The Importance of Recharging During Winter Break for Teachers
From designing lessons to preparing for a new year, the second half of the school year requires just as much planning as the first. In your classroom, you've probably gotten to know your students, as well as form bonds with them, identify their needs, challenges, talents, and even unique aspects of their personalities.
On the other hand, you're also using the tools and knowledge you've gained to help them grow as writers and learners. Of course, this can be deeply rewarding, but at the same time, it can be demanding for a number of reasons. But this is probably what you love most about your career: helping young people see their world, sharing your knowledge and experience, making an impact on the development of every student who sits in your classroom, and finding genuine inspiration through the collaborative act of teaching.
With all these factors in mind, you can see why it's incredibly important to take advantage of the winter break so you can come back and rejoin your students in the classroom you've created with them. After all, it's a vacation for you too. How do you best re-charge? These 2 activities can help and get ready for the rest of the school year!
Go On a Trip to Your Favorite Destination
While it's a little different for teachers than it is for students, since you have all sorts of practical concerns during winter break regardless of whether school's in session, make plans to go somewhere for a while. Pick somewhere psychologically comforting to you, whether that's back in your hometown or somewhere entirely new you've always wanted to visit. The important thing is to make sure winter break actually is a break, so go have fun! Sleep all day in a beautiful cabin on a lake. Or hit the big city to take in the museums and landmarks. If you don't have a full week to travel or you can't skip town, spend two days at a spa. Just let your career rest for a while so you can too.
Read Books for Fun
Remember last summer when you could just read a book for any reason at all? We're sure you have a long list of books you've wanted to read, curled up at home on the couch or on your front porch, rather than sitting up at a desk with a highlighter, sticky notes, and an open laptop. Sometimes it's easy to forget that the simple pleasure of opening and exploring the world inside a book is what made you fall in love with the written word in the first place and nurtured your curiosity and craving for ideas, stories, and knowledge.
Give these two ideas a shot, and they'll help you remember what you love about teaching.... discovering and sharing the world around us. From all of us at WWD, good luck on the second half of your school year and Happy New Year!