This article was updated for summer 2026.
I used to set giant goals for summer only to be disappointed and stressed when late August rolled around and I had hardly accomplished any. I also noticed I wasn’t the only one doing this. In May, graduate students would tell me of their plan to write hundreds of pages on their book-length thesis projects. Come fall, they would sheepishly admit that they'd made virtually no progress on their thesis.
I’ve heard many similar stories from friends and colleagues in various roles within education. Because we tend to have less work in the summer, we think we will accomplish more, but it almost never seems to work out that way.
After seeing this pattern play out in both myself and others for a few years, I came to the realization that summer is fundamentally a terrible time to be productive for many of us. A lot of reasons are to blame for this: if you live in a climate with cold weather, it’s one of the few times of year when it’s nice to be outside; if we have kids, they are often off from school; our friends are more likely to want to do things; and we're more likely to plan vacations in the summer.
In addition, despite what we think, sometimes the structure of the semester and school year actually helps us stay focused on goals rather than hindering us. I, unfortunately, find that the less busy I am the less productive I am on long-term professional development goals and big-picture projects.
Realizing this over the past few years has helped me be simultaneously more forgiving about the extent of my summer accomplishments and more productive. Last summer I set specific, easily attainable goals and met most of them. Because it worked, I’m taking the same approach again this year.
Here are my modest teaching and professional development goals for the summer.
1. Read A Book That Helps Me As a Writing Instructor
One of the things I love about teaching at Western Connecticut State University’s MFA program is the opportunity I have to mentor students in a variety of writing genres. From my specialties in journalism and creative nonfiction to poetry, screenwriting, and science fiction and fantasy, I pride myself in having a genuine interest and decent knowledge.
Currently, however, I feel like my understanding of the current memoir marketplace could use an update. So, this summer, my goal is to read one recent memoir. This is a good goal because it helps me as a professor, is specific, doable, and perhaps most important, is fun. Plus, I like reading in the summer, and this is an excuse to dig into something new. I did this last year, and I’m looking forward to exploring the memoir genre again this year.
Obviously, for you, this can translate as tackling one book that you believe will help build your specific teaching skills.
2. Take A Free Online Course in A Subject Unrelated to My Teaching
I annoy myself when I say it, but I love learning new things! I also find that nothing helps me better empathize with the struggles of my students than trying to learn something that I am not well versed in.
To both those ends, this summer, I’d like to enroll in a course of some type. Ideally this would be in-person but that might be ambitious given my schedule, and cost could be prohibitive. Fortunately, there are a plethora of free or low-cost classes in a variety of topics from online sources such as Coursera and others.
A few years ago, I took a great course in health statistics that really increased my understanding of medical studies. All it took to complete was replacing my morning podcast or audiobook-listening sessions for a couple of weeks.
As positive as the experience was, for some reason, I haven’t taken many other courses since. This summer my goal is to get back on the course-taking bandwagon.
3. Learn More About Writer’s Block
This semester, several of my students talked to me about struggling with writer’s block. This is, of course, an old issue in the profession but one I’ve never looked at in a more systematic way. I’ve always shared what I do to overcome a lack of motivation and have provided advice in this regard that I have received from others, but I think I could do better for my students.
So this summer, I’m going to spend some time learning more about research into writer’s block, its causes, and any evidence-backed solutions. I’m also curious to learn if it is linked to other types of motivation issues students encounter. As is the case with most educators, sometimes the hardest part of the job is just getting students motivated to learn. Once they are motivated, in the majority of cases, the learning follows.
This is a bigger and more ambitious goal than some of my others, but I’m not planning on becoming a leading authority. I just want to know more about it from the science side than I do now, which should be pretty easy as I know almost nothing currently.
4. Prioritize Fun and Relaxation
It might be cliché, but there’s an old truism that people rarely look back on their life and wish they spent more time working. This summer I’m reminding myself of that and making sure to not stress about being productive and prioritizing doing things away from teaching and writing while the weather is nice.
Okay, I know this goal could use some more specifics, and I thought about adding something such as spending two hours outside a day when it's nice, or swimming twice per week. But, for me at least, those types of activities come very naturally when work isn't getting in the way. So thinking of this as making an effort not to let work overtake summer is all I need.
The other goals stated previously would be nice to accomplish, but are not 100 percent required. On the other hand, this goal is a must. There will be plenty of time to handle those work projects, teaching improvement goals, etc., when the semester kicks off again in the fall, but there won't be any summer left to enjoy.
So I'm making sure to soak as much of summer in as I can. You should, too!
