School Break: Holiday Habits That Minimize Stress and Maximize Joy

By December, most of us are ready for the long holiday break. What’s fascinating though is how some of us can fully disconnect and leave school behind for the holidays while others struggle to turn off our school brain. I invited a few educators to talk about making the most of the holiday break — what works for them and what doesn’t?

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Ashley Stephens, Ed.D. is the creator of the weekly Family Academy video series which helps families intentionally build relationships with one another and make the most of their children’s educational opportunities. She serves as the Family & Community Engagement Facilitator for Cabell County Schools in West Virginia.
Brian Kulak is the Chief Academic Officer of a K-12 district in NJ. Before that, he taught high school English and journalism for 15 years. He is the founder of leveluplead.com, a teaching and leadership blog and was a featured speaker at NCTE/CEL and ECET2NJPA, and has written for Edutopia and Educational Viewpoints.
Joe Ferraro is currently in his 24th year as an educator, teaching English 12, Public Speaking, and Creative Writing. In addition to his work in the classroom, he is the founder of DamnGoodConversations.com, a company whose mission is to teach you repeatable ways to have the best conversations in your life and work. His flagship service is the weekly personal growth podcast One Percent Better. Every Sunday, Joe releases conversations with fascinating people like Mitch Albom, Seth Godin, Daniel Pink, James Clear and Debbie Millman designed to help people leverage small changes in mindset, language, and behavior in order to get life-changing results.

Lisa Leaheey has taught English at North Providence High School for the entirety of her 23-year career. A lifelong voracious reader and movie buff, she spends every day sharing her passion for stories with her students, and she continuously seeks out new ways to elevate her students’ individual strengths and to support their individual needs. Lisa was recently named the 2023 Rhode Island Teacher of the Year,