3 School Leaders on Supporting and Motivating Teachers After Winter Break

The first month or so after winter break is a full-on sprint for teachers, with prep days (including for rapidly approaching standardized tests), professional learning community meetings, and other back-to-school events. Teachers are catching up with some of their students and meeting new students. For some educators, all of this is not a problem—after winter break, they feel refreshed and ready to go. They’re thriving. Others aren’t necessarily energized, but they’re ready to return to a normal work routine. 

Students come back from winter break with their own slate of priorities. They get to see their friends again. Depending on their grade, they might have different teachers and classes, seating chart swaps, and potential new friends (or even crushes!). Winter sports and extracurriculars are almost immediately in full swing. And who knows what homework assignments might be on the horizon? It’s a lot at once.

With the second half of the year underway, school leaders are often working on how to make sure that teachers feel welcomed and motivated through the sort of comprehensive support system that uplifts students too.

I reached out to three experienced and award-winning K–12 principals who’ve developed administrative strategies for both the holiday season and the post–winter break period. Aaron Huff, principal at Bosse High School in Indiana; Alexandria Haas, principal at McMicken Heights Elementary School in Washington; and Kyle Nix, principal at Christiana Middle School in Tennessee, passed along the best tips and advice they had for aiding teachers at a sensitive and important juncture.

Show Your Face—and Bring Snacks

All three principals acknowledged a mixed bag of emotions from teachers and administrators as they adjust to the new semester, though the mood tends to be more optimistic than not.

In January, Nix’s administrative team tries to do “fun things for our teachers like bring snacks, make videos, and show them how much we love them.” In her view, “if the administration acts sad about coming back, it will trickle down, so we make sure we are as excited as possible for the new semester.” Even just “quick conversation or small notes of encouragement” can make a big difference, she said.

Nix makes sure that administrators are especially “visible and available to support teachers—we aren’t in offices hanging out, we are in classrooms and hallways.” She likes to walk around and talk to teachers individually, a gesture that can go a long way during the second half of the school year. “Sometimes our people need things but aren’t going to ask for them, and taking the time to talk with them can reveal those needs,” she said.

Like Nix, Huff mentioned how meaningful it can be to offer pick-me-ups to teachers, especially after the break. He emphasizes “reconnecting and showing gratitude for teachers’ work to date and ensuring that we are here to support the work ahead,” by organizing themed breakfasts or luncheons—something to reaffirm his appreciation. In order to build community, he also partners with local businesses to provide additional meals, as well as energy drinks and coffee.

Be Relatable and Mindful

Entering the new semester, Haas said, she’s often in the same headspace as her team; by relating to her staff, she’s able to home in on what might make everyone feel less overwhelmed. She’s found it useful to cut down on big group “sit and get” settings as teachers are getting reacclimated to their schedules.

Haas instead leans on her school’s wellness-oriented staff meetings, which take place at least once a month in a variety of formats. The wellness meetings used to solely be activities like pick-up volleyball, yoga in the gym, or walking on the school’s track. With the help of a designated social, emotional, and academic development committee, Haas has since expanded the definition of wellness to include more than just fitness.

“Some staff may want to prioritize completion of tasks at school, so they can focus more on family or friends at home,” she said of one wellness option she calls “tackling your to-dos.” Other staff “crave connections with colleagues that aren’t always work-focused,” so she’s introduced fun games for educators to play together. Taken together, wellness meetings now offer a flexible choice menu of brainstormed activities for each staff member to pick from: fitness, mindfulness, games, or tackling to-dos. 

Haas is also a fan of utilizing principles of positive behavioral interventions and supports in her communications with teachers—really, anything that nurtures an environment where the faculty can “reenergize together,” she said. She makes a concerted effort to center the enthusiasm of her student body as a way to invigorate herself and her staff.

“Lean into how excited and eager our students are to return to school,” she said. “They love their teachers and enjoy learning. Acknowledge stuck points or potential areas of need, but come up with practical and flexible solutions—we do still need to keep moving forward in order to have an impact on student growth.”

Winter Break Tips for Next Year

Huff has incorporated a couple of student-inspired ideas that easily carry over from December into January. One is an “angel tree” gift-wrapping party, rather than a faculty meeting, right before the holidays. “We believe this helps lift teachers by knowing they are contributing to a wonderful Christmas for some of our students in need,” he said. Another enriching activity: The student advisory team at Huff’s high school submits “Bulldog Barks” to teachers who had the biggest impact during the first half of the year. Those compliments aren’t quickly forgotten.

When teachers are first returning to the classroom after the break, Huff celebrates “small wins” from the prior semester—things like growth in math and English benchmark testing, as well as a reduction in chronic absenteeism. These metrics keep teachers inspired. “We have to be their cheerleaders and encouragers,” he said. “As leaders, we have to prioritize creating an environment where people want to be.”

Nix noted that she’s acutely aware that a “big stressor for teachers is not having the time to prepare” immediately after winter break. To alleviate that stressor, she tells them “well in advance” what’s expected beginning in January, and upon their return, teachers have two work days without students. “I like to give my faculty and staff members time to work in their classrooms and prepare for the coming semester,” she said. “I don’t want them to feel like they must work over the break to be ready for students, so I always give them as much time as possible.”

During those preparatory days, Nix holds grade-level content meetings for lesson-planning purposes, an athletics meeting for springtime sports, a STEAM meeting, and a full faculty meeting “to review safety and testing protocols,” she said. Besides the full faculty meeting, though, she limits larger group gatherings; the goal, she said, is to “minimize the amount of time teachers have outside of their classrooms” while they’re prepping for the months ahead.

Responses from school leaders were received by email and have been edited for length and clarity.