Every summer, educators hear some version of the same joke.
“Must be nice to have summers off.”
Most teachers smile, laugh politely, and continue on with their day because they know the reality is far more nuanced. The truth is that learning, reflecting, planning, and caring don’t simply stop because the calendar flips from June to July. The relationships we build with students, the challenges we carry home, the ideas we never quite got to explore, and the hopes we have for the year ahead all come with us into the summer months. While the pace changes, the work of being an educator rarely disappears entirely.
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Tatiana Chiccarelli, Senior Director at Edmentum, Thinkering Impact Board Member, and guest writer for Thinkering Media. We discussed her recent article on summer learning, an article that clearly struck a chord with educators across the country. What emerged from our conversation wasn’t simply a discussion about professional development. It was a much larger conversation about how educators can reclaim ownership over their own learning journeys and rediscover the curiosity that likely brought them into the profession in the first place.
One of the most compelling ideas Tatiana shared was that summer should not be viewed as a choice between rest and growth. Too often, educators feel pressure from both sides. On one hand, there is a well-deserved need to recover from an increasingly demanding profession. On the other hand, there is the constant messaging that they should be preparing for the next school year. The reality is that these two things are not in opposition. Rest is not the enemy of growth. In many cases, rest is what makes growth possible. After spending ten months pouring energy into students, families, colleagues, and communities, educators deserve time to reconnect with themselves. They deserve opportunities to travel, spend time with loved ones, pursue hobbies, read for pleasure, or simply enjoy a slower pace of life. That time is not wasted. It is foundational.
What struck me most was Tatiana’s argument that the most meaningful professional learning often happens when we have the freedom to choose it ourselves. During the school year, professional development can sometimes feel disconnected from the realities educators face every day. Summer creates a rare opportunity for curiosity-driven learning. Instead of attending something because it is required, educators can pursue topics that genuinely interest them. They can investigate a new instructional strategy, explore an area of personal passion, participate in a conference, or simply engage in thoughtful conversations with colleagues. The difference is agency. When learning is driven by curiosity rather than compliance, it feels entirely different.
That idea resonates deeply with the mission of Thinkering because it reflects the very learning experiences we hope students encounter in classrooms. We often tell young people that learning should be lifelong, self-directed, and connected to their interests. We encourage them to ask questions, explore new ideas, and pursue meaningful experiences beyond the walls of school. Yet many educators rarely grant themselves that same permission. Summer provides an opportunity to model the kind of learning we hope to cultivate in others.
Our conversation also reinforced the importance of community. One of Tatiana’s simplest suggestions was perhaps her most powerful: find a few trusted colleagues and get together. Not for a formal meeting. Not for an agenda-driven planning session. Simply for conversation. Reflect on the previous year. Discuss challenges and successes. Share ideas for the future. In a profession that can often feel isolating, these small moments of connection can become powerful catalysts for growth. Reflection is rarely something that happens best in isolation. We need people who challenge our assumptions, offer new perspectives, and help us see things we may have missed. Some of the most transformative learning experiences occur over coffee, during walks, or in conversations that were never intended to become professional development in the first place.
Another important theme that emerged from our discussion was the idea that learning does not always look like traditional learning. A trip to another country, a hike through a national park, a pottery class, a volunteer opportunity, or even time spent exploring a new city can all become valuable educational experiences. Tatiana shared her plans to study cultural responsiveness in Italy this summer, not because she needed another credential, but because she wanted to deepen her understanding of humanity, culture, and global citizenship. Listening to her describe that experience reminded me that some of the most important learning we do as educators happens when we step outside our professional identities and engage with the world as curious human beings. Those experiences inevitably find their way back into our classrooms through stories, empathy, perspective, and a richer understanding of the world our students are preparing to inherit.
This idea feels particularly important at a moment when education faces tremendous challenges. Burnout remains high. Teacher turnover continues to affect schools across the country. Expectations seem to increase while resources remain limited. In that environment, it becomes easy to focus exclusively on survival. Yet beneath all of those challenges remains the reason so many educators entered this profession in the first place. Most teachers did not choose education because they wanted to manage spreadsheets, navigate bureaucracy, or administer assessments. They chose education because they believe learning matters. They believe relationships matter. They believe young people deserve opportunities to discover who they are and what they are capable of becoming.
Perhaps that is what summer offers us more than anything else. It offers a chance to reconnect with that original purpose. It provides an opportunity to step back from the daily demands of the profession and remember what inspired us to begin this journey. Sometimes that reconnection happens through professional learning. Sometimes it happens through travel, family, creativity, or reflection. More often than not, it happens through a combination of all of those things.
At Thinkering, we often talk about humanizing education. Usually, that conversation centers on students and how we create learning environments that honor their identities, interests, and experiences. What this conversation reminded me is that educators deserve the same grace. Humanizing education also means humanizing the experience of being an educator. It means recognizing that teachers are learners, explorers, creators, parents, travelers, artists, and community members. The experiences that make us more complete human beings ultimately make us better educators as well.
As summer unfolds, my hope is not that educators feel pressure to do more. Quite the opposite. My hope is that they feel empowered to learn differently. To rest without guilt. To explore without a prescribed outcome. To reconnect with people and experiences that inspire them. To pursue curiosity for its own sake. Because when August arrives, the most valuable thing we can bring back to our classrooms is not a binder full of strategies or a notebook full of conference notes. It is a renewed sense of purpose, curiosity, and humanity.
And in a world that increasingly asks educators to do more with less, that may be the most important professional development of all.
