Summer Brain-Builders for Educators

The brain is a muscle. You have to use it to build it. For the same reason a weightlifter varies his or her arm exercises to build up his or her biceps, so do teachers need to vary their brain exercises to build up their brains. And during the summer months, there are great, diverse activities that you can do to keep your brain fit, resulting in an easier transition back to school.

1. Go to Museums:  Walk, drive, or even fly to some history, science, art, or industry museum in your state. Make sure you take the audio tour, if it’s available. You learn some great, little known facts on an audio tour. You also get to hear some really talented narrators or actors. Some are even full-productions with sound effects and music for some real edutainment bang.
2. See Movies:  Rent movies you missed while grading papers. Go to movies, ranging from the blockbusters to small indie flicks. Have you ever opened up People Magazine and realized that there’s this whole demographic of celebrities you’ve never seen before? Catch up on culture that flew by during the school year.
3. Read:  Read a book that you can’t find in Scholastic Book Clubs. Read old classics and new. Read employee pics and New York Times bestsellers. Finally, read the books for your book club that you claimed you’d read, but hadn’t had time to really read. Read books recommended and some you’ve never heard about. Make sure you also read the books that your students are reading. Discover different genres you may not have sampled before. Devour Manga. Get lost in gorgeous picture books. Inhale sci-fi, young adult, fantasy. Join the legions who’ve read about vampires.
4. Go to a Botanical Garden:  Sit quietly in nature and look at everything around you. Notice architecture and landscaping. Lay in the grass. Hike to a waterfall.
5. Garden:  Grow something that isn’t someone else’s kid.
6. Volunteer:  Find a cause that you can really get behind. Find something that gives you the immediate gratification of giving. It’s addictive. Build, donate, deliver, cook, whatever stimulates you. Make sure you do something for someone in need. Don’t forget that in the process of building your brain, you should not neglect your heart.
7. Do Art:  Paint, sculpt, keep a book of doodles. Recent studies show that for some people, doodling is a form of multitasking that even helps brain achievement. Try your hand at an art form you never even conceived of doing. You know that dance studio that just opened down the street that claims it’ll help you dance like a star? Try it. All you’ll lose is the first free class, and you might gain a passion.
8. Be Active:  Run, walk, hike, jog, garden, swim. Remember that getting more oxygen to the brain increases its productivity. You will be able to do more, think quicker, and build more brain muscle when you deliver more oxygen to fuel your cranium workouts. Being stagnant can cause depression and might make you see upcoming challenges out of whack. Remember that when you’re blue or bored or angry, movement will help bring more color to your life, level out your anger, and release your boredom.
9. Rest:  That’s right. After you’ve moved and worked and painted and observed, make sure that you just lie right down and rest. Sigh.
10. Don't Just Review, Learn Something New:  I think this is the most important step of them all. You’ll notice that most of these steps boil down to this one simple thought: keep learning. Take classes. Maintain your professional development. Be a student. Learning begets the desire to keep learning. It’s addictive. Your brain will thank you.

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