“Summer time and the living is easy…”
Summer time. It’s the time of year when we refresh our batteries. We get to eat lunch and actually taste it. Go to the bathroom whenever we want. Read for leisure. Travel. Vacation. Experience being a stay at home parent. Professional learning if we so choose. We reset. For many of us, summer has drawn to an end
or it is going to shortly. The question I am pondering as I sit on a late night flight headed to work with some teachers in Arizona the day after I write this, is how do we make that summer fun and mindset last and spill into our school year? How do we keep that spark for life lit and engaged?
All of the reasons we love summer, we have to somehow find ways to keep the fire ignited as we head back into our classrooms as school starts. The last few years have been quite a challenge. We had pivot and reinvent education time and time again every time COVID impacted and changed things over and over again. More and more of our colleagues retired or made a shift in their lives and didn’t return to our classrooms or schools. Shifts in education occur as they always have. We need now more than ever to keep that spark for life lit and engaged.
Many of us do a pretty good job being human again over the summer. We relax and have fun. Put our needs first for a change. We find ways to fill our days with the things that excite us and we love. We practice that overused phrase of “self care”.
As you start back this school year I want to challenge you to continue living that summer mentality throughout the school year.
Not only do we need you to keep summer alive for yourself but also for our kids we serve each day. They spend their summers engaging in the fun and living some real life too. We have to keep breathing that life and giving the opportunities to them that keep that fire lit.
There’s another reason too that I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it. Some of us live in trauma. Some of our kids live in trauma. Summer isn’t the best of times. For some it’s not having an escape. Not having supports, engaging relationships, or basic needs being met. Returning to school gives life to these people in a whole different way. And it’s imperative we provide those who don’t get summer in the same way with that summer mindset and experience.
So I bring my challenge to you again. How will you bring that summer life through the fall, winter and spring this school year? And more importantly for me, how can I support you in that, because we are all better together and all in this together…
As was commonly written in our yearbooks growing up (at least us 90’s kids): Stay Cool and KIT!
P.S. Just for fun - here’s a link to a collection of some of my favorite summer jams.