Dear Teacher
Learning Objective: Teachers will be able to (TWBAT) feel confident and competent in preparing for school as the first day sneaks upon us.
Dear Teacher,
Are you starting to stress dream because the first day of school is sneaking up and all you’ve done to prepare is buy super cute accessories for your desk? Well, good job on finding cute things, but it’s time to get your head in the game! Whether it is your first year teaching, your student teaching year, or your 50th year teaching, here are some valuable back-to-school tasks you should do now to to have a calmer start to the school year.
1. Clear out everything.
Yes, clear out your car, laundry bin, fridge, closet, desktop trash, and even your inbox. Give yourself a fresh start and a chance to stay organized all year long.
2. Establish your routines and write them down.
Humans are creatures of habit and we thrive on routines. If you have a procedural way of doing a task, it will seem smaller and more manageable. Not to mention, you will become more efficient each time you do it. Work smarter, not harder. A tip to help: Start writing out daily to-do lists and collect them for about two weeks. Examine what tasks repeat and put together a daily and weekly check-off list you can use over and over again. This way you won’t forget anything and you won’t be wasting your pen ink and brain power to re-do your list each time.
3. Choose your top class rules.
Rules--we need them to keep sane, but having too many will drive everyone insane. Think about which rules (5 maximum) you want to hold near and dear to your heart. You must pick your battles. Also, as important as it is to choose the rules, it is just as important to decide the consequences for breaking these rules. The worst thing is when you want to discipline a student and need to come up with a consequence on the fly, while still teaching the other 29 kids in your classroom. No, we can’t think of all the possible scenarios, but we can think of some...and just thinking of some will help. Write them down and take them seriously.
If you are not a new teacher, this is still a very valuable task. Think about what caused you the most stress (classroom management-wise) last year, and try to come up with a different routine. Gold star tip: Get artsy and make a poster to remind your kiddos of your top rules.
4. Buy...bins.
Straight up, your most valuable purchase-- BINS. They are the key to appearing composed, and actually being composed. Because teachers are excellent multi-taskers, we always have papers flying out of our pockets and bags. Whether it is mail, supply catalogs, receipts to be reimbursed, or student late work, all those papers get collected throughout the day and end up in the same place--the daunting dump called your desk. Now, after teaching six periods, do you really want to sort that mess? Probably not. So you leave it for another day, and another day, until a you know you'll have a sub come in and you're too embarrassed to leave it.
So, how can bins help? Bins help keep your desk, and mind, intact. All you need to do is have different bins for different things and use them! Start off with an "in bin" for students to turn in work. Then, start categorizing bins for yourself. You can have a bin for each day of the week which not only holds copies, but also the materials for your weekly faculty meetings. No, your items aren’t always going to be perfectly organized inside these bins, but they will take away the clutter you see--and that, my friends, will remove the stress. Remember, decluttered means destressed. Trust me, guys. Just start with a few bins, and watch your desk and life transform.
5. Actually prepare curriculum.
To not completely burn out before winter break, you’ll need at least the first two weeks planned before the first day of school. Here’s how to start: Decide what topics you want covered and the general order you’d like to cover them. Use those handy standards to guide you. Next, grab or make a calendar and fill in all the district calendar dates to see how much time you really have (i.e. holidays, staff development days, minimum days, etc.) Then, block out time for each topic. Lastly, start linking lesson ideas to each standard and adjust your time blocks accordingly. Creating a Goggle Hyper doc is great for this! See my example below. That’s the basic list to give you a start, but more on this topic is coming in another post.
6. Make copies.
Beat the crowd and make copies before everyone else. You don’t want to waste your time in line or, heaven forbid, the copier jams and you are out of luck. #teacherproblems. In the first few weeks, rosters will change...A LOT. Students will transfer in and out of your class, new students will join late, and the stories go on and on. Make extras of all the important stuff so that you are not frazzled and forced to make copies again.
7. Prepare your physical self.
Pick out professional outfits for the week and pack healthy snacks. These first days will DRAIN you, so try to do as much as you can before the actual race starts.
8. Give yourself a pep-talk.
No matter how you feel and no matter what anyone says, you are capable and smart. You CAN do this. No, we will never master teaching, but each year we get better. New teachers especially, don’t freak out. Remember you can’t compare your beginning to someone else's middle. Do what you can and do your best. Let’s DO THIS.
Here’s is your inspirational quote for the week:
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." --Benjamin Franklin
