working & not working in our lives and make changes for the year ahead.

During a hiatus from teaching in the past, I worked a "normal" job and I can tell you this opportunity to "catch up on life" was sorely missed!    As a master overthinker & busybody, the only problem I have with summer is that there's SO much I want to accomplish that I need a way to get it all out of my brain & onto paper so I can actually relax & enjoy it.  I also know from experiences in my past that it's valuable for me to mentally & emotionally let go of one thing before jumping into the next, carrying all of the energy of the past experience into the new one.  So last summer I created a week-by-week plan, not for the whole summer but for a good portion of it.  With everything I wanted to achieve on paper and a plan for letting go of the old before jumping into the new, my summer was much more enjoyable.  Knowing there was a time & place for everything I wanted to fit in and four weeks to spare just for letting go & relaxing, I didn't feel the stress building as the summer ended and the new school year approached.  Below is my own 4-week summer "to-do list" plus some resources that may be helpful.  Each item is intended to be done over the course of a week, but obviously tweak for what feels right for you.

4-WEEK SUMMER RESET
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​Week #1--Cleanse, part 1:  Mental/emotional/spiritual
​Working from the inside out here--this week is all about letting go in order to move forward.  Identify & let go of the stress and patterns that didn't serve you this year.  If there were students or co-workers who were triggers for you or roles you had that were particularly stressful, imagine them in your mind and let them go, wishing them well (you might even imagine physically cutting a cord attaching you to them).  This process of assessing what didn't work & letting it go might involve journaling, meditation, or physically disposing of items you are ready to part with.  These exercises may seem silly if you're not used to them, but these kinds of finalizing rituals clear the space for the new, giving you a blank canvas on which to create your year ahead.

Week #2--Cleanse, part 2:  Physical
​I tend to not eat as healthy during the school year because I'm so on-the-go and also because I'm an emotional eater, so when stress gets high I tend to turn more toward junk food.  So I like to do a short cleanse every summer while things are calmer, I feel like it cleans my body out & resets me for a more healthy lifestyle.  There are many, many cleanses out there from the Master Cleanse to sugar detoxes to juice cleanses that range from short & fairly easy to pretty hardcore.  For me, I like Dr. Oz's 3-Day Detox Cleanse--personally, I'm not a fan of anything too extreme, just something that can help me feel refreshed and give my body a break from sugar and other junk.  During the three days I like to do light, stretching type exercises like yoga as my body cleans out toxins rather than do anything too physically strenuous {Obviously don't try any cleanse or exercise solely on my recommendation without checking with your doctor first, I'm simply sharing what works for my body.}

​The second thing I like to do during this week focusing on my body & health is to schedule all my annual checkups--teeth cleaning, dermatologist for a skin check, and any other medical appointments that I need to make...so much easier than trying to squeeze in during the school year.

Week #3--Cleanse, part 3: Your Home
​I love to organize, so this is my favorite week (though it's gotten much harder over the years as my family has expanded).  This takes me at least a good solid week of working most of the day, but in the end your home will feel so much cleaner and organized and I find that when the space I'm in is decluttered, I feel calmer on the inside, too.  Start with your usual cleaning (here's the list I use).  Once the house is cleaned, I spend a few days going through each room, deep cleaning (things like cleaning ceiling fans, moving the bed out and cleaning underneath, all that stuff you don't get to regularly), clearing out things we no longer use & donating. Once some space is cleared out, reorganize & redecorate as needed.  {Don't forget to go through medicines & make-up and dispose of expired items!}  It's a lot of work, but by the end of the week, your home will feel brand new and it's amazing how much lighter you'll feel.

​Week #4--Looking at the Year Ahead
​​In this final week, feeling lighter and more clear-headed, it's time to now look at anything else you'd like to accomplish before  the end of break and in the year ahead.  While most people do this type of goal-setting during New Year's, I prefer summer so that I can plan not just for the calendar year ahead but the school year as well.  I've found in the past that when I write my goals & dreams down on paper, they're much more likely to come to fruition than if I leave them swirling around in my head alongside all the other "stuff" floating around up there.  I like the resources at Scattered Squirrel, especially the Goals/To-Do List, & Sage Grayson's resources for goal setting & planning--her printables are really good at breaking down broad goals into small, achievable steps.  I personally like to hang these lists in a common area of the house where I know I can reference them regularly, otherwise they're likely to be forgotten in the hustle and bustle of daily life.  I also use this final week to relook at our budget and make sure our finances are in order. 

​And that's it!  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments--is there anything you would add?--and also any summer rituals you do to reset for the year ahead.  Whatever you do this summer, enjoy every minute--we deserve it!

​"Hand over mouth" by Melissa Wiese is licensed under CC BY 2.0

 I digress...

​The bottom line is, we've got a job to do--a tough one--and little time with which to do it.  So who cares about creativity? 

​Well, I do.  And so do many others--maybe just not in the sense of how creativity is generally perceived. 

What I'm interested in is the concept of create-ive inspiration.  I'm not talking about the cut & paste, scrapbooking kind of creativity here, I'm referring to creativity as the act of working with an inspired idea to create something worthwhile that makes an impact on  your audience.  I'm talking about the idea that we create our lessons & curriculum from an inspired source that is unique to us & our particular brand of skills, talents, & gifts.  Just as an artist, musician, or dancer uses his own God-given talent to inspire his audience, I'm suggesting we approach our teaching in the same way.  Every human craves to find his or her passion--their particular gift to offer the world, the thing that lights them up.  Creativity is co-creating with inspiration to offer that gift.  When you're working with inspired creativity, you're working with your own particular brand of genius--even though the work has its challenges, it doesn't feel like drudgery or a grind, time flies as you're creating and ideas flow effortlessly.  Have you ever been teaching a lesson or working with a student and you get chills?  Or you get that feeling like "yep, this is what I'm meant to do"?  If so, that's inspiration at work.

The problem with putting importance on the creative process in teaching is that it's not measurable and it seems that in education, if it's not measurable, it doesn't warrant time or attention.  Well, as I know you already know, not everything important in life is quantifiable.  Ask anybody what matters to them most in their lives & it's the stuff we can't measure:  our love for our children, our connection with our higher power, the swelling feeling in our hearts when we're watching a sunset that takes our breath away.  Humans need to know that the work they do matters, that how they spend their precious moments here on Earth are important, or they become uninspired.  And that's a problem because inspiration is the fuel off which we run.  The harder we run (and teachers run really hard), the more fuel we need.  Inspiration in teaching right now is in short supply.  If it weren't, would so many teachers be leaving the profession in search of something else?

​The creative process is talked about in artistic professions like painting, writing, or dance, but not in teaching so much.  In the arts, we assume and accept that professionals create their work when inspired--an exciting idea comes & they can't help but create the piece--inspiration takes over!  It's an inside-out process.  In education, the process seems to be more "outside-in".  The conversation seems to be centered around the concept of results driving the creation (i.e. Johnny has increasingly low test scores so our work becomes focused on improving that result)  Now, I'm not arguing that Johnny's downslide doesn't matter or that we should ignore that data--it's critical for us to know who's getting what we're teaching & who's not, but it should guide the HOW, not the WHY.  In other words, it should shape HOW we deliver our instruction, not WHY we do what we do.  If we make results the why, rather than a larger purpose, we become uninspired, which is the kiss of death for a creator.  This would be like a painter or songwriter sitting down & asking "now what can I create that will help me get the rent paid?"  in order to gain inspiration for his next great piece of work.  It's creating from a place of stress & pressure rather than from a place of inspiration & it's been my experience that creating from stress rarely yields good results.  When you work from inspired creativity, the great ideas flow, you're engaged, the students are too, and you can't help but get positive outcomes.  Additionally, it's important to note that operating from inspired creativity is not about forsaking rigor--the two are not exclusive of each other.  In fact, I might argue that some of the greatest works of art and greatest musical compositions ever made were also highly sophisticated, rigorous works.  We have to get away from the mindset that these two are exclusive of each other:  on the contrary, they go hand in hand. 
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Whether we're talking about students or consumers, know your audience, YES.  Keep in mind what each of them needs & how to achieve that in the way you execute your art.  But please, create it because you love the process & you're excited about it, because it lights you up...not to have the class with the best looking data wall.  Those great outcomes should occur naturally as a result of that masterpiece you composed, rather than be the impetus of what you create in the classroom.

​Let's stop acting like GREAT teaching isn't an art form & bring a little creativity back into what we do.  Let's take opportunities when gathered together to remember the impact of our work and take opportunities when alone to connect to our own unique source of inspiration, whatever that may be.  While I think administrators have a fantastic opportunity to infuse our PD & inservices with activities that refuel us, the maintenance of our own creative process is ultimately our own responsibility.  I had a mentor years ago who compared staying inspired to routinely cleaning soot off the inside of a lantern.  The flame of the lantern is your source of light, your connection to a higher power, or your source of creative inspiration, depending on how you see it.  If you let too much soot & gunk build up on the inside of the lantern, not only can you not see the flame, it won't provide much light, either.  If we're to continue over the years to make a positive impact & inspire our students, we have to periodically take measures to reconnect to our purpose & stoke that flame of inspired creativity so we don't burn out.  And what better time than summer?!  
*~Enjoy~*