The start of summer feels like it should instantly refresh teachers, but too often we find ourselves wondering how to spend our time. In this episode, we share teacher summer break tips for easing into summer without falling into guilty rest or the productivity trap. We walk through a simple seven-day decompression plan designed to help teachers transition out of school mode, reconnect with fun and creativity, and enjoy the small things that make summer feel restorative.

Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/teacher-summer-break-tips/

Resources:

• Songs to Walk Away from an Explosion in Slow Motion playlist
• Silicone sink topper
• Check out our book Structure and Spark
• Join The Teacher Approved Club
• Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow
• Shop our teacher-approved resources
• Join our Teacher Approved Facebook group
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Leave a comment or rating on Spotify

Related Episodes to Enjoy:

• Episode 12. Recovering from the School Year
• Episode 13. Design Your Summer
• Episode 14. Best Summer Ever
• Episode 130. The 2 Things Teachers Need to Refuel This Summer
• Episode 197. A Teacher Summer Self Care and Recovery Plan That Doesn’t Feel Like Work

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Teacher Approved Club, where members get seasonal morning work pages for grades K–5 this month to add fall and holiday fun without throwing off their routines: https://secondstorywindow.net/club

This is episode 260 of Teacher Approved.

You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping

educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm

Heidi.

And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story

Window, where we give research-based and

teacher-approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and

more effective. You can check out the show notes and resources

from each episode at secondstorywindow.net.

We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to

the show.

Hey there, thanks for joining us today. In today's

episode, we are talking about the first week of summer and how

to actually decompress, plus we've got a teacher-approved tip

for soaking up the full sensory experience of summer.

But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we

share a quick one that you can try in your classroom right

away. Emily, what is our suggestion this week?

This week, we've got a couch task for you. You know we

love a couch task. Spend five minutes decluttering your

teaching Pinterest boards, or your saved TikToks, or those

Instagram posts that you've been hoarding all year. Just go

through and delete the ideas that now you realize you are

never actually going to use, and that way you can easily find the

good ideas when you need them.

Right. This is such an important step if you're going

to save ideas, because you got to look for that one anchor

chart idea, and then you have to scroll through 400 activities

that seem awesome, but you know you, you're never actually going

to use these. So just trim the dead weight, keep what's

exciting but still feels reasonable, and then just delete

what isn't serving you anymore. It makes your saved content way

more useful.

Plus, it is also weirdly satisfying, because it's like

cleaning out your purse. You don't realize how much clutter

you're carrying around until you take some of it out, and then

when you do, it's like such a big win.

Yes, it's like a whole new system.

Yes.

Well, if you like this idea, or anything else we share

here on the podcast, would you take a second and give us a

five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify?

Ratings and reviews help new listeners find us, so every one

really helps.

Okay, everyone, happy June 1. We know some of you lucky souls are

starting your second, or maybe your third week of summer break.

But some of you still have three or more weeks to the

finish line.

Oh, that's rough.

But they will still be at the beach when the early out

crowd is heading back in July, so it all kind of evens out.

Yeah, I guess there's trade offs, but whether you are

in those first golden days of break or your golden days are

still just a distant bright spot on the calendar, summer is a

gift.

The problem with this gift, though, is that it doesn't

come with any assembly instructions.

Yeah, you have been counting down for months, you've

been telling yourself, if I can just make it to summer,

everything will be fine. And then summer arrives, and you

wake up on day one, and you have absolutely no idea what to do

with yourself.

So you do what any rational person would do, and

you scroll your phone for a while, maybe you take a nap, you

feel weirdly unsettled about something you can't quite name,

and you wonder if you should be doing something more.

Or maybe you go the complete other direction. You

decide that since you finally have time, you're going to clean

out the garage, repaint the bathroom, and start lesson

planning for next year. By day four, you're exhausted, your

house is half torn apart, and you still haven't done a single

thing that feels like summer.

Yeah, those are the two failure modes we're calling them

guilty rest and the productivity trap, and it's easy to fall into

one or the other.

Or both. Honestly, both. You start with guilty rest, and

then you panic about wasting your summer, and you swing hard

into the productivity trap, and then you crash again. It's a

whole cycle.

Yeah, we know that cycle well. When we were both still

teaching, we had plenty of summers where we came home from

the last day of school, and collapsed on the couch for, you

know, two weeks, and not in a restful way. In the I literally

cannot make a decision about what to do with myself way, and

you just kind of become a vegetable on the couch.

Yes, become part of the couch.

Yep.

It was a combination of being so depleted that we

couldn't function and not knowing what to do that was

productive, but still gentle. So we just defaulted to zoning out

until we could stand the thought of starting to think about the

next school year.

And then we dove in with fire. We had a whole system

where we spent mornings working in Heidi's room, and then

switched to my room after lunch, because I had a swamp cooler on

my room, and Heidi had no air conditioner.

Yeah, and calling it a cooler is a stretch. The word

cool. Of course, you know, the front office had AC, but the

rest of the building was just, we're just at the mercy of that

humidifying swamp cooler.

I can feel the stickiness now.

Yeah.

Don't miss that. But no matter your default approach to

summer, having a plan helps, so we are offering a third option

today. No guilty rest, no productive overhaul. We're going

to do something in between.

Now, before you feel any pressure set in, let us reassure

you that this is not about getting stuff done. To borrow

one of Phoebe's great quotes from Friends, this isn't a plan,

this isn't even a pluh, it's just a way to give the first

week of summer some intentional handholds, so you don't lose it

to drift or guilt.

And if you're already on your break, that's fine, just

start where you are, we are totally flexible here.

And if you've got a while to go to your break, just save

this for later, it will come in handy.

Okay, day one of your break, the prompt is to close in style.

Your nervous system needs a signal that something has

actually changed. You've spent the last 180 days walking into

the same building and doing the same things. If you close out

that last day of school the exact same way you closed out

yesterday, your brain doesn't really clock that anything is

different.

So, let's mark the occasion. If you're low in

energy, do the action hero version. Drop your teacher bag

in the hall closet, then shut the door and walk away like

you're an action hero walking away from an explosion. Do not

look back, the bag is dead to you now.

Just take out any dirty dishes first, because I know I

would make that mistake.

Yeah, don't leave your lunchbox in there, that'll be

sad.

Yeah, please avoid that. But if you really want to

celebrate your moment of freedom, you could even turn on

an epic song as your personal soundtrack. I checked, and I

found a playlist on Spotify called Songs to Walk Away from

an Explosion in Slow Motion, and I am partial to Seven Nation

Army, but I think this playlist has convinced me to try some

Fleetwood Mac. It kind of has a good pep to it.

Okay, well, of course, there is a playlist. I love it.

So, I guess we'll link to that in the show notes, but do be

aware that some of the songs are not kid-friendly, so be careful

if your epic moment will have an audience. Maybe put your

headphones in. This is just for you.

And if you have some energy left after your dramatic

walk away, round up some teacher friends, hit the pool, or go out

to dinner, whatever marking the occasion looks like to you.

But you really don't have to do anything big. It just has

to feel like a signal. The point is to put a period on the year,

to end the day differently than every other day has ended for

the last nine months.

And that's our whole goal for day one. On day two, it's

time to write your I can finally list.

I love this, because making a list makes me feel like

I'm doing something productive, but this list, the stakes could

not be lower on this list. You sit down and you make a list of

everything you can do now. You can finally drink your coffee

while it's still hot. You can finally go to the bathroom

whenever you want to. You can finally meet a friend for lunch

on a Tuesday.

And it's okay if they sound really small. That's the

point. The list isn't supposed to be impressive. It's just

supposed to name all of the tiny things that you have been

deferring for months, because when you put them on paper, you

realize how many of them there are, and that makes that shift

from school year mode to summer mode feel real.

And if you're in the teacher-approved club this

month, we have a printable I can finally list waiting for you in

your member resources as part of our tired teacher summer

planner. So, if writing it out on a fresh piece of paper feels

nicer than scrolling it on the back of an envelope, we got you.

We will have the link in the show notes if you want to check

it out in the club.

Now, day three's task is to close the loops, and this one

sounds slightly less fun, but stick with us, because it pays

off.

This is when you do a brain dump of every open school

task that's floating around in your head. The thing you forgot

to email the office about, the kid you wanted to follow up

with, the supplies you need to reorder for next year. Just get

it out of your brain and onto paper.

We're calling this the loose ends list, and you don't

have to do any of it. You just have to decide when you're going

to deal with it. Urgent things can go in the do now column,

less urgent stuff goes in the do later column, and then anything

you decide that really isn't that important can go in the let

go column.

The reason this matters is that those open loops are

what nag at you while you're trying to relax. Your brain

keeps pulling them up, like, hey, remember this, hey, what

about this one? Once they have a home, your brain can let them

rest. It is a small step, but it makes a huge difference in how

restful the rest of summer feels.

And club members, we have a sortable list for this in your

member resources too. It's in the same place as the I can

finally list.

Day four's task is to reconnect with fun, plan

something fun for this day, whatever fun means to you.

If that seems like a tough ask, because you have

forgotten what fun feels like, that's okay. Pick something that

used to be fun, or something that sounds fun in theory, and

try it. Maybe that's rounding up friends for a hike, or maybe an

afternoon of jigsaw puzzling with snacks is more your speed.

Whatever is enjoyable for you is the right answer.

Jigsaw puzzling is definitely more my speed than

hiking, but just remember, fun is not a luxury, it's actually

how you recover. So, you're not being self-indulgent by planning

a fun day, you're helping your system recuperate after being in

high gear for so many months.

On day five, it's time for a creative nudge. This is

about waking up the parts of your brain that get turned off

during the school year. When you're teaching, you are

constantly managing logistics and putting out fires. The

creative, playful parts of your brain don't get a lot of air

time, so they get a little rusty.

Let's turn one of those channels back on. Is there an

old hobby you keep meaning to get back to, or a new thing

you've been curious about? Maybe you want to pull out the

watercolors you bought three years ago, try that recipe

you've been saving, or buy a fresh notebook and just doodle

in it.

And again, this is not supposed to be ambitious. If you

spend an hour doing it and decide it's not for you, that is

fine. The point is the trying, not the outcome.

Okay. Day six, and it's our favorite. Your very

important job for this day is to give yourself one indulgence.

Pick something that you would normally feel guilty for

enjoying, and lean all the way in.

If you're not sure where to start, you can try borrowing

a tradition from Iceland and plan an Isbiltur. I think that's

how you say it, and that is an ice cream road trip. I love that

they have a culture around this. Pick the best ice cream shops

within driving distance and visit one, or you know, go big,

hit three of them in one afternoon, but if you're gonna

do that, maybe just skip the double scoops.

Yeah, I would need to remember the lactaid.

Oh, definitely.

Or spend the whole day catching up on The Real

Housewives in your pajamas, maybe with a charcuterie board.

Or read a romance novel cover to cover, or stay up way

too late watching movies, or get a really nice coffee and drive

around with the music up.

And here's why this matters. The thing that makes

most of these activities not feel restful is the guilt. You

watch four hours of TV, and you feel terrible because you should

have been doing something productive. You eat the ice

cream, and you feel bad about it later.

But making a planned exception to your normal

standards just takes the guilt off the table. If you wake up on

day six and you've already decided today, I have permission

to enjoy this thing I love, no judgment allowed, it transforms

the experience. The same activity that would have left

you feeling gross now feels restorative.

Okay, we've made it to the end of our first week. It's

day seven, and today's task is to peek ahead at the rest of the

summer and start thinking about what you want to get out of it.

But we're not going to talk about making a bucket list.

Instead, we are going to make a joy list. Dee Michelle Perry

posted about this on Instagram, and we think she nailed it. So

I'm just going to read what she said. "Bucket lists can start to

feel like to do lists, and I don't need any more to do lists.

They can be overly aspirational too. I want my seasons to be

about where my attention is placed, not what I have

achieved. Social media comparisonitis is a real thing.

That's why I'm creating a monthly joy list that's

accessible, adaptable, affordable, and creates

anticipation for things to look forward to each month."

Yes, and that's the goal, right? Bucket lists, man, they

can turn into to-do lists, and then we feel like we failed if

we didn't check off enough of them by Labor Day, which is why

I always refuse to make a summer bucket list with my kids,

because I just know it will hang over me all summer, but a joy

list is different.

Yeah, a joy list is, what would I love to pay attention to

this summer, not, what would I love to accomplish. Just think

about the things you want to notice and do, and taste, and

spend time on.

And those four words from her post are so useful:

accessible, adaptable, affordable, and creates

anticipation. Your summer doesn't have to look like the

summer you see online.

Yeah, there's no summer police. You're not failing if

you don't go on a trip or host a backyard party or do whatever

else the algorithm is currently telling you summer's supposed to

be. Make the right summer for you.

And we're going to be coming back to this idea of

designing your summer in our next few episodes, so stay tuned

for that. But first, let's recap our summer decompression plan.

Day one, close in style. Day two, write your I can finally

list. Day three, close the loops. Day four, reconnect with

fun. Day five, revisit creativity. Day six, do one

indulgent thing, and day seven, peek ahead and make a joylist.

You don't have to do these in order, and you don't

have to do all of them. If you are already into summer break,

start with whatever makes the most sense for where you are.

And if you still have a few weeks until the end, use

this episode to get your wheels turning. What do you want the

start of your break to look like? Give yourself something to

look forward to as you calm overhyper children and inventory

all your cupboards.

If this idea resonates with you, you might already be

thinking about how to bring more intention to every season, not

just summer. And that's the heart of our upcoming book,

Structure and Spark. It's the framework for letting each

season of the school year work for you, not against you. And

it's available for pre-order now. The link is in the show

notes, if you want to take a look.

Now for our teacher-approved tip of the

week, where we share an actionable tip to help you

elevate what matters and simplify the rest. This week's

teacher-approved tip is to make a summer sensorium. Tell us

about it, Heidi.

Well, we have talked about this before, back in

episodes 134 and 199. But since it happens to be summer again,

how is it summer again? I'm so confused, but it is summer, says

the calendar and the weather outside, and my allergies, but

that makes this the perfect time to revisit this idea. So, a

quick refresher on what a sensorium is. Your sensorium is

your different sensory perceptions taken as a whole. So

your brain takes the inputs from each of your senses and

assembles them into your perceived experiences of a

moment, or you know, a day, or the whole season. So, if you

want a summer that actually feels like summer and not just

three months that happened, you have to intentionally include

the sensory inputs that make it feel that way.

And that's actually a really fun exercise, because you

just need to take a minute to think about your favorite summer

sights and sounds and textures, tastes and smells, then decide

how to include them in your plans.

Yeah, think about how enriched you'll feel after a

summer of sweet, drippy watermelon and chlorine-scented

kids and twinkling fireflies and backyard dance parties and

walking in the grass.

This is the magic of summer, and none of those things

require a big expense or a big plan. They're all just sensory

experiences that you can fold into a regular Tuesday, and it

ensures that you're really savoring the full scope of what

the season has to offer. So, make yourself a summer

sensorium. You can jot it down on a piece of paper, or Teacher

Approved Club members, you can use the sensorium page in our

summer planner.

All right, to wrap up the show, we are showing what we're

giving extra credit to. Emily, what gets your extra credit this

week?

Okay, I'm giving extra credit to a foldable silicone

sink topper. So, I have a broken sink. I have two sinks in my

bathroom, and one of them has a crack, and I need to deal with

that, but I haven't. So, the water is turned off to it, so

it's not being used for anything. And one of my

daughters has also decided that that's where she likes to get

ready, is in my bathroom, where there's room, but she was

dropping things in the sink all the time, and just making a

mess, and I was like, ah, more counter space would actually be

more helpful. So this sink topper, it has holes in it, but

they're not big enough for, like, your stuff to fall

through, and you just put, you just put it out over the sink,

and they come in a couple different sizes, depending what

size your sink is, and you suddenly have all this extra

counter space, and it even has enough room that if you wanted

to turn your sink on, you could.

Is it flat like a tray?

It's flat like a tray. Yes,

I've been like picturing something that you curve that

you like set in the sink.

No, no, no, no, it's flat, and it goes far enough out

from the side of this sink that it's sturdy enough that it can

go across.

Oh, that's cool.

You know, and stay sturdy. So, I think this would

be helpful any place you need more counter space, especially

if you only have one sink and a small counter, and you need a

little extra space, or like in a half bathroom that just has one

little sink, but someone needs to get ready in there, you just

pop this out, and it's really easy to fold up and put it away,

too.

Well, that's handy.

It is handy. What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?

Okay, well, this is much less handy, but I'm giving extra

credit to the trend of romanticizing your life. It's in

my algorithm, it's all over Instagram recently, and the idea

is to just take your regular life, but make it feel like an

event we're showing up for. And I love that thought, but you

know, I'm busy, and it doesn't seem super practical. But I

happened to see some mugs on sale at the store, and they had

a cute one that was shaped like a teacup and decorated with

tulips, so I grabbed it, and I use it to take my nighttime

pills, and it really is just been the most fun little change

up. It's like having a tea party with my melatonin. I even got,

oh my gosh, I even got a fancy teaspoon, so now I stir glycine

into my pill water, like I'm in Downton Abbey or something.

I love it.

I could have, like, I could have got a teacup, teacup,

but I'm storing this in my bin with my pills, so I needed some,

I swear a teacup wouldn't be sturdy enough, so the mug works

perfectly, and it's just been just a little smile at the end

of the day. I love it.

If you're really trying to feel like you're going back

in time, you can pretend that you're stirring laudanum into

your dream.

Oh, man, I would sleep so good after that. Way better than

glycine and melatonin. Well, put that on the list, that'll be our

next extra credit.

No, it will not.

Okay, well, DM me for that one.

That is it for today's episode. Get started on your

decompression plan, or save this for whenever your summer

actually starts.

And don't forget about our book, Structure and Spark,

that is available for pre-order. The link for that is in the show

notes, and it is a great way to support us if we've ever helped

you with the things that we share.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm

Heidi.

And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow

or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an

episode.

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.

Bye for now.

Bye.