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Summer Reflection: Building Your Circles of Support

Education can be a lonely profession, whether we are teachers, administrators, or other staff members. Trying to “go it alone” can be an expensive option for our emotional, mental, and physical health. During trying times, we need others to whom we can turn, those people who understand and who have something useful to offer.

Because the nature and scope of the challenges and experiences we encounter vary, we may need various types of support. When we leave support-building efforts to chance or default to simply who is close to us, we risk not having the robust assistance we need. We must also build our support system before we find ourselves in need of it.

So, how might we think about the components of a personal and professional support system? A useful way to approach the task is to consider support as concentric circles. The circles closest to us might be more personal and naturally occurring, while the outer circles are more professionally focused and intentionally built. Or we might start with the circles we feel we most immediately need and focus on other areas as time allows and as we are ready. The key is to start now, not wait until we are most in need of support.

Here are six common forms of circles we might consider. Each circle serves a specific purpose and plays a unique role in our constellation of support. Some circles may have members in common with other circles—or they may even only contain one member. We may also find that we engage more than one support circle to address a unique need. The key is to decide what type of support we need, build it if it is not in place, and then, when needed, draw on that support without hesitation or guilt.

Our Personal Support Circle

This inner circle supports our emotional well-being. It includes our spouses, partners, family members, closest friends, and others who care about us first as people and then as educators. They help us to maintain our perspective, balance our emotions, and protect our mental health. People in this group might even nudge us to think and talk about more than work. They can share our victories, listen to our frustrations, and support us through difficult times.

Our Colleague Circle

Our colleagues understand our professional world, often sharing our experiences, frustrations, and celebrations. They may be sources of ideas, resources, and solutions to real-time challenges. Colleagues can offer emotional understanding and timely support. Their experiences often make them good sounding boards for our ideas, struggles, and musings. Equally important, members of our colleague circle can provide daily support and help us to feel less isolated, especially during difficult times.

Our Mentor Circle

Mentors are important resources regardless of where we are on our professional journey. They can be rich sources of wisdom and offer insightful guidance when we need it. Mentors can help us navigate unfamiliar situations and avoid common mistakes. They can help us to shorten learning curves and develop stable professional judgment. Multiple mentors often provide a diversity of thought and advice that surfaces a range of options and alternatives from which we can choose. However, we need to engage them early before crises fully develop or we might find ourselves backtracking on positions and decisions.

Our Professional Learning Circle

Not surprisingly, this circle includes professional learning communities, learning networks, professional organizations, book study groups, and others. Members of this circle help us remain current in our craft, avoid professional stagnation, consider the future of our profession and education, and look beyond immediate concerns and distractions. However, we need to move beyond discussion and debate about ideas to shift our practice and build our skills to gain maximum advantage from our professional learning circle.

Our Challenge Circle

This circle features people who have our best interests at heart and are also willing to challenge us to grow. They give us honest feedback and tell us what we need to hear, not just what we want to hear. Members of this circle may challenge our assumptions and beliefs. They nudge us to go beyond our comfort zone to try new approaches and ideas, even when we may initially stumble.

Our Renewal Circle

People in our renewal circle may share our hobbies, participate in our volunteer activities, be members of our exercise group, or support the causes we support. They may not be associated with our profession, and they may not directly contribute to improving our practice. Nevertheless, they help us to remain healthy, curious, and energized. They can also remind us that spending time away from work is important and not something to feel guilty about. However, we need to be fully present for them and for the activities we engage in if we hope to reap maximum benefits.

What is the state of your support system? Which circles of support do you have in place? What is missing? Where do you need to give attention and invest your efforts now? Summer is a great time to reflect on the support system around you and begin building it where it may need strengthening. Of course, we also need to regularly renew our existing circles of support to keep them healthy, vibrant, and ready to access when we need them.

June 26, 2026

Ten Summer Activities to Rekindle Your Passion for Teaching

Throughout the school year, both the highs and lows of teaching can result in a state of exhaustion unlike any other. Consequently, when summertime rolls around, many of us find ourselves feeling the kind of bone-tired that leads to a diminished passion for the profession. Taking time to reflect and rekindle that passion may seem like a nice-to-do activity rather than a must-do experience. Physical and emotional separation from teaching can help—and might be a good place to start—but renewing our spirit, recentering our enthusiasm, and rekindling our passion for teaching may require more than just a hiatus.

Unless we intentionally engage in activities to reenergize and revisit what drives us, we risk returning to school in the fall only partially ready to restart and with our drive to nurture and change the lives of our students not fully replenished. Equally important, our students benefit most when we start the new year emotionally present, intellectually energized, and spiritually renewed.

Of course, the key question is, “What can I do to renew my spirit and rekindle my passion?” Fortunately, there are several activities to choose from. Here are some possibilities to get started:

Set aside time in the coming weeks to reread cards, notes, and letters from former students and families. We can easily forget the words of appreciation, expressions of gratitude, and unsolicited compliments we have received during the year and across our careers. If you have kept a file or box of notes and cards, now is a good time to get it out and start reading. If you have not kept such a file, now is a good time to start one.

Free up time to reflect on former students whose lives you changed. You have influenced the lives of far more students than you know, and now is a good time to think about former students and what they have done since leaving your direct influence. You might also recall breakthrough moments, such as times when students began to show a new level of maturity or maybe just started to take their learning more seriously.

Think about a teacher who inspired you—then reach out to them. Most teachers experienced at least one teacher who had an especially strong influence on them. They may even be the reason we chose to teach as a profession. Summer is a good time to reflect on who they were, the influence they had, and the impact they had on us. This activity alone can be meaningful, but taking the additional step of reaching out to them can make the reflection even more powerful.

Start a journal on meaningful teaching moments. Reflect on times when you knew your teaching had an impact, your advice led a student to make a better choice, or you seized a teachable moment that led to unanticipated learning. You might even include entries describing difficult teaching moments when you learned something important or navigated a difficult emotional situation. Don’t be surprised if this activity leads to new insights and increased appreciation for your professional and interpersonal skills.

Attend workshops or conferences that inspire, not just inform. Professional learning opportunities that build skills and expose us to new strategies and techniques are important. However, experiences that leave us inspired and hopeful about the work we do can be equally valuable. They can remind us of the influence we have and the difference we make by who we are and how we engage students, not just what we share through formal lessons.

Read articles and listen to podcasts that provoke new thinking. Often, new ideas and shifts in our thinking come from information we encounter, in formats that allow us to reflect, examine, and “try on” what we are exposed to. We might even want to read or listen more than once to fully absorb the implications and possibilities of new thinking to which we are exposed. Learning at our own pace and in our own way can be a refreshing and meaningful experience.

Spend time with inspiring colleagues to talk about ideas. It can be tempting to spend our time with colleagues complaining about and criticizing what we see as needing attention. These conversations can be cathartic and emotionally soothing, but when we invest our time with colleagues who inspire and challenge our thinking, the conversations can be exhilarating and productive. Often, the best ideas and most important learning come from people who understand our world and offer a different “take” or a new idea about how to make things better.

Informally mentor an aspiring or new teacher. Mentoring an inexperienced educator can be a great way to become more aware of the skills and expertise we possess. The fact is that we know more than we realize. The experience can also be a means of reconnecting with why this work is so important and of reminding us of its rewards, and spending time with aspiring or new teachers can be a great way to give back to the profession.

Keep a notebook or file on ideas, observations, and insights about teaching. Summer can be a time when we think of new ideas, fresh approaches, and interesting possibilities. However, unless we capture those ideas, they can be lost as the summer unfolds. Equally important, the process of thinking through and recording our ideas and insights can be a stimulus for even more creativity and additional possibilities.

Choose one meaningful area to focus on for improvement. Lots of ideas and opportunities for improvement can be energizing; they can give us multiple options to consider. Nevertheless, too many goals and initiatives can become overwhelming as the new year begins. As a result, good ideas can get lost and never generate the outcomes we imagine. After considering the possibilities, choose one area that will make an important difference. Once that goal has been accomplished, the list can be revisited, and another area for improvement might be selected.

Not every activity suggested in this article may feel comfortable or meaningful to you, and that’s okay! What is important is that your summer break involves more than simply physical separation from the classroom. By reflecting, reminiscing, refocusing, and recommitting, you can set the stage for an optimistic and energetic start to the next school year.

June 17, 2026

Five End-of-Year Emotions and What to Do with Them

The end of the school year can be filled with complex emotions. For the most part, this is a natural part of closing out what has been a significant and extended investment of time, physical and mental energy, and interpersonal engagement. What we feel now likely represents the cumulative experiences, interactions, and challenges this past year presented to us.

Our emotions can also seem contradictory. Some emotions may lift our spirits, while others leave us deflated. For example, we might feel triumphant to have successfully finished the year and sad that we will no longer be a part of our students’ lives in the way we have been for the past months.

Each emotion we experience carries meaning for us. They are not necessarily problems to be solved, nor are they feelings we should ignore or pack away without examination. Rather, they are evidence that the work we did throughout the year mattered. They can be symptoms to examine, they may stir memories to treasure, and they might remind us of what the work means to us and of how much we have invested in it. Let’s examine five common emotions teachers often experience at the end of the school year, what they might represent, and what we might do with them.

Relief

Relief is often one of the first emotions we experience as we close out the year and send students out the door for a final time. It is not inherently a negative emotion in this context. Rather, relief can simply be the feeling that a load of responsibility has been lifted. It is evidence of the investment of mental and emotional energy, as well as the stress we have been feeling. In short, relief is a signal that the pressure has eased.

What to do with it:

Let yourself appreciate feeling relieved without guilt.

Resist, to the extent possible, immediately filling the space relief created.

Consider what created the greatest stress and strain and whether you might adjust routines, approaches, or boundaries to lessen the load next year.

Remember that relief is evidence of commitment and investment in your work.

Pride

There are many reasons to feel pride as the year comes to a close. We have watched students learn and grow academically. We have seen commitment and persistence. Students who began the year as one person have (hopefully) matured into another. They have learned important new skills and are ready for new challenges. Our pride also extends to what we have accomplished. Goals we set at the beginning of the year can now be celebrated as accomplishments. We, too, have persisted. We have learned through our experience and reflection and from lessons students taught us, whether intentional or not. The source of our pride is not perfection; rather, it comes from never giving up on students or ourselves and finding our way regardless of the challenges we face.

What to do with it:

Document the successes and accomplishments you achieved before they fade from memory. Physical or digital journals or binders compiled of miscellaneous notes work just fine, as do keepsake boxes or even a shelf of mementos in your classroom or office.

Create or add to your file of thank-yous, compliments, and other expressions of appreciation. These items can be good reminders when you need something to pick you up and remind you of the significance of what you do.

Share your accomplishments with a trusted colleague, family member, friend, or other person who understands and values you and what you do.

Gratitude

This emotion is often strongest when we have faced difficult challenges, found our way through, and emerged whole. We realize the power of connections, support, friendships, humor, and kindness. Yet every year, regardless of the challenges, we succeed with the support, assistance, and care of those around us. Gratitude helps balance frustrations and disappointments with opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others, to experience colleagues who share our commitment, and to engage in the work of creating a better future.

What to do with it:

Make a list of things that you are grateful for and reflect on how they enrich your life.

Share the gratitude you feel directly with those who make you feel grateful—students, colleagues, parents, friends, and family members.

Be open and accepting when people share why they are grateful for you, and resist minimizing or dismissing the significance of what they say.

Loss

We might anticipate excitement, joy, and elation as the end of the year approaches, only to discover that when the final day passes, we feel as though we have lost something. We may feel numbness, emptiness, and even downright sadness. We can experience these feelings when we have been particularly close to a class or group of students. The end of the year means the special relationships and experiences that filled it have come to an end. Our students will move on without us. At the same time, we have many wonderful memories to revisit and a reminder of what is possible when just the right mix of people, timing, and opportunity come together.

What to do with it:

Spend time reflecting on the experiences you shared and the opportunities you offered.

Remember that even though the students will move on, your influence will continue. You may never know how their lives changed because of their time with you.

Remind yourself that the experiences you shared with these students, while unique, can be at least somewhat recreated with future classes.

Appreciate the special opportunities your work gives you to make a difference in the lives of the students you touch.

Exhaustion

The end of most school years leaves us feeling tired. We invested deeply in the success of the students we taught. The workload is heavy, and opportunities for rest and renewal during the year can be scarce and short. Nevertheless, after some years, the feeling of exhaustion is deeper and more pervasive. Prolonged emotional stress, overextension, and other factors can leave us feeling emotionally and physically depleted. These are times to pay special attention and plan for recovery.

What to do with it:

Make rest and recovery priorities.

Delay extensive reflection and any changes until feelings of exhaustion have eased.

Identify the primary sources of energy drain. They might be rooted in conflict, a lack of autonomy, an inability to see your impact, expectations of perfection, or something else.

Determine what is within your control, what you can influence, and what you cannot control. Use your analysis to create a plan to reduce energy and emotional drain where you can and explore ways to manage your response to what you cannot control.

Resist making major life and career decisions while your energy is depleted.

Enjoy, embrace, and relish the emotions that bring you joy and satisfaction. Resist suppressing or overanalyzing the emotions that drain energy or pull you down. Rather than being judgmental, be curious, give yourself time before acting, and focus on what you can control.

Obviously, these are not the only emotions teachers are likely to experience as the year draws to a close. What other emotions do you notice, and what have you found useful in response?

June 12, 2026

After a Difficult Year: How to Reclaim Energy and Hope

In every educator's career, difficult years are inevitable. Sooner or later, we will all have (at least) one. After all, each year brings a new group of students and changes in curriculum, structures, or expectations, and with significant changes often come significant challenges. What is most important is not that we had a trying year; no, what matters most is what we choose to do with what we experienced. The year ends, but what we learn from it and how we go forward can reshape our careers.

To be clear, moving on is not about pretending the past year did not happen. It is also not about replaying, regretting, or endlessly ruminating on the experience. Moving on involves understanding, gaining perspective, and focusing on what we can do with what we learned. Here are some strategies to help make the transition.

Resist replaying painful and unsuccessful moments. Pain attracts attention. We can get lost in time spent recalling, reliving, and massaging what hurts. We can become preoccupied with incidents such as conflicts with a student or parent, a lesson or unit that did not go as planned, or times we wish we had said or done something different. The truth is that while reflection can certainly be helpful, ruminating drains energy and yields little of value. Instead, this time should be devoted to letting go of any guilt, forgiving yourself, and allowing yourself to experience relief. Relief is not failure; it is evidence that the experience took a toll.

Conduct an “after-action reflection.” Challenging experiences often leave unresolved questions, confusing emotions, and frustrating memories. Unless we examine and determine what to do with them, they remain with us and can hold us back. Now is a good time to reflect on the experience, make sense of it, and let it go. Depending on the circumstances, you might include a trusted and respected colleague in the conversation. Center your reflection and conversation around questions such as what frustrated you, what caused hurt, what you could not control, and what you learned. When you are finished, decide what is beneficial to carry with you and what to leave behind. Then, turn and look forward.

Keep your identity and worth separate from the experience. Many factors can influence how a year goes. A difficult mix of students, curriculum, or organizational issues, behavior challenges, or leadership conflicts are possibilities, but they do not define who you are. Nor do they represent your value or effectiveness. Teaching is a profound human work, and it can be influenced by a wide variety of variables. The key question is, “What did you learn about people, teaching, or yourself from the experience?” Contemplating this question helps to shift your attention from regret to growth.

Do not forget the students for whom you made a difference. At this point, there may be students whom you believe you failed to reach. You may or may not be correct. Often, the influence we have is not visible for long after students leave us. Your impact may be more than you know. Meanwhile, there likely remain students whom you were able to reach, with whom you had a strong relationship, and who flourished as the year unfolded. It can be easy to forget positive, successful efforts, especially when we are preoccupied with what we did not visibly accomplish. Commit to spending as much (or more) time recalling and reflecting on your successes as on less satisfactory experiences.

Replenish your energy before trying to “fix anything.” There may be adjustments you want to make because of your reflections on the past year. However, before investing in that work, take time to replenish your energy. Prioritize sleep, exercise, relationships, fun, laughter, and even quiet time. Growth is important, but recovery is faster and more successful when our energy levels are high and our sense of who we are is restored. Trying to learn and change while running on empty is tough work.

Identify what you want to change next year. At this point, you may have some ideas about what you want to do in response to your reflection. It may be time to revisit and adjust personal and professional boundaries. You might want to adjust some routines or structures. There may be classroom management strategies you want to adopt or even some support you want to secure as you start the new year. It is good to explore various options. However, before deciding what you will do, consider what one or two things will make the greatest difference and focus your attention there. Trying to do too many things at once is likely to result in doing none of them well.

Get ready for a new beginning. One of the gifts of education is that every year offers the opportunity for a fresh start. Last year may have been a challenge, but it is behind us. We can give ourselves permission to let go of last year and embrace the opportunities and possibilities that lie ahead. It is time to flush away any remaining disappointment and pain from last year and give full attention to the wonderful things you will accomplish in the months ahead.

Difficult years can lead to important learning; they can deepen our empathy, strengthen our resilience, enrich our wisdom, and broaden our perspective. We can take what we have learned from a challenging year without reliving it.

June 04, 2026

Why Boredom Belongs on Your Summer Agenda

Summer break features a wide variety of activities, roles, and responsibilities for teachers. Contrary to popular assumption, most teachers do not have the luxury of taking the summer off to relax and do nothing. Teaching summer school, completing curriculum projects, engaging in professional learning, and taking temporary jobs to supplement income are just some of what fills the summer months—either by choice or necessity.

Obviously, boredom is not what most teachers anticipate and plan for when the school year comes to an end. Yet, finding time and ways to experience and embrace boredom can offer some important benefits, both personally and professionally. Seeking to be bored may seem counterintuitive, but boredom can create conditions for and be a source of important mental and emotional work.

Consider that many of history’s most creative people and greatest thinkers used boredom as the context and stimulus for some of their most important work. Isaac Newton developed some of his most significant theories while idling away hours at the family farm during the plague. Charles Darwin depended on his daily walks to allow his mind to wander and wonder. Maya Angelou chose to write in hotel rooms devoid of pictures, decoration, and distracting views to create a boring backdrop for her creative work. These innovative people and others leveraged the mental space offered by boredom to synthesize their thinking, make connections, complete ideas, and generate possibilities.

We may not have the luxury of extended time to become bored, but we can create space to reflect, make connections, integrate information, and generate ideas. We might set aside time on weekends, take advantage of time while driving, schedule regular hikes or strolls, or choose other spaces and activities that allow time to think. Be assured that the choice can be more than worth the effort. Here are just a few benefits you can experience:

Recovering mentally. When our brain is not occupied, it shifts into default mode, much like reflection. The rest can refresh our thinking and renew our energy; thinking about nothing can be very therapeutic.

Rebalancing emotions. In the absence of input and focus, the brain can resurface unresolved thoughts and lingering emotions, allowing up to work through unhealed wounds and decide how to deal with them. This space can also help us to process residual stress and allow it to dissipate rather than carry it with us.

Repositioning our relationship with time. During the year, we might seek to make every moment productive. Setting aside time to be bored can remind us that time can be experienced and valued as a pause as much as for activity.

Unleashing creativity. Boredom can create space for our unconscious mind to see connections we might have missed, to complete thoughts or finish partially formed ideas, and to generate new insights.

Reconnecting with purpose. We might spend most of our time during the year planning, responding, completing tasks, managing deadlines, and other time-consuming activities. During such a level of activity, we can lose track of what is rewarding about our work and what renews our spirit. Boredom can interrupt the cycle and create space to reconnect to why we choose this profession.

Expanding identity. Taking time to be bored can invite us to be curious and explore. We might rediscover interests we have abandoned, try a new activity, or explore a hobby. Boredom can create space to expand our sense of who we are and who we want to become.

Finding or making time to be bored isn’t likely to be at the top of most educators’ list of summer priorities, though maybe it should be. Finding time to renew, refresh, and reframe our thoughts and emotions can be a great way to let go of the past year and create space and anticipation for what lies ahead.

May 21, 2026

End-of-Summer Regrets to Prevent Now

It happens every year. We focus on finishing this year, imagine a long summer ahead, and yet, August arrives sooner than we expect. Then, when summer comes to an end, we are bombarded with some familiar thoughts: I meant to do this… I should have taken care of that… How did the summer fly by?

We might look back and ask ourselves why we didn’t finish some tasks, take care of some issues, wrap up some projects, and do a better job of planning the summer. Fortunately, now is the time to address many of those issues and actions, preparing us for a summer with more intention, reflection, and renewal—and free of some regrets.

The challenge is to use the time we have as we finish the year to also take a few actions to get ready for the summer we desire and the fall we anticipate. Here are five common end-of-summer regrets and how we can prevent them by what we choose to do now.

I failed to reach closure on the past year.

This may have been a difficult year. Conflicts may linger, some hurts have not yet healed, and other unfinished interpersonal business may need attention. A challenging class may have tested our skills and our patience. Before leaving for the summer, we may need to reach out to a colleague to repair a relationship, let go of some hurts and regrets that have distracted us, and forgive ourselves for times we fell short and did not do our best work. Taking time to repair what we can and let go of what we cannot fix can help us to make the transition and get ready to refocus for the summer.

I never fully unplugged and renewed.

Many educators will spend their summer engaged in professional work either related to teaching or not. They may teach summer school, work on curriculum development, or engage in professional development or formal coursework, or they may work other part- or full-time jobs. Consequently, truly unplugging can be a challenge. Nevertheless, we can still plan some emotional and physical get-away activities. Mini-vacations, regular hikes, day trips to favorite places, and other enjoyable, non-school-related activities can offer mental breaks and opportunities to gain separation and renew our spirits. Recovery from the year can involve both emotional renewal and physical separation.

I failed to get organized digitally and physically.

The pace of the school year and the acceleration that accompanies the lead-up to the end can leave little time to organize and manage digital files, emails, and other technology tools. Similarly, we may feel pressed and neglect to keep physical materials and resources in top shape. We might be tempted to leave these organizing tasks until later in the summer or when we return in the fall. However, competition for our time and attention will be fierce in the days leading up to the start of school; there will be enough to organize and prepare for that school year without dealing with leftovers from this one. A few hours spent now to organize our digital and physical space can make a big difference in the fall when other matters demand our attention.

I planned to do some summer learning, but I never got around to it.

Summer may seem to stretch well into the horizon, but experience has taught us that it will go quickly. Taking some time now to decide what we want to learn, where we can engage in the learning we seek, and when we will do it can help us organize our summer schedule and ensure we gain the learning we need. Enrolling in a course, workshop, or other learning opportunity, placing dates on the calendar, and making other preparatory arrangements now can prevent us from feeling this regret when the end of the summer arrives.

I avoided thinking about and planning for next year, and now I feel overwhelmed.

Unplugging for the summer is important, but unplugging does not have to mean neglecting necessary planning and arrangements for next year. In fact, time spent now, while recollections from the past year are still fresh and our aspirations for next year are still forming, can go a long way in charting a general course for the year ahead. Having a sense for what we want to accomplish and taking a few initial steps can relieve some pressure, give us a place to start, and launch next year with greater confidence and direction.

Regrets are not pleasant, especially when what caused them could have been prevented. Fortunately, many common regrets about the end of the summer can be prevented by what we choose to do now. A little planning and a few hours of effort can make a big difference in how we feel and what we face when it is time to return in the fall.

May 14, 2026

Share Your Tips & Stories

Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.

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Finishing Strong: Making ESY Decisions That Actually Make Sense

It’s hard to believe that we are already approaching the end of the school year. With spring in full swing, school teams are balancing progress monitoring, end-of-year meetings, and planning for what comes next. For many educators, Extended School Year (ESY) decisions are either already underway or quickly rising to the top of the to-do list. The question is: Are our ESY decisions thoughtful, individualized, and truly aligned to student needs? Or are we rushing to check a box?

As educators and leaders, you know that ESY is not about simply offering more school. It is about ensuring continuity of critical skills for students with disabilities. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, ESY must be determined on an individual basis, grounded in data, and designed to support a student’s ability to make meaningful progress. When done well, ESY decisions protect hard-earned gains and set students up for a stronger start in the fall.

As you head into ESY planning, it’s important to consider a few key areas that can strengthen both your process and your outcomes:

Start with Clarity: What Does the Student Truly Need?

Strong ESY decisions begin with the right lens. Shifting the conversation from “Does this student qualify?” to “What does this student need to maintain or continue progress?” keeps the focus on the student, where it belongs.

Teams need to ground that conversation in data. Progress monitoring, service logs, and work samples can help identify patterns of regression, recoupment, or emerging skills that may be at risk. While professional judgment plays an important role, pairing it with clear data ensures decisions are both thoughtful and defensible.

Just as important is identifying the most critical skills; it’s important to recognize that ESY is not intended to replicate the full school year. Instead, teams should prioritize a small number of foundational skills—specifically, those skills that have the greatest impact on the student’s overall progress and independence.

Strengthen the Process: Thoughtful, Collaborative Decision-Making

ESY decisions are strongest when they are intentional and collaborative, not rushed or routine.

Avoid patterns where decisions are made based on special education programs, disability categories, or “what we’ve always done.” Each student’s needs should drive the recommendation. Taking time to individualize decisions not only ensures compliance but also builds trust across teams.

Preparation is a key component of the process. When teams come to IEP meetings with data reviewed, observations gathered, and a preliminary recommendation in mind, conversations are more productive and focused.

Equally important is ensuring that all voices are part of the discussion. General education teachers, special education providers, related service staff, and families each bring valuable insight. Creating space for those perspectives leads to stronger, more well-rounded decisions.

Plan for Follow-Through: From Recommendation to Reality

A well-written ESY decision is only effective if it can be implemented with fidelity!

Think ahead about logistics, including staffing needs, scheduling, service delivery models, locations, and materials. Aligning these details early helps to ensure that what is written in the IEP translates into a meaningful summer experience for students.

Clear communication with families also plays a critical role. ESY can sometimes be misunderstood, so taking time to explain how decisions were made, what data was considered, and what services will look like helps build clarity and trust.

Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of documentation. Capturing not just the decision, but also the reasoning behind it and the data used to support it, reinforces continuity and strengthens the team’s position if questions arise later.

As the school year winds down, ESY decisions are an opportunity to ensure that student data, critical skill priorities, and individualized needs are driving team decisions. This is the time to be intentional about how those decisions are made and documented. A little focus now can prevent skill loss, reduce frustration, and create a smoother transition into the next school year.

Finishing strong isn’t just about closing out the year. It’s about setting students up for continued success. The care and intention behind your ESY decisions is a powerful part of that work.

April 28, 2026

Use Summer to Revisit and Reestablish Work and Life Boundaries

We know when working with students that the absence of boundaries does not necessarily lead to freedom, flexibility, and creativity in their work. Often, the lack of boundaries leads to chaos, conflict, and distraction, and in many ways, failing to set boundaries in our lives can lead to similar outcomes. Without boundaries, we often find ourselves uncomfortable, ineffective, and frustrated.

Tony Martignetti, writing in Fast Company, explains that boundary-setting is crucial to being productive, building trust, and finding satisfaction. Martignetti argues that boundaries are less about having to say “no” and more about being able to say “yes” to what we value. Martignetti’s observations about boundary-setting might be summarized as:

Good boundaries are structures, not barriers. Boundaries help us to decide where to place our energy, what to avoid, and what to let go.
Effective boundaries are less about time and more about attention. We might think of boundaries as dictating how we spend our time, but boundaries work best when they help us decide where to allocate our mental and physical energy.
Thoughtful boundaries do not constrain; they clarify. Boundaries can help us to sort out priorities and set goals.
Sustainable boundaries do not block energy; they protect it. When our energy is in short supply, clear boundaries can preserve what we have and help us to use it where it makes the greatest difference.
Strategic boundaries do not undermine commitment; they focus it. Gaining clarity about what we value and how we want to live can create new levels of productivity without unduly exhausting our energy or undermining relationships.

Summer can be a great time to reflect on what we value, how we want to live, and how we might set boundaries that maximize our effectiveness and productivity without compromising our health, relationships, and happiness. Here are some ideas to get started:

Spend time reflecting on what is most important. Clarifying our life and work values can help to set priorities, sort areas of conflict, and guide the establishment of boundaries.
Revisit current boundaries. Reviewing where current boundaries are working well and identifying boundaries we are ignoring or not following can help us to decide what to keep, what to fix, and what to abandon. If regularly bringing work home and sacrificing family time and relationships is a source of stress, this pattern might be a good place to start.
Identify “pain points.” We might think about times and circumstances when we feel the greatest guilt, frustration, or exhaustion. They can be good places to focus our boundary-setting work. Often, these situations represent a conflict between what we value and how we behave.
Reach out to a colleague or friend who seems to set and manage boundaries well. Discovering what works for someone who shares our general circumstances might provide options we can adopt or adapt to fit our needs. As examples, learning how a colleague establishes and manages limits to work hours or has a shutdown routine at the end of the day can provide options and practices we choose to follow.
Think of boundaries as guidelines to respect, not unbreakable rules. Depending on the boundary, there may be times when we need to flex to accommodate unusual circumstances. Inflexibility can create as much stress and conflict as not establishing a boundary. For example, we might establish a manageable limit to the number of committees and work groups we join, but an emergency or special task force that needs our expertise may lead us to make a temporary exception.
Notice when frustration, anxiety, or resentment begin to grow. When these feelings persist, they may be signals that it is time to revisit a current boundary or establish a new one. Circumstances can change from year to year, month to month, and even week to week. Boundaries that worked for us in the past may no longer serve us well. As examples, technology we used to control may be starting to control us. Or the time we have blocked out for self-care, family, or relaxation may no longer work for us and needs to be adjusted.

We need boundaries to sustain our energy, mental health, and productivity. Boundaries can create as much freedom as they provide limits. However, we need to establish them with care. The key is to find what works for us and allow our boundaries to give us the structure, clarity, and confidence that can keep us fresh and sustain our enthusiasm and commitment.

Reference:

Martignetti, T. (2025, May 19). Healthy boundaries at work matter more than ever. Here are 7 steps to build them. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/91334582/healthy-boundaries-at-work-matter-more-than-ever-here-are-7-steps-to-build-them

June 26, 2025

Try These Summer Hacks to Jump-Start a Better School Year

It is no secret that overplanning and overpreparing for the next school year can produce some stress, to put that mildly. It can also be a colossal waste of time. In most circumstances, we have yet to meet our incoming group of students and are not aware of their individual personalities and learning needs. Trying to assume and anticipate the details and specifics of what lies ahead can be fraught with errors and misconceptions. However, this observation does not mean that we should not spend time thinking and doing some general preparation.

The key is to focus on issues and activities that are not heavily dependent on the specific makeup of the students with whom we will be working. Having some tasks out of the way can reduce our stress and allow us to focus our attention elsewhere. Improving resource and material organization, thinking through key processes, and previewing areas of potential challenge can often help us to identify actions and activities that can smooth out the start and protect momentum during the year. Here are five activities to consider this summer that can position us and our students for a good year:

Declutter, organize, and store. Summer can be a great time to take a fresh look at our teaching and learning space—physical and virtual—and make some changes. Over time, we can become accustomed to living with disorganized bookshelves, extra furniture, and disordered equipment areas and not realize the extra work and inefficiency they create. Summer break can be a great time to cull and organize. Letting go of some things and securing new storage space can reduce the clutter and distractions while freeing up space for other uses. In our digital world, we can sort, organize, and abandon resources, old lesson designs, and other files. Our inboxes might use some cleaning out. Deleting emails we no longer need and organizing what remains can free up space and make locating past correspondence easier. Similarly, Google Drive and other tools and storage spaces might benefit from organization. A few hours spent this summer can reduce stress and make the start of the new school year much smoother and more efficient.
Make some new content and skill connections. Think about concepts and skills in the curriculum where students struggle to make connections or find it difficult to see a compelling purpose. Brainstorming potential uses can generate creative applications and compelling reasons for learning. Think about local businesses, organizations, and other activities where a connection might be made. Of course, a few well-crafted AI inquiries might generate some interesting and useful applications and arguments to share with students. When we share good reasons and compelling purposes for new learning, we can reduce resistance and even stimulate interest and enthusiasm for the learning that lies ahead.
Create some micro-lesson videos. Now can be a good time to review concepts and skills where students often struggle and create some proactive resources to address the most common challenges. Consider making some brief (four- to six-minute) videos that can help students find their way through these common rough spots. The videos might include examples, step-by-step processes, and useful tips and explanations to clear up common confusion. Choose a recording device with which you are comfortable, relax, add some fun graphics, and have fun!
Go tech tool shopping. Finding and becoming comfortable with the right tech tools can be a challenge during the school year. Summer can be a great time to research and try some options. Check with colleagues about their favorite tools and consult online reviews and expert opinions. Securing and practicing with a new tool (or tools) now can build our confidence and save time as we put them to work in the next school year.
Collect and position key resources. Finding and securing resources to support new content and skills can be a challenge and stress-producer in the middle of a busy school year. Now can be a good time to review and make a list of the most significant resource needs and pressures we are likely to face in the coming year. Starting now to locate and pre-position key curricular and other resources can lower our stress and smooth out the process of getting ready for new units and key projects.

Of course, there may be other anticipatory, preparatory, and inventory activities that you find helpful to complete during summer. If so, be sure to share them with a colleague and help them to have a great start to the next school year, too.

June 20, 2025

Six Ways to Learn This Summer Without Taking a Course or Attending a Conference

Sweet, sweet summertime! For some educators, summer break is a time to do just that—take a break. Others do not have that luxury. And for many, summer is a time for both leisure and continued work, work that may or may not be related to education. These next few months will almost certainly seem to fly by; how we spend them remains to be seen, but if we are lucky, we will have time to rest and time to learn and grow.

Summer does not always mean that we have the time and opportunity to take a course or that we can set aside the time we do have to attend a conference. When possible, these are certainly great sources for learning; they can be excellent for networking, re-energizing our passion for education, and providing professional growth experiences. However, courses and conferences are not the only ways to gain new skills and elevate our practice.

When our summer is too full, too hectic, or too unmanageable to engage in formal learning—or if we just don’t want to go that route—we have an array of other options from which we can choose. These options can flex to accommodate our schedule, and they can allow us to focus on what we want to learn, when and where we want to learn it. Let’s explore six informal, but promising, ways to feed a summertime desire to learn.

Consider setting aside time to meet with a colleague (or colleagues) whose practice you admire. Often, colleagues who have an existing relationship with us and who share common experiences can provide highly useful tips, techniques, and ideas we can adopt or adapt for use with our students. Our relationship can also make it safe to ask questions that we might be reluctant to ask in other settings. Equally beneficial, we can share effective strategies and approaches from our practice that our colleagues may find beneficial in their work with their students.

You might join an educator group on social media. Like the first option, engaging with other educators in an informal setting can make it more comfortable to ask for advice, ideas, and suggestions that we can add to our repertoire of instructional, classroom management, and administrative strategies. Learning from others who share similar experiences can also provide us with encouragement and reassurance. Social networking can offer opportunities to share ideas and insights about what works for us.

Set aside time to read books, journals, and blogs you did not have time to read during the year. There never seems to be enough time to read everything shared with us, especially during the school year. We might have a stack of journals that were set aside for later reading. We might have heard from colleagues and others about books that they have found especially useful. Or we may follow blog sources that we have not had time to keep up with. Summer can offer the opportunity to return to these sources of information at a time when we can read, reflect, and plan.

Listen to professionally-focused audio and video podcasts. Summer break can offer a wide array of options for listening and watching podcasts. Whether driving to and from summer destinations, relaxing between summer activities, or engaging in physical activities that leave room for your mind to wander, podcasts can be a good way to catch up on issues and trends of interest, explore new ideas and thinking, or encounter some new perspectives worth considering and trying out.

Do your own blogging or podcasting. Of course, we don’t necessarily have to just read or listen to the ideas and insights of others. We can capture and share our own thinking and practice with others. While we might not initially consider this approach for learning, in fact, reflecting on our own practice, explaining useful techniques, and sharing what we have experienced can be a great way to solidify what we have learned, understand a deeper level of what we know, and discover new ideas and even better ways to accomplish our work.

Engage in your own research. We may want to find our own path as we seek to learn a new technique, overcome a persistent barrier, or uncover something completely new. Beyond what we may learn through the usual channels, we might search websites and databases that specialize in new research, report on promising practices, or engage in deeper debate regarding educational issues. This approach can pair well with a summer school course we might be teaching or a course we are preparing to teach in the fall.

Summer can be a valuable time for learning and reflection, but we do not need to rely solely on formal options and opportunities. The fact is that we can create our own! When we take responsibility for our own learning and find ways that work for us, the results can be amazing.

June 11, 2025

The Master Teacher Blog

Summer Reflection: Building Your Circles of Support

Ten Summer Activities to Rekindle Your Passion for Teaching

Five End-of-Year Emotions and What to Do with Them

After a Difficult Year: How to Reclaim Energy and Hope

Why Boredom Belongs on Your Summer Agenda

End-of-Summer Regrets to Prevent Now

Share Your Tips & Stories

Finishing Strong: Making ESY Decisions That Actually Make Sense

Use Summer to Revisit and Reestablish Work and Life Boundaries

Try These Summer Hacks to Jump-Start a Better School Year

Six Ways to Learn This Summer Without Taking a Course or Attending a Conference

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