Make Time for You This Summer: Ways to Regroup, Recover, and Restart Your Life

Educators and students have been through one of the most difficult years in history, as the coronavirus moved our schools online, sequestered us in our homes, and forced us all to adapt to a new, frightening reality. Many of us have tragically lost colleagues, friends, and family members to this terrible disease. And yet, educators and students powered through as they always do—often with awe-inspiring creativity and generosity.

Now as the academic year draws to a close, try to take some time to breathe, take stock, and bring simple pleasures back into your life. Here are some suggestions to help you get started and take care of things that are important to you. Once you take care of your own needs, you can begin to heal and get ready for your students when the next school year begins.

1. Build and Maintain Connections

Nurturing strong relationships with colleagues at school and within your union makes the job more fun and a lot easier when you can share resources and ideas, or just talk about the day-to-day demands of the education profession. But when your daily interactions with everyone, let alone your colleagues, is suddenly cut off, finding a way to maintain connections becomes more important than ever.

This spring, as schools closed one after another, relationships with just about everyone went virtual. Facebook groups created by NEA and its affiliates and members popped up everywhere. Educators posted distance-learning strategies, words of encouragement, links to member-led professional development webinars, and more. Plus, these groups provided a much-needed place for educators to vent about their frustrations, laugh together at hilarious memes, and share feel-good stories.

Now, as we head into summer and uncertainty around physical gatherings remains, think about keeping the virtual conversation going with fun ways to recharge. You probably have more time to read, so why not start a virtual book club on Skype, Google Hangouts, or Zoom? You can invite friends from down the street or even from around the world.

De-stress with a virtual dance party, or search for one hosted by a popular DJ.

Get your “om” on with a streamed yoga class and invite some friends to join you, or just reach out for a virtual coffee club to chat.

Slowly as the nation opens—and when it is deemed safe—consider holding small gatherings at local restaurants and coffee shops to help support businesses. Sit outside, and as always, wash your hands thoroughly and frequently!

—CINDY LONG

Continue to stay connected with NEA and fellow members on social media. Visit Facebook.com/ neatoday, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or join NEA edCommunities—an open exchange message board—at nea.org/ home/edcommunities.html.

2. Read a Good Book

Put down your (virtual) red pen and set aside your classroom essays and capstone theses. It’s time to pick up a book just for you, and we have recommendations for all sorts of summer scenarios.

Still isolating at home?

Plenty of books about pandemics and apocalyptic worlds exist, but we recommend turning your attention to the books that’ll help your mind wander. Novels recently enjoyed by the Anchorage Education Associa- tion’s new-educator book club include Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Less by Andrew Sean Greer.

Working your second or third job?

You’re not alone! As income inequality in the U.S. grows, far too many Americans struggle to pay their bills. Some amazing authors have ex- plored this issue, including Pulitzer Prize winner Matthew Desmond with Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City and bestselling writer Stephanie Land with Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive.

Want to learn about a different culture?

As the school year winds down and you have more quiet time on your hands, this is a good chance to pause and reflect on our ingrained ways of thinking, identify our biases, and intentionally explore other cul- tures and communities. In There, There, a recent book club pick by the National Indian Education Association, Arapahoe and Cheyenne author

Tommy Orange follows 12 American Indian characters. In The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, a black teen witnesses the police shooting of her friend. The book has been the subject of the Pennsylvania State Education Association’s online book study for continuing education credits.

Still teaching?

Your summer school classroom, online or otherwise, may have a few students who would rather be somewhere else. For contrast, meet Adunni, the 14-year-old Nigerian girl at the center of The Girl with the Louding Voice—the much heralded 2020 debut novel of Abi Daré. Trapped in servitude, Adunni sees education as the way to a better life.

Already thinking about the school year ahead?

Kicking back with a great children’s book may make you a better educator. Teachers with more knowledge of children’s books are more likely to use better practices in literacy instruction, according to a 2011 study published in Reading Improvement. Your school librarian likely has great recommendations.

Another source is NEA’s Read Across America, where monthly book recommendations have included: Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share Their Stories, edited by Sarah Lerner, for middle readers; The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler, a graphic biography by John Hendrix; and for elementary readers, The Book Tree, a picture-book about a boy who grows books in a town where they’ve been banned, by Paul Czajak. Find more at nea.org/readacross.

—MARY ELLEN FLANNERY

4. Make a ‘Power Through’ Playlist

As much as you love being an educator, everyone needs a lift once in a while, and perhaps now more than ever.

Neuroscience confirms what we all feel—that music can be motivating or calming. Listening to music can even release chemicals that help us heal. (To learn more, check out Indre Viskontas’ book How Music Can Make You Better.) Take a little time this summer to compose your personal “power through” playlist by grouping some all-time favorites and treating yourself to a few new tracks.

We asked educators around the country to post their favorite pick-me-up tunes on NEA Today’s Facebook page. Here are songs of inspiration and words of encouragement from your colleagues around the country:

“My go-to uplifting song is ‘Roar’ by Katy Perry. The lyrics and video shout empowerment. That is why, for several years, I blasted the song as my fifth graders entered the classroom each day.”

—DEBBIE KELLEHER GESUALDO, RETIRED EDUCATOR, MASSACHUSETTS

“Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder:

Teachers, keep on teaching.

—SHARI NEECE, PROFESSOR, MINNESOTA

“Move On Up” by Curtis Mayfield:

—MARTI ALVAREZ, EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL, MICHIGAN

“The Champion” by Carrie Underwood and Ludacris. “My students and I love the positive lyrics.”

—MATTHEW BREMS, ELEMENTARY TEACHER, IOWA.

“Overcomer” by Mandisa.

“I have overcome so many things in my life, and this song reminds me I have overcome them all: death of a sibling at 10, parents divorcing at 18, my abusive marriage and having the courage to leave, having a failure-to-thrive baby who overcame and is now a senior, being a single mom of two and finishing my teaching certification, moving to another state to teach, being considered homeless with my son and living in a hotel while teaching because I couldn’t afford a place to rent—and knowing we will overcome the coronavirus, too.”

—HOLLY JEANNINE MCKELVEY, SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER, VIRGINIA

“Break My Stride” by Matthew Wilder.

—LORRAINE JURGENS PIOSZAK, HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER, FLORIDA

“Consequence Free” and “When I am King” by Great Big Sea.

—MARTHA DE CARBONEL PATTERSON, MIDDLE

SCHOOL SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER, WASHINGTON

“Fuel” by Metallica. I like this song, because it is about nothing but raw energy. It is about standing up and facing life. It gives me the strength to face life and run at it at 200 mph.

—RICH STANGE, MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER, HAWAII

“I Will Survive,” the cover by Cake.

—MARY POWELL-NORTHCUTT, RETIRED EDUCATOR, GEORGIA

“Just Fine” by Mary J. Blige: I like what I see when I’m looking past that mirror.

—THERESA MITCHELL DUDLEY, PRESIDENT, PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, MARYLAND

—AMANDA LITVINOV

5. Study Your Money

Among the many lessons the corona- virus pandemic has taught us is that you never know when uncertainty will hit, turning lives upside down and creating a financial crisis that could cripple pocketbooks for the long haul. When times get tough, educators certainly feel the pinch. Now is a good time to study your money. Here are some areas to explore:

Stick to a budget

The key to managing debt and using your purchasing power to your advantage is to create a household budget and stick to it. A budget will show your spending patterns and alert you if you’re spending more than you’re earning. If you find your budget is full of red flags, there are several ways to get it under control.

First, prioritize your bills from big to small. List your debts, and pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first. When that one is zeroed out, take the same dollars and pay the next debt on the list, until you’ve cleared the debt decks.

Or, do the opposite. Financial guru Dave Ramsey suggests the snowball method: Pay off the smallest debt first for some positive reinforce- ment, then apply those payments plus any extra cash to the next biggest debt. Repeat this process with the next biggest debt on the list. This allows you to snowball available cash for payments as you work your way up to your largest debt.

You can also negotiate with creditors. Call creditors and ask for lower interest rates or see if they will take less than the full balance in exchange for a quicker cash payment.

Reduce monthly bills

While your bills may seem fixed and inflexible, cutting them down to size is possible. A good place to start is by reexamining expenses such as your home phone, cell phone, cable TV, and internet.

“For example, if you are paying for a cellphone, do you really need a landline as well?” says Leslie H. Tayne, attorney and founder of Tayne Law Group, P.C., in New York, and a debt management, debt resolution, and bankruptcy expert. “If you have a Netflix and Hulu account, … can you make do without cable?” she asks.

Cellular service alone can add a whopping $110 to your monthly bills.

Pay attention to overage alerts from your cellphone carrier, and take a close look at how the phone is being used. All those Facebook notifications could be costing you a lot of money in data. Find out if a no-contract phone could save you money.

Another place to look is your cable bill. Are competing cable companies offering better rates? If so, use that info to negotiate a better deal with your company, or switch to a new one. Also ask if they offer any discounts for veterans, seniors, or educators.

The bottom line

You have to invest the time and effort to make any saving strategy work. It takes home- work, investigation, and com- parison shopping. Little cuts here and there will add up, and every little bit you can save now will help ease your monthly financial obligations.

—BRENDA ALVAREZ

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