🎓 Summer Starter Kit, PD in PJs, & How to Have Your Best. Summer. Ever!

Written By Tyler Tarver

⏰ TL;DR

👋 REAL TALK

One upon a time, I was sitting in my car being interviewed for a edu podcast, and they asked me what I was working on this coming summer.

Me: I’m planning on writing a book called “The Baller Teacher Playbook,” it's based on a keynote I do for schools!

I remember this moment vividly, cause it was the first time I’d spoken this goal out loud into the universe.

Four years later, still no book.

I talked about writing that thing for enough time to host a new Summer Olympics. But nope, no new pages. Just ideas floating around my brain, living rent-free like those Ja Rule lyrics from the 90’s you can’t forget.

Then one summer, I read Atomic Habits and said, “What if I just…did it?”

So I blocked off 45 minutes every morning. I showed up early, sat down, wrote a little. Nothing magical. No lightning bolt moments. Just small, boring lil progress.

Day after day.

And then one day, it was done!

The thing that existed in my head for four years finally existed in the real world. Not because I had more time or wasn’t busy or rented a cabin in the woods to knock it out like Tyson.

It exists cause I took the small steps.

Got something you want to do this summer?

New program you want to learn or place you wanna go or skill you wanna add?

That’s dope.

Here’s a 3-step summer plan to make that happen a lot faster than 4 years! 😂

1. Write it down.

What is your end goal come August?

Read 3 books? Launch that YouTube? Learn Canva? Doesn’t matter what, just put it out in the world (or on paper)!

2. Put it in your calendar.
Block a time. Even 10 minutes a day. If it’s not scheduled, it doesn’t happen. Remember, once you set it once, you can edit that in Google Calendar and make it recurring every day at that time!

3. Pick your Accountability Buddy.
Could be a friend. Could be your notes app. Could even be ChatGPT! Something/someone to say, “Yo fam, you still doing this?”

That’s it.
You don’t need a full plan.

You just need to start!!

Say it with me: BEST SUMMER EVER!
-Tyler

📥 THE DROP

Quick wins, free tools, and classroom-ready ideas I’d forward a teacher BFF to save time and teach even better!

🧩 Free Resource of the Week - SUMMER STARTER KIT EDITION!

Here are a CHUNK of templates/resources you can use to organize your summer or get prepped and ready for the Fall!!

🛠️ Tech Tip

Schedule your emails LIKE A BOSS! You’re in trainings and getting lil inbox goodies, but you don’t wanna forget them in August when you’re actually getting ready for the year.

Easy fix!

Send that link or doc or reminder to yourself via email, and schedule it to pop into your inbox in the future, Marty McFly!

⏳ Time Saver

Quote of the Day Bell Ringers (Individual Posts, not Notebooks) - If you’re bored at a PD this summer, spend an hour pre-loading these QotD Videos to schedule post in Google Classroom this Fall. You could LITERALLY have every Bell Ringer pop up every morning without having to do anything else with it the rest of the year. THAT’S A W, PEEPS! 🐥

🧪 Hack of the Week

Email Templates - Copy/paste (or generate with ChatGPT) some templates for common emails you send throughout the year! Thennnnn, save that template AS a template in Gmail! Hit that template like the gritty and fill in the blanks!

👨‍🔬 LEARNING LAB

A few lil chicken nuggets I’ve been learning, lol-ing, or lowkey stealing ideas from (and you can, too)!

🎥 Video I Liked

This is an official nominee for one of my fav education videos of the year!

Graduations should be a celebration and reflection of the culture, accomplishments, and people you’re there to honor.

Gonna make this topic a Real Talk section in the very near future, but if you haven’t seen this yet…enjoy! 🙌👩‍🍳

💬 Quote I’m Loving

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees... is by no means a waste of time.”
— John Lubbock

Goals are cool.

You know what’s cooler?

Not crashing out!

REST!

You’ve earned it!

🤖 Prompt of the Week

I'm a teacher on summer break, and I want to be intentional with my time off. Please help me create a balanced plan that includes:

  • Personal goals (e.g., health, hobbies, family time). Here’s what I’m into (but also give me suggestions): ______________

  • Professional development (e.g., reading, trainings, tech skills). Here’s what I struggled with last year: _________________

  • Classroom prep (e.g., planning, organizing, new ideas). This is what I least look forward to and would like to bypass and/or expediate: ___________________

  • Break my summer into 3 phases (early, mid, and late summer), and suggest 2–3 SMART goals per phase. Add optional activities that could help me reset mentally and emotionally. Keep it fun, motivating, and manageable, like a summer bucket list with purpose!

Bonus: Suggest a simple weekly routine that balances rest and growth. Think: "1 hour a day keeps the chaos away!"

📚 Tarver Book Club

The aforementioned video from that middle school graduation had me remembering the last book I read by Sir Ronald Clark.

It’s called Move Your Bus, and it’s such a good book for the classroom, but also for leadership in general! Easy read and pretty thought provoking on how we invest our time into people!

P.S. Here’s the lil book review viddie I did on it a few years ago if you’re into motion pictures! 🤣🎥

🔐 THE VAULT

Weekly highlighted tips, trainings, & resources just for the Honor Roll VIPs! 👩‍🏫 Admin ➡️ get full access for your ENTIRE school!

🥋 Skill to Help You

Ai is easy but hard also to regulate in the classroom. This module walks through what I’ve found to be the most helpful ways to guide students through this medium (and how to handle if you think they cheated)!

🎥 Trainings to Save Time

We’re got 2 Virtual Trainings HAPPENING NEXT WEEK!! !

🙌

  1. Monday, June 16th - YouTube Premiere of The AI Teacher Playbook Virtual Summit! (links in that calendar invite) - Knock out 6 hours of PD and use this step-by-step Playbook to build the AI framework you need going forward!! 🤖

  2. Thursday, June 19th - AI in the Classroom Livestream! - I’ll be doing this one in real-time! Giving practical AI tips and answering any and every question y’all got! It’ll knock out 3 hours of your summer PD, but more importantly it’ll save you 3 hours a week as a teacher cutting out the busy work!! 🙌

🎤 Steal this Slide Deck

“Emotional Intelligence in Leadership” - One of the most underrated skills for leaders, but also for humans. Handle yourself and you’ll see everyone else in your life get drastically better! 😂🤷

✌️Epilogue

Thank you for being on this email list.

I’m so sorry it’s been a few weeks. Figured y’all needed a minute to chill before thinking about work again, but also I went on a Mediterranian Cruise with the fam, following by a few speaking engagements.

Ya boi running in the summer, but I absolutely love it cause I get the chance to meet some of you guys in-person (Honor Roll peeps, I’m sorry my first reaction is to hug you 😂). So encouraging hearing about any resources I’ve made that saved you time or helped you connect with your students.

That’s my goal.

Or in the words of ChatGPT, by mission is to:

💌 Never Stop Learning!

-Dr. Tyler Tarver

🎯 P.S. Got just a few days still open this summer for trainings, and if you start back a few weeks into August, I can maybe do your back-2-school keynote!

Just reply to this if you wanna see if it’ll work out!

Love y’all, for real and BEST SUMMER EVERRRRRRR!!

Tyler Tarver
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🎓Free Student Leadership Course, Summer PD Hours & Teacher Tools to Wrap the Year! 🤦🏼‍♂️