Here is one last email for this year. Hopefully it finds you entering a quieter phase of your semester. We'll catch up with you in the new year.

Check out our guide to importing previous course content (the ID Team has been getting a bunch of requests on this one!)
Professional Development Opportunity: January Course Redesign "mini-renovation" support group. Get fresh ideas and support with Salem State faculty colleagues on redesigning a specific area of a course. Learn more and sign up.

Main article: Take a break. We'll send out a list of article with new teaching ideas in the new year. This week, however, in the spirit mircoshifts toward healing and rest, we're sharing ideas for a restorative winter break. Two articles, one from last year and one from this year, challenge us to plan several days of work-free downtime this month. Here's some suggestions for those days:

Can you do a digital detox? Putting up an away message on your email, taking work email off your phone, or temporarily delete social media apps are all strategies faculty can use to unplug and de-stress.
Body care - teaching/academia can be very head-centric; can you find ways to plan care for and reconnect with your body, like a walk, gentle stretching, or a nourishing meal?
Try planning a lazy day. For me, as a parent of a young child, that might mean doing things that are fun for everyone - building pillow forts, watching movies, reading books, etc.
Giving/connecting - In 2020, I got inspired by the article "How to have a Restorative Holiday Break". Our family chose books and toys to give away, I collected toys for a local charity, my son and I colored cards to send to friends and family we couldn't see over the holidays, and I sewed blankets for low-income parents, which ended up becoming a passion project and hobby. This made a difference for me last year - is there a way that giving or connecting this year might help you refill your cup?
Mood Boosters - Check out the "Brain Blast" list below (or in this text document) and see if anything on it might help you feel restored - from doing yoga to watching comedy, hanging out with a pet, or catching up with a friend. Alternatively, is there an activity you love- maybe an early-pandemic hobby - that you could get back to even a few minutes a day to boost your joy?

Have a good break, and we'll see you in the new year!

Todd Finley Brain Blasts.jpeg