The 2024-2025 school year is fast approaching, and teachers are already starting to get their classes ready. To help with the stress and overwhelming feeling of the start of the school year, here are some tips for teachers to prioritize to be efficient, organized, and ready.
Take Care of Yourself
This won’t be the first thing teachers are thinking about when they start preparing for the upcoming school year, but it is the first thing on the list because teachers are the most valuable resource their students will have throughout the year. Teachers should make sure to get enough sleep, eat well, and take breaks to help from being overwhelmed and burnout. Being unfocused and unwell will affect how teachers preform and can cause additional stress if not taking care of themselves properly. Taking care of your wellbeing should be a top priority throughout the year and consistent.
Prepare your Classroom
The classroom environment is a very important part of your student’s experience, and their first impression of what the school year will hold. Being organized at the beginning of the year will make it easy to stay organized throughout the semester, but starting late can hinder time management and cause unnecessary stress. Make checklists with priorities for what needs to get done first and work down, along with checklists of needed items for the classroom. A classroom says a lot about a teacher so adding a unique touch can help get more invested and ready to start the year.
Plan Your First Day and Your First Week
Teaching requires flexibility and preparation. This is especially true at the beginning of the year. The first day of the school year will be more getting to know each other for both students and teachers. Plan out ice breaker activities and run through the first day and first week of lessons to be prepared before actually starting. The first week should be more of a flexible learning experience for both teachers and students to understand what the best learning style approach teachers should take, and let students understand an overview of what they will be learning during this semester.
Create a Classroom Procedure
Decide on classroom procedures and rules ahead of time and plan to teach them early and often. By explicitly teaching and modeling expected behaviors over the first few days and weeks of school, teachers set the stage for positive behavior for the rest of the year. Some classroom procedures to practice include lunch count, what to do when the teacher calls for attention, pencil sharpening, lining up, walking down the hallway, proper manners, hanging up coats, getting drinks, etc. Classroom procedures set the standard for student and lets them know the dos and don’ts of the classroom and what happens if they step out of line.
What are some other ways you get ready of the new school year? Let us know in the comments!
Resources:
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