What do teachers really do during the holiday break?

The excitement of the holiday season is in the air and winter break is just around the corner. Students and teachers can hardly manage to focus in the classroom at all. Everyone is counting the days, maybe the hours, until the final lesson. Teachers all over the world have been working hard for the past few months to create the best, most engaging and effective lessons for their students. They have earned time away from school and deserve rest so that they can recharge and return refreshed for the next half of the year.

So how should teachers spend winter holidays?

If you want to relax…

Winter break is the time to focus on self-care, family, and fun. Sleep in, relax, catch up with your reading in relaxing locations, see movies, take naps, write, exercise, hang out with friends — whatever makes you feel you. 

Take advantage of this opportunity to run away from work! Hop into a car or a plane. Go see something new, eat at a new restaurant, have a new life experience. Do something to escape from the routine as January-May is a long, difficult stretch with very few breaks on the calendar. Try your best to relax and catch your breath from the first part of the school year. 

If you really want to work…

Schedule it only for a few hours on a couple of days. Some teacher might want to catch up on professional reading or need to grade some tests, they get caught up on planning, observation paperwork, self-reflection and so on. Some teachers even sneak into the classroom to work for a while. Sounds terrible? No. Working just a few hours even during the break, might help get things done (especially those that are often put aside). Getting those pesky tasks done over break lets you come back motivated and ready to try new things.

We’d like to know how you are planning to spend these holidays.

Be honest and choose what you are really doing over the Christmas break in the poll ?. Feel free to write comments in the box below.