Is it Summer Yet?

I have never thought of myself as a negative person until this moment. I have a week of summer break left, and I find myself yearning for more time, reluctant to look the school year in the eye. And I wonder how many educators are feeling like this?

It's the end of summer; I should feel refreshed and ready to return to work, right? Instead, I feel tired, unmotivated, and heavy. My heaviness is multifaceted. My wife and I lost our 14-month-old son back in March. Sadness, healing, and grieving have taken a lot out of me. I also had a department member take a job at a different school just three weeks before the start of school. I am currently recovering from Covid. And I am experiencing a hefty dose of imposter syndrome.

I am entering my 17th year in education. And yet, as I sat down to work this morning, I felt more lost than I did in year one. Questions swirled in my head; where do I start, what is the point, what matters?

After a couple of hours, I began to find my way. By the end of my work session, I felt lighter and more inspired with several tools in my toolbox. I share with you the steps I took and hope it helps anyone who feels like I was.

THINK BIG PICTURE

When thinking about your course, questions like what matters most and what the point can be an excellent place to start. Open a google doc and title 2022-2023 overview. Start writing. Do not get distracted by format or design. Do not focus on details like when, how, or in what order things would happen. Write broad learning objectives; what should your students be able to do by the end of the year? Then focus on listing the primary skills students need to achieve those objectives. Finally, listed terms and concepts students' would need to know to meet those objectives successfully. Use this as your course foundation and platform for future planning sessions.

FIND INSPIRATION

Twitter has been one of my teaching career's most significant and valuable professional communities. If you are not on Twitter, I highly suggest you join and begin building your professional community. After losing my son, I stepped back from using the Twitter platform. However, this week I logged in to find some inspiration. I was intrigued by a recent post from Andy Milne, @carmelhealth. Andy Milne is someone I have been following for years and is a valuable resource to health and physical educators. His post highlighted the text Meaningful Physical Education. I purchased the book and will integrate it into my teaching this year. ThePhysicalEducator.com, @phys_educator is another resource that helped me this week. Joey Feith's resources have impeccable designs. Typically, formatting and design are areas that I enjoy and fill me. But not this week. I turned to The Physical Educator and dozens of downloadable resources that met my needs and took the creative pressure off me. If you are new to Twitter, @supportREALteachers has a #PhysedMentor directory that is a great place to start (physedmentor.glideapp.io). This directory allows you to search mentors by topic—some of my most significant sources of inspiration.

The start of the year can feel overwhelming even in the best circumstances. However, we are in this together. Be patient with yourself and try to think of these feelings as temporary. Take breaks from thinking about work to tending to what you need at the moment. Being present for yourself can significantly impact your productivity and well-being.