I don’t know about you, but I swear, as soon as we are dismissed for summer I get a giant burst of energy. My brain is freed from all the clutter of the school year, so I’m ready to dive into that stack of PD 

reading and start learning all of the things I didn’t have time for during the year. At the same time, I know how quickly summer can go and how important it is to rest and reset.  Every summer I struggle to find a balance between do all the things! and do none of the things!, so this summer I’ve come up with goals for my summer to accomplish what I need to in terms of growing as a professional and relaxing and resting as a person.

I also bought myself a new planner so I can be more purposeful about planning and using my time wisely–yes, even in the summer.  Last year I felt completely overwhelmed with ideas and by the end, I felt I had nothing to show for the “hard work” I’d done every day, so this year I have chosen some goals and made myself so I return to school in August feeling both well-rested and prepared.

The Goals

Flesh out a plan for coaching next year:

This one actually includes several facets.  Next year, I’ll be a full-time instructional coach. I am beyond excited about this opportunity, but after “coaching” (it was rather a loose interpretation) half-time this year, I realize I have so much to learn! I need to define what this role will look like, what my goals for the year are, and how I will measure my own success.

It will be very different than teaching, where success is relatively easy (sometimes) to define. We know our end goal with our students, we mostly know the steps to get there, and we usually know how to measure if we were successful. I basically don’t know any of that with this new position.  How scary! And exciting! It’s an adventure!  

But, I’m not very adventurous, so I need to sketch it all out. I need to create an organizational system, handouts for teachers, and plans for how I will be spending my time.

On top of all of that, I have this giant stack of books to read.  I know I won’t get through them all this summer, but I’m struggling to figure out which ones I need to focus on.

So, the first goal is a bit convoluted, but essentially it boils down to get ready for instructional coaching.

Catch up on this blog:

I have been a neglectful blogger for the past two months.  Well, longer really, but I haven’t posted at all in two months.  Ugh. So, I need to get this ball rolling again.

Not only do I want to be more consistent, I also want to learn more about blogging. How to grow my audience, how to organize and plan, how to use social media effectively.  Per usual, I want to know all the things!

I recently purchased the Ultimate Bundle Genius Blogging Toolkit. I’m hoping that I can make it through some of the info this summer, but it’s huge so I’m sure it will take me quite a while!

Exercise:

Wow, talk about letting something go during the school year. I go through spurts of exercise. I used to run, but now my knees just can’t take it. I went to belly dancing class for a few years (so fun!) but now we live too far away. I did kickboxing for two years, but now the timing just doesn’t work out. Now I’ve been trying out a barre class, but during the school year, I can only go on Saturday mornings. Y’all, I haven’t even been riding my horse!

I recently got a Groupon for two free months of Daily Burn. It’s an online workout site that has a bunch of videos and whole programs with schedules to follow. I love it! Even after the Groupon expires, it’s only $15 a month, so I think it’s the answer to my “I don’t have time problem”. I can do it at home, therefore I have to make time. (You can use this link if you want to check it out!).  In my new planner, there is a “habit tracker” and it’s amazing how motivated I am to put an X in those little boxes.

Relax:

Yep, I actually have to make this a goal. It’s not that I don’t relax–trust me, I’ve already read two or three novels since school’s been out for a week–it’s just that I oftentimes feel guilty or I just can’t turn off the to-do list in my head.

This summer I’m trying to block off time for worry-free relaxing.  I tell myself “Go read for two hours and ignore the laundry. Schedule it to get done later.”  I don’t really want to schedule all the little things I need to do, but it does help me, so I’m going to keep trying it out. I even added “read for pleasure” to my habit tracker (not that I need to be told to do that, I read all. the. time. but it makes me feel accomplished so it’s staying).

Of course, there are some large chunks of built-in relaxing time: a ten-day trip to Michigan to visit family, where I will literally read for about ten days start to finish. A trip to St. Lucia with my husband for our anniversary in July. That one is about five days of reading on the beach and eating amazing food.  As usual in the summer, there are breakfasts and lunches with friends, trips to the barn (hopefully!), puppies to snuggle, and Netflix shows to binge watch (Currently streaming: Victoria). I think I have enough scheduled to feel rested when school returns in just a couple short months.

 

Happy summer, everyone!

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