Small Strokes Big Oaks

I put out a call on Twitter today for a topic to write about.  My buddy, @EKSwitaj, suggested I write about “dealing with the shift from the highly structured school year to the more flexible days of summer,” which I thought was a pretty good topic, so here goes.

As much as I look forward to the break from the school year drudgery (Does that surprise you, students?  That your teachers look forward to breaks almost as much as you do?), I have a really hard time adjusting to my summer hours.  This is mostly because I usually start the summer off with absolutely nothing to do but catch up on all the stuff I didn’t do during the busy school year which can, and usually does, launch me into a sort of dazed state at the beginning of the vacation period.

During the academic calendar, I wake up early and go work out first thing in the morning.  I’m a morning work out person, so I like to get that done early in the day.  After that, I come home, clean up a bit from the night before, eat breakfast, shower (not necessarily in that order), and leave for school.  At school, my day is ruled by bells and 55-minute periods.  I have the same schedule every day, except for pep assembly days or shortened schedules for School Improvement days.  My day starts when that first bell rings in the morning, whether I like it or not, and each class period ends when that bell rings, whether I like it or not.  While whatever my students and I do in those periods between bells is largely up to me, my time is incredibly structured.  I cannot eat, grade, plan, or even use the restroom at will.  I have to wait until my students are not in the room to leave at all.

While it might sound incredibly freeing to have a change of pace that allows you to do whatever you want for 9 weeks out of the year, the sudden change is often disorienting to say the least.  I usually try to spend the first couple of days catching up on whatever was put on the back-burner during the end of the school year, but even that doesn’t keep me busy enough.  I find myself sleeping for way more time than is really healthy, watching copious amounts of television, maybe reading a book if I can muster up the brain power to do so, and eating.  A lot of eating. Then, right around July 1, I get myself into a schedule of writing, working out, seeing friends, planning for next school year, and general productivity.  Then, right around August 1, I actually get used to the rhythm of that schedule.  Then, right around August 15, I go back to school.

I love my structured teacher days almost more than I love the lazy rhythm of the summer shift.  If my brain isn’t occupied, I get generally antsy.  I’m a project-based person; I always need to have some project I’m working on, some goal to focus on.  Sure, everyone needs a vacation, but I’ve often said that if our school switched to year-round schooling, I’d be one of the (few?) proponents.  In a year-round school situation, you’re still working about the same number of days with breaks interspersed into the year with a longer break (but not as long as it is now) during the summer.  I could totally deal with that.  Two weeks off every few months with a month-or-so long summer break would be perfect.  Just enough time to rest and recuperate and get back in the swing of things.

Don’t get me wrong; I love summer.  I just love the feeling of productivity more.

For you teachers and students out there: How do you deal with sudden schedule shifts for breaks?  What do you find yourself doing during the summer?