Summer Reset - Puberty Curriculum

School’s Out for Summer! Sing it with me! Yes, we can all celebrate the end of another school year. We can also admit that we are badly in need of a summer reset. It’s time to relax, refresh, regroup, and restart. Time for some sorely needed and well-deserved self-care so we can return to school with a full tank.

Relax

How was your school year? Did you experience burnout? Does this short PBS News Hour video, “A Brief But Spectacular Take on Teacher Burnout,” sound familiar? If so, you are not imagining the feeling of weariness you are experiencing. Here are a couple of ideas to help you relax:

Try this Summer Cleanse 5-Minute Meditation . Even better, try it every day for a week and see if you can feel your body begin to relax and slow down.
Read Burnout: The Secret of Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski. It includes clear explanations about stress and its impact on us. Then, it provides simple strategies for breaking free.

Refresh

Now that you’ve taken some time to relax, you probably need to refresh. These articles by educators provide some useful suggestions:

5 Ways to Refresh Your Teaching Spirit, OLT Faculty Development
5 Ways to Recenter, Restore, and Refresh, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Regroup

Time to collect your thoughts and intentions for the coming school year. Plan now to avoid the things that caused stress in the last school year. What caused the most stress for you? Which of those things can you actually do something about? Sometimes, selecting one or two things that you want to focus on can make a big difference in feeling prepared. Maybe these tools can help.

Sexual Health Education Guide: This prototype is designed for school districts to modify and make their own. It helps schools keep a record of their approved sex education programming. This can be a useful strategy for being transparent and building trust. This guide is now available in two versions: one for Michigan and another for all other states. Access the Guide here.
Family Engagement: Try new strategies for engaging parents, guardians, and caregivers and build support for your sex ed program. This series of blog posts provides tips and strategies. Use the family engagement strategies in Puberty: The Wonder Years to increase transparency and trust.
Principles of Gender-Inclusive Puberty and Health Education: Gender Spectrum developed a comprehensive guide for gender-inclusive puberty and health education. The “Principles of Gender-Inclusive Puberty and Health Education” show educators how to create more welcoming, supportive classrooms for all students. Read the Principles here.
Special Education Adaptations: Many schools are asking for resources and curricula for sex education for students with special needs. I developed this resource list with input from other sex educators and special educators.
Disability and Sexuality: Read this series on Disability and Sexuality written by guest blogger, Ashira Greenberg.
Online Training Course: Take a self-paced online training course to update your information and skills for teaching puberty education.