Some of us are starting our winter breaks, others will start this week. Let’s all agree to take advantage of the time off, okay?

The weeks right before break are a rush of projects, grading, concerts, sporting events, class reward/holiday parties, and a dozen other little items that simply must be done before you can leave the building. And those are just your school obligations . . .

So this week I’m not going to write about some cool new tool or trick to use, I’m going to to tell you to go read a book, spend time with your family, take the dog for a walk (if you’re not in a part of the country that isn’t currently in the deep freeze). Take time for yourself and recharge; Edutopia agrees with me and TED has an entire playlist on the importance of self-care. You can do some work over break, you know we all will, but let’s agree to find a better balance during this time away from school.

We’re taking our own advice at Doing Social Studies and won’t have a new post next week so we can all enjoy the time with our loved ones (and it’s not like you were really going to wake up on Boxing Day ready to see what’s new on our site). We’ll have a fresh post for you in the New Year to get you excited about what you can do in the classroom, whenever it is you have to return.

After one more nap.