PEN Mondays - The Mid-Summer Mirror

4 min read

If you’re new here, welcome to PEN Mondays, where we explore more of the socio-emotional aspects of teaching. You’ll see us again on Wednesday with a brand new tech tool and academic study to supercharge your classroom.

The lawn is mowed. Your email inbox is (almost) ignored. You’ve worn the same pair of shorts for three days straight, and yesterday’s “lunch” was just coffee and a popsicle. Ah yes — summer break.

And yet, somewhere between sleep and sunscreen, there’s a flicker. A lesson idea. A nagging question. A weird dream about laminated hall passes. You’re not alone. Welcome to the mid-summer mirror — that reflective moment when your body might be horizontal, but your brain? Still pacing the classroom.

This isn’t failure. This is what it means to be a teacher.

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July Isn’t Just For Resting — It’s For Noticing

By July 7th, most of the U.S. has settled into break, and up in Canada, the final bell just rang. We’re past the “woohoo!” phase of summer and not quite in “back-to-school panic” territory. This in-between zone? It’s magic.

It’s the sweet spot where reflection becomes gentle, not guilt-ridden. Where you can consider the past year with curiosity rather than criticism. What surprised you? What stuck with students long after the unit test? What tiny, unplanned moment felt like magic?

This is the time to notice — not plan, not fix — just notice.

The Reflection That Sneaks Up on You

You might not set out to reflect. But you will. Maybe it’s while cleaning out that one terrifying desk drawer. Or while explaining long division to your niece and realizing you’re better at it now than you were in March.

Reflection doesn’t need to be a spreadsheet or a PD session. It can be a thought scribbled in your notes app. A voice memo recorded while waiting for your iced coffee. A half-formed idea about rearranging your classroom to keep the traffic flow less like a Toronto highway and more like a nice meander through IKEA.

This is what real professional growth often looks like: quiet, unpolished, and entirely yours.

Let the Ideas Breathe

Here’s the thing: You don’t need to act on these ideas right now. You can let them simmer. Like a good pasta sauce or a day at the lake, they’re better when not rushed.

You can brainstorm a new approach to group work without making a color-coded binder about it. You can wonder if your classroom library needs more graphic novels without logging into Amazon (resist the urge).

Teachers aren’t only planners — you’re observers, testers, refiners. Let summer be your sketchbook, not your blueprint.

You're Still the Teacher (Even When You’re Not Teaching)

Maybe you’ve seen one of your students at the grocery store this week. Maybe they did the awkward smile–wave–flee combo. Maybe you heard, secondhand, that one of your more “challenging” students is actually missing you already.

That’s the thing about being a teacher — you don’t turn it off. And the moments you’ve poured into your students are still echoing somewhere in their lives. They might not say it now (or ever), but you mattered. You matter.

So take that reflective spark and sit with it. Let it remind you of why you do this work — not for the stickers or the staff room coffee (God help us all), but because you see your students as people. And that kind of teaching? It lingers.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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