Putting Down All of the Juggling Pins

Teachers on “Summer Break” aren’t on break – they’re doing all sorts of different work to prepare. Part of this is active work: planning, programming, cleaning, learning, creating.

Part of it is passive work: the important work of recharging emotional and physical stores to be ready to support students for the following school year.

If you’re like me, you struggle with the challenge of not putting down all of the juggling pins.

You’ve been juggling eleven pins, even though you only learned to juggle nine, since the New Year. You want more than anything to put them all down.

But if you don’t keep a few in the air, at least part-time, August will find you underprepared in the active preparation.

My ideal plan is to juggle a few pins for a few hours, and then turn to family and recharging. My problem is that once juggling pins are in the air, I want to keep juggling them – and even if I walk away from them, I keep juggling them in my head.

So my challenge to you (and to me) is: find a way to use those pins, and then put them away when you’re done. A separate space, a regular time, an appointment in your phone. Do something to time limit the juggling, and make it a routine to quiet the mind.

You need both active and passive preparation for the next school year. Balance is the key.