Prioritizing Your Reset this Summer

Prioritizing Your Reset this Summer

We recognize our country’s educators' tremendous efforts this past year. Your role in students’ lives has been imperative, and we enjoy working with students and teachers every day who recognize that. But education requires a lot from both teachers and students, and we may need a reset during this upcoming summer.

It’s hard to hear that K-12 teachers are the number one most burned-out individuals in America. Not surprising? We experience burnout as a result of feeling unaccomplished, ineffective, and exhausted after months and years of diligent work. Stress has a very physical reaction in our bodies, and extended periods of stress can wear down our usual energy levels. We often look to our leaders in school administration to help minimize or solve teacher burnout, rightfully so, but it’s also essential to recognize the agency we have in our physical and emotional health and how it affects our careers.

Prioritizing a reset during the summer (or other times of the year) is how many educators become their most effective selves. The definition of reset includes “starting again” or “starting anew”. It’s a time of enjoying a much-deserved break as well as coming back to our roots as students, still learning about ourselves, our education styles, and how to be more effective educators. Our idea of reset involves reflection and direction.

Mobile Ed has a few ways we prioritize relaxing and resetting our bodies and minds for another great school year.

Reflect. Before you forget any details or changes you’d like to make to the next school year’s lessons, jot them down! What worked and what didn’t work? After a few weeks, it may be easy to forget important notes or changes. Challenges, course materials, wins, or funny moments can all help you plan ahead. Writing things down is perhaps the most effective technique to remember information.
Walk around your classroom. What moments pop into your mind when you look at your classroom? This is another effective way to reflect on the past year. Can you modify your physical learning environment to make it more effective?
Focus on your health. Stress and burnout can profoundly affect our health. It is both emotionally and physically tiring, and stress has physical reactions in our bodies. Being in a state of stress for an extended period of time has its toll. You know yourself best. Take care of yourself both physically and emotionally, whatever that means for you.
Get a little creative. Though we’ve worked hard all year, that doesn’t mean our brains must stop working. Draw, paint, build, or renovate. Create something that challenges your mind while still having fun and keeping stress levels down.
Enjoy the silence. Classrooms can’t help but become loud, busy spaces. You may find that silence is something to be savored this summer. Silence is proven to rejuvenate our minds as well as grow them. Cell development occurs when we are in quiet spaces. Find ways to create quiet moments for yourself, or possibly consider exercise or meditation to calm your mind and embrace emotional awareness.
Remember why you started. Amid all the grading, managing, meetings, and redirecting, it may be more challenging to remember our daily impact on our students. Reflect on why you chose this profession or develop new ones that remind you of your role in your community, your students’ lives, and our society.
And get excited! The following school year will be here soon, and with proper rest, support, materials, and motivation, it could be the best school year yet. Our team at Mobile Ed can’t wait for the next school year to start!