10 Tips to Get Your School Year Off to a Great Start S. 2 Ep.23

Listen to this episode to learn our top ten best ways to get your school year off to a great start. 

 

Show notes: 

Quote: 

“The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth.”

Dan Rather

Call us eternal optimists, but we want to embrace each new year and give it our best. So, we created a countdown of ten of our favorite suggestions for starting the school year with energy, strength and optimism that we are excited to share with you.

Our top ten tips to get your school year off to a great start: 

Success Tip Number 10: Create a good sub folder.

We added this to our countdown because we believe in the power of a great substitute folder and the beginning of the school year is the perfect time to create that sub folder.

You need a great sub folder.  It is going to happen, you are going to be sick or have an unexpected emergency that requires you to be absent from school. No matter how healthy you are and how strong your immune system, you will be in contact with students who sometimes come to school ill. You will sleep better knowing that you have a solid sub folder when those unexpected sick days occur.

Trying to prepare good lesson plans when you are not feeling well or when you are in the midst of a family emergency is no fun. We recommend that you prepare a complete and highly usable sub folder.

We have a whole blog post on our website dedicated to specific items to add to your sub folder, which we will link in the resources. At the very least we suggest you include the following in your sub folder:

• Your daily and weekly class schedule
• Your class attendance lists and seating charts
• Attendance and lunch count procedures
• Passwords to the white board or computer if they need it to run the lessons
• A list of classroom rules and expectations
• A list of students with medical concerns (be thoughtful about student privacy issues but share what is necessary)
• Location of emergency information for fire drills etc.
• A general note to the sub explaining your routines
• A list of reliable students and colleagues who can answer questions or be helpful
• 2 or 3 days’ worth of lesson plans and activities that are related to your subject and that provide important skill work. Your emergency lesson plans should not be directly connected to your current unit of study. This allows you to keep emergency sub plans without having to change them in the moment to reflect the current unit.

Though it does take some time to set up a good sub folder, the time will be well spent when you find yourself suddenly ill or in the midst of a family emergency. You will feel a level of security and comfort knowing that no matter what happens, you have done your best to leave your students in good hands.

Success Tip Number 9: Build time for yourself into every day.

It is important that you take some time to recharge your own battery. Try to do at least one small thing every day that makes you calm and happy. Do things that feed your soul- even for ten or fifteen minutes if that is all that you can manage. This will help you to stay positive and connected to your values.

Many of you are exploring ways to teach mindfulness to your students. It is also important for you. Stress is real and has many negative health effects. You give so much to so many every day. If you are looking for ideas for self-care, check out Episode 16 where we talk about the difference between real self-care and faux self-care.

Where do you find the time?  You don’t. You create it. Use time blocking to carve in a block for yourself. Use a master weekly calendar.  Block in your prep times and other work blocks. Then block in buffer blocks, which are short times blocks where you will do multiple small tasks such as sending an email. Then add people blocks, which is where you spend time with people you care about. You also need personal time blocks where you block in some time for yourself.  This helps you to use your time wisely.

Success Tip Number 8: Help students get to know you.

When students feel like they know and understand you, it will go a long way in making your school year run smoothly. Let the students know a bit about you right from the beginning. Tell a funny story about your dog. Talk about your favorite sports or activities. Share a read aloud from your favorite book or tell them about your favorite summer activities. Students will respond better to someone they know, like and trust. You can share bits of yourself without oversharing or becoming a friend rather than a teacher.

One of our favorite teachers has a framed picture of himself when he was the same age as his students so they can envision him when he was their age. Other teachers like to share pictures of their summer adventures so the kids have something to talk with them about. For example, the teacher may project a funny picture of her looking terrified while white water rafting which sparks a later conversation with a student who says they felt that way when they went kayaking with their uncle. Little details about yourself at the beginning of the year can lead to big connections throughout the rest of the year.

Success Tip Number 7: Establish positive relationships with parents and guardians from the start.

At some point in the year you will need to talk with parents. You don’t want the first thing they hear from you to be that their child is failing or that there are behavior issues that need to be addressed.

Start the new year by introducing yourself. Write a note to parents in a letter home, newsletter, or in your parent communication portal. Give a few details about your interest, your education and your hopes and dreams for learning this school year.

Follow up with information about your expectations, and procedures. You can also include a syllabus or a description of some of the content you will explore or projects that students will experience.

This is also a good place to establish boundaries. Tell them the best way to contact you and the times that you are available to schedule a phone call.

Success Tip Number 6: Be open to change.

Flexibility is uncomfortable for many teachers who are naturally organized and well-planned. Teaching involves working with real, live, active participants whose needs are ever changing and always evolving. There will be situations out of your control. Sometimes the best strategy is to go with the flow and figure things out as you go. If you thrive on being well-planned, create some contingency plans for days when your regular plans aren’t possible. Setting a goal to go with the flow, right from the beginning of the year, will set you on the right path toward a successful school year.

One middle school teacher gave us this cheeky motto: “Flexibility is our favorite “F” word.”

Success Tip Number 5: Get to know students as individuals and as learners.  

This goes hand in hand with Tip number 8. Let the students get to know you. In return, it is important that you get to know who your students are as individuals. Building good relationships with students involves getting to know who your students are as individuals. Ask about their interests, backgrounds, families, and favorite activities. Give students interest inventories or have younger students draw pictures of things that are important to them. Look at student records to find out about medical issues such as allergies or any other special concerns. The more you know about individual students, the better the bonds you will be able to create with them.

The more you know about students as learners, the better you can help them learn. Give students learning inventories, multiple intelligences surveys or ask them to answer questions such as “How can I help you learn best?”  Other good questions are, “Tell me about a time when learning was fun and easy for you,” and “Tell me a time when learning was a struggle for you.” Be sure to check students’ IEPs and understand the type of accommodations you will need to provide. Ask for clarification if something is not clear.

Success Tip Number 4: Create a classroom environment that you love.

You spend a lot of time in your classroom, make it a place that you love to be in.

Rearrange the furniture. Find different furniture- most schools have a room in the basement or behind the gym with left over odds and ends. Go thrifting. Add a table or another bookshelf.  Make your classroom work well for you and for your students. Ask yourself, “What would I need in order to make this room function well?

Consider the colors of your room. How does it feel?  Is it open, inviting, and warm? Consider different lighting. Add some plants. Don’t be afraid to add something fun or quirky.

We’ve seen stuffed animals as classroom mascots who hold fun signs with reminders or compliments, and even a model of a human skeleton that dressed up with hats and ties and sports shirts for different holidays and events.

Make bulletin boards that work for you that are not difficult to maintain.

Here are some ideas for easy bulletin boards.  Use a quote board.  Leave the background and change out the quote each week. Use a large world or US map.  Pin things to it, or use it to discuss connections to content. Leave a board for student work and student ideas.  Cover it with blank white paper and have students write their key takeaways. The next week they make a connection from something they learned to something in their life… the ideas are endless.

Success Tip Number 3: Positive Notes for Days I Really Need Them

If you haven’t yet made yourself a folder for Positive Notes for Days I Really Need Them, the beginning of the school year is the perfect time to create one. As a teacher, you are going to make a difference to someone. It is the nature of our profession that sometimes you will never know how you might have affected someone. Fortunately, other times you will know. People will thank you. You will get scribbled cards, written in messy crayon that says “You are the best teacher.”  You will get a grateful e-mail from a parent or a guidance counselor. Someone will tell you that you are doing a great job.

Get yourself a folder or box or an accordion file and save every single one of those positive notes.

Save them for days that are difficult, and there will be plenty of those. Save them for when you are working too hard, and not making enough money and it just doesn’t seem worth it. Save it for those days when a parent makes you cry and days when the students are acting out and you are tired of dealing with it all.

When you are down or struggling, take out that folder and start reading. Those messages, notes and cards will lift you up. They will encourage you and remind you that what you are doing matters. They will feed your soul and revive your spirit.

If you are looking for more information on this type of folder, we wrote a blog post about it. We will link to it in the resources.

Success Tip Number 2: Focus on building good relationships with students.

The more you know and understand students, the easier it will be to teach them. The more that they know you care, the more likely it is that they will thrive. When students thrive, they can learn. Spend as much time as you can in the early weeks of school, getting to know students and helping them to know each other. Building relationships with them from the beginning maximizes the opportunities to expand upon that connection all year long.

Everyone likes to be called by name, and using students’ names when you talk to them is a sign of respect. Get to know student’s names as soon as possible. Ask students how to pronounce unfamiliar names and if they prefer a variation or nickname.

Greet students at the door each morning using their names. Call on students by name. Seating charts and name tag tents on the desks may help in the first few days. Knowing names may seem like an obvious step, but making a real effort here shows students that you care.

If you are a teacher who sees hundreds of students in a day, consider taking a picture of each student, adding their name to their picture, and creating a class roster with the pictures. Using this photographic roster may help you learn the students’ names better.

We can’t say enough about the power of building relationships with your students. Having a relationship with students makes the difficult conversations just a little easier, and makes the celebrations of a student’s accomplishment just a little more sweet. We think this quote from Dan Rather shows the power of a positive student and teacher relationship:

“The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth.”

We can have more truthful conversations when we have built good relationships.

And Finally, our top tip for getting off to a great start this school year…

Success Tip Number 1: Spend time building classroom community. 

Students who know, like, and understand each other will work better together. Time spent at the beginning of the year can go a long way towards building a positive classroom community. Use community building activities during the first weeks of school that help students to get to know each other. There many available activities, use your favorites or search for more on line.

We have a blog post entitled Essential Tips for the First Week of School that lists a few of our favorite community building activities for the first weeks of school.

Another great way to build community is to have good conversations with them about things that matter to them. Be honest and respectful. Let them share their ideas and opinions. You can have a classroom meeting or in the elementary grades, use your morning circle time.

The first weeks of school can make or break how your school year unfolds. Getting off on the right foot will help you set expectations that will reward you all year long. The time you spend building community will pay off in terms of better relationships with and between the students. Students will be more engaged with you and each other, which will result in fewer classroom management issues and THAT is an excellent way to start the year!

We end today with a quote from one of our favorite educators and authors, Esme Codell:

“Thirty-one chances. Thirty-one futures, our futures. It’s an almost psychotic feeling, believing that part of their lives belongs to me. Everything they become, I also become. And everything about me, they helped to create.”

We hope you have a great school year. Know that together, we are cheering you on!

Recap: 

To recap, starting the new school year with energy, strength and optimism will set the stage for a happier and more engaged school year. Don’t delay, start that sub folder and the folder for the “Positive Notes for Days I really Need Them”. Get to know your students as people and learners while letting them learn a little about you too. Send a positive message to parents. Be sure to set aside a little time for yourself each day and be open to change. Create your classroom in a way that makes it a great space for you and your students. Focus on building those good relationships with students and remember, you can’t do enough community building in the first weeks of school. All of your efforts will ensure a more positive experience for you and for the students for the rest of the year!

Resources: 

Inspired Together Teachers Podcast Ep. 16 Real Self -Care

Positive Notes for Days I Really Need Them

Essential Tips for the First Week of School

How to Create an Amazing and Effective Sub Folder

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