The Principal's Handbook

Making the Most of Your Summer as a Principal
[00:00:00] In today's episode. I want to talk about how you can make the most of your summer as a principal. That's all coming up next, right here on the principal's handbook. So stay tuned.
Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self care. I'm Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.
From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance, I'm Barb Flowers. We'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.
Welcome back to the podcast today. We're going to be talking about how to make the most of your summer as a principal. And this could be whether it's [00:01:00] your time that you're working in the summer, where it's just you working and you don't have teachers in the building, or this could go. This could even pertain to your summer break that you have completely off from work.
So whatever part of this, you're thinking about this. This episode is really intended to talk about both. It's intended to talk about your time off of work, and also your time that you get to work. And you were in the building without teachers and students, and you have more time to focus on. Different things that you don't have time to during the school year. So you need to have a clear plan of what you want to accomplish during that time, because summer goes so quickly and if it's not utilized well, we get very busy and before we know it, it's time to go back to school and we didn't do any of the things that we wanted and we didn't accomplish anything that we needed to accomplish before students are back in the building. Summer really needs to be a balance between productivity and rest.
You want to go back to school in the fall, feeling [00:02:00] rested. And excited for the new school year. And if you work too much, you'll feel like you had no break. But if you don't do any work, you're going to feel like you got nothing accomplished. And I know that that's going to be a frustrating feeling as well.
So today I'm going to talk about how to balance that and I'm going to share. Three things that you can focus on to make the most of your summer as a principal. And of course, there's more things I'm just going to be focusing on three today. So the first one I want to focus on is wellbeing. You need to focus on your wellbeing in the summer.
Summertime is the best time to get into a routine. And create the habits that you want to have during the school year. It's that idea that it's easier to establish healthy habits when you're not stressed, it's harder to incorporate them when you're feeling so stressed out and it's hard to motivate yourself. To do the activities that you don't want to do.
So it's really important that summer is a time that you can start these healthy habits. You can use the summer to start an exercise routine. If you [00:03:00] don't currently exercise, I really recommend it because exercise is so good for helping improve your mood, your energy levels and gesture overall health. So the summer is a great time to practice and get those routines in for exercise. Also meal planning meal planning is super important so that you're eating healthy meals and you're not just grabbing whatever you find on the go. When I don't meal plan, my meals are so much more unhealthy because I'm just grabbing.
What I see is ready. Am I grab a school lunch? And so making sure that you get into the routine of finding healthy meals that you like. Planning them out and having them prepared for the week is really going to help you. I get into that routine for when you start school and then it's going to help you find foods that help bring your energy up. And reduce stress because when we're eating unhealthy foods, it actually makes us more tired. And then it usually causes more stress because you just don't feel good.
Your body doesn't feel good when you're eating unhealthy foods. [00:04:00] Also, it's a great time to get into a routine for mindfulness and meditation. And mindfulness and meditation are so important for reducing stress. So having this routine in place before you even start is going to be helpful.
Mindfulness and meditation are two ways to actually regulate your nervous system. And there's research that shows when your nervous system is unregulated, that is a huge part of what causes stress and that puts your body in fight or flight mode. And the more your body is unregulated in the more stress you have in your body, it actually is going to, increase, the likeliness of you getting sick.
It's brings down your immune system. It also allows for disease to be in the body. So there's studies are finding that, there are certain types of cancers that you're more at risk for when you have so much stress. I heard a study that just five minutes of meditation a day. For a year can completely change your nervous [00:05:00] system. And so that really helps with stress in the body, just five minutes of meditation a day.
If you're not taking care of your stress and have proactive strategies in place, especially as a principal, which is such a stressful job. The summer is a perfect time to do this because we need to be prioritizing our health. You know, I always say. I love being a principal, but I do it because I work for my family.
Right. I have a job so I can work and provide for my family. And if that job is making me so unhealthy, then it's not worth having. And so we really have to put. Preventative measures in place to reduce stress, to keep us healthy. Both physically and mentally. Other things you can do this summer to prevent stress in the fall and work on trust management. Is practicing techniques like deep breathing, journaling, doing yoga. So developing these habits when your stress levels are lower, is going to make it easier to have them in [00:06:00] place and maintain them. During the busy school year.
So be proactive in stress management before you're stressed out.
Summer is always a little bit harder for me, for some people it's easier because they have more time to get in. Exercise routines more time to cook food, things like that.
But it's actually harder for me because it's a little less structured in summer. I'm with my kids more, I tend to eat their food and pick up things that they're eating or I'll eat leftovers that they didn't need, because I'm like, oh, I don't want to waste this food. And so what has happened for me in the past though, is I had the six weeks off that I have as a principal of five to six weeks. And I had that time off and I went to go back to work and I put on my clothes and they were super tight.
It was terrible. I didn't know. I didn't plan ahead of time. And my clothes were super tight and I just remember being so disappointed in myself because I didn't prioritize my health that summer. And I felt terrible. It made me [00:07:00] lose confidence. It wasn't a good way to start the year, not feeling good about myself.
And so I just really want to. Invite you to take the time to focus on your health, focus on your meal planning. Your exercise, your mindfulness, meditation, whatever that is.
I also want to share that I am starting a nutrition group on July 8th. And if you're interested in joining that group, reach out to me at Barbette bark flowers, coaching.com. But these groups are a great way that I help support people and hold people accountable with eating healthier foods.
We keep up, we're eating simple, enjoyable. And just hold each other accountable and check in to make sure that we are eating healthy. We're taking care of ourselves. So I have other educators and a group right now in June, but I am starting a group in July. So reach out to me if you're interested in joining that so that you can really prioritize your health this summer.
The other thing you really need to do in the summer is plan for the opening meeting with teachers. That's always one of the most important meetings that you have because it sets the tone for the [00:08:00] entire school year. So make sure that you take the time to really plan out that meeting.
It's not just a normal staff meeting. This is the meeting that teachers come in. They're excited, but they're stressed and. The tone that you set during that meeting can really shift the culture in the building as you start the year. So you want to start that. On a positive note. It's a great time to revisit expectations.
So, you know, revisit expectations that maybe weren't met the previous year, use this opportunity to address issues. Use it as an opportunity to address concerns and suggestions that maybe the staff gave at the end of the previous year. Set new goals, clarify things that teachers need to know, but it's a great way to start over.
We have the opportunity and education to start over every year. So you get to start fresh review expectations. And really address things that maybe didn't go well the previous year. And then address things that to go well. And talk about those wins as well. [00:09:00] Also make sure when you have this opening meeting that you have empathy towards teachers acknowledge that they're usually stressed about preparing for the upcoming year. And just find ways to make the meeting productive, but be considered of their time and needs.
I know in some districts, this opening staff meeting is dictated by a union contract. So make sure you know, what that time allotment is, but be mindful of teachers times and that they want to work in their room.
And so make it really productive. but try to make it as condensed and realize their minds are also going in a million different directions, because they're thinking about maybe new initiatives happening, getting their classrooms ready who's on their class lists. Some teachers get really anxious about what their class makeup will be like.
So really think about what's going on in your teacher's brains, as you're talking to them and sharing all this information. And keep them engaged as you're planning this meaning you want to make it. Where you have activities and discussions that are going to engage teachers. It's really hard. I know. I always struggle with, the [00:10:00] amount of time that I have to talk and get information out.
And then the amount of time. That we have for the meeting. So figure out what is the most important information that you need to get out to teachers at the beginning? And share that information and then save the rest for later because you want to keep them engaged. And make sure that they remember the things that you're talking about.
There's been so many times at my opening staff meeting. Where I say something and teachers are like, I don't remember that ever being said. And I know it was said in the opening staff meeting, so make sure that you keep them engaged and you do it in a way that, you know, maybe even have things written out.
Sometimes I have really good notes in the meeting so that they also have that to look at. So just different formats. But it's also a great time to talk about new initiatives that are going to be put in place new policies or laws in place for that year. As a review, hopefully you're not putting any new initiatives that they had no idea about before summer, but it's a great time to just update them. On what those are, what that looks like and what the school year will look like because [00:11:00] teachers hate feeling unprepared and they want to understand and prepare for those initiatives. For me. I always like to talk about , what are the new reading updates?
Because I'm in Ohio and every year that I've been a principal, it seems like there were constantly new reading updates. And so I always like to share, like, what are the new reading initiatives or updates that we're doing in the district to just remind them, because. We talk about so many different things that they just need.
The reminder of these are the things we're doing this year. Kind of like sharing goals. The next thing you need to be preparing for in the summer are those new initiatives for next school year.
So not only are you talking about it at your opening meeting? But in the summer, you should be spending a lot of time researching and planning because whatever those new initiatives or policies are, or maybe there are laws from the state. That affect your school. You want to have a detailed plan for implementing those changes.
So for example, I last year implemented a new curriculum with my staff for math [00:12:00] and I worked with the other principal and the curriculum director to set up PD for what that would look like on how to. Help the teachers implement this new math curriculum. And so we did that in the summer and knew what the PD would look like for the entire year.
So when they asked, I always knew what that PD would look like. So that gave them extra encouragement and support, knowing that they would have ongoing PD throughout the rest of the school year. So you just really need to make sure that you have good professional development plan for them. It's planned out and they know what that plan is.
It's just going to help them feel more confident and having an ongoing and embedded is really helpful because they would teach and then they'd get professional development teach and get professional development. You can't just do all professional development upfront because then they don't get their questions answered as they're using the curriculum.
So letting teachers know that and what that plan looks like is really going to help calm them down and ease any stress they might have with starting a new curriculum or new initiative. [00:13:00] And then just focus on communicating with the staff clear and consistent community. Just focus on having clear and consistent communication about upcoming changes. Use the summer to develop a communication plan.
That includes the PD question and answer sessions and ways that they can get support. So for us, how that looked is it was the ongoing PD. It was their professional learning communities. It was a math committee that they had the opportunity to meet with. The people who helped pick out the curriculum and they'd have conversations with a math expert who would help them kind of work through what the struggles were, what the issues were.
So there were three different. , avenues that we had to really help with communication and help with the new initiative. So when there were problems. There were people they could communicate to. With those problems and concerns. So that they felt more confident about implementing the curriculum. And I think that that was really helpful and really supportive for the teachers as [00:14:00] they went throughout the year. And so as we wrap this up, I just want to remind you that summer is a great time between that balance between productivity and rest.
So make sure you're doing both. And it's a great time to get coaching, to work towards reaching your goals. So if you're interested in one-on-one coaching, please reach out to me at Barb, Barb flowers, coaching.com. Find me on Instagram at Bard flowers, coaching. And I would love the opportunity to do a free consult with you and look at where you're struggling.
What are your goals? And then what is the gap between your goals and where you are? And that's what I do in coaching is I help you bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. So I'd love the opportunity to meet with you. Talk through that and see how I could help you and work with you.
If you love the show, if you're listening on apple, scroll down in your app and leave a review, keep in mind you have the power to shape your life.
According to the mindset you choose. I hope you have a great week and I'll see you back here next time.
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