1. Embrace change

One of the most important tips to start the school year is to embrace change. If you have the intention of starting this year without having any new plan, strategy, tool, or idea to try in your classroom to improve things you will feel overwhelmed with boredom and stress. Why?

Because when we set a new goal for ourselves to pursue, our minds are triggered with much interest and enthusiasm to start off the job. We’re likely to get fired up about experiencing the ‘NEW’ and discovering how our students would react.

So, embrace the change. This is what supports you in transforming your stress into excitement and your boredom into interest.

The kind of change you need to bring to your teaching does not necessarily mean a complicated innovation or idea to induce the WOW factor among your students. It’s not the NEW that you’re still wondering about its relevance or worthiness to your students.

The change you need to set a goal for is all about what you need to do now to make a difference in students’ learning and support them to learn best this year.

It can be something you’ve never thought about because it may not seem that important to you, but it can make that difference: your eye contact or how attentive you are, your TTT, your smile, the NO or WRONG ANSWER feedback, the type of questions you address, or the way you stand up while explaining……

Before you make any decision, take a moment to reflect on the ‘teacher self’. Ask yourself what you need to focus on this year. Then, define clearly your goal and why you need to achieve it.

Each year is a new opportunity for you to grow and streamline, so no need to overwhelm yourself with so many teaching goals. Focus on what you need most.

If you’re new to the world of teaching, you also need to set a goal at the beginning of the year. That goal will reflect the kind of teacher you want to be.

It’s so critical to have a goal though you may have a few or no ideas about how things are going on in practice. Because that image of the teacher you want to be will direct your plans, and decisions and make your actions more purposeful and meaningful.

It’s also a kind of incentive to do what you need to do to amplify that image, refine it more over time, and be the kind of teacher you want.

Start defining your image right now and don’t put it off to experience or time, your students, colleagues, and all the school staff will know who you’re from your first year.

2. Create the conditions

It’s important to have a new vision in our professional life to get more determined and support our growth. Yet, our personal life remains decisive to achieve that. We can’t thrive in teaching unless we’re able to create the necessary work-life balance. Because this is what determines our well-being as individuals.

But, balancing up has to be thought about and planned for before diving into the hard work. So, when we start school, it should already be set properly so that it becomes clear to us how much control we need to exert to keep it right throughout the day.

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.’  Frank Herbert

 

Interested in boosting your well-being and enhancing your productivity in teaching this year? Create the necessary conditions to make that balance correct. How?

Examine your daily routine, the one you’re used to while working. Think about the following questions :

1) How much self-care is there?

• Is your food healthy enough?
• Are you getting hydrated throughout the day?
• Do you have enough sleep?
• Are you exercising enough over the week?
• Do you have time to destress?

2) How organized are you?

• How are you getting on with your daily to-do list?
• Is your home (including your office) organized so that you can keep track of things?
• Are you planning your lessons? Do you have time to revise them?
• Do you have time to search for other supplementary materials to include in your lessons?
• Are you returning students’ assignments on time?

3) How much work are you doing?

• How much work do you bring home?
• What kinds of tasks make you feel overwhelmed?
• How often do you leave school late?

After thinking about the above questions, decide what you need to change or add to your daily routine this year. Maybe it’s a new healthy recipe for breakfast or lunch to bring to work, a spa programme you need to join, meditation before going to work, etc.

Remember that you’re the only one who knows what kind of conditions are necessary for you to live well and thrive in teaching. Don’t expect or wait for others to bring those conditions to you. It’s up to you to create them regardless of all the bumps that may face you.

3. Get all your supplies

Another tip to start off the school year off right is to get all your supplies and organize them. Here is how :

 Personal life

After making your decision regarding your daily routine this year, list down the things you need to do to make it successful. For instance, if self-care is your concern this year (it NEEDS to be) you may think of looking for healthy recipes, buying a lunch box to pack your lunch (also your children’s), joining a yoga class, etc.

To commit yourself to such a routine, try to get them before your school starts.

After reflecting on my daily routine, I have decided to bring certain changes such as not sleeping with my phone, getting hydrated in the morning, and practising yoga before going to work. So, my list of items to purchase includes: Getting an alarm clock instead of my phone to wake me up, a big glass to drink water in the morning, and a yoga mat to practise Yoga With Adriene.

Professional Life

If you’re going to teach the same grade as the previous year, start collecting all your used resources: lesson plans, activities, worksheets, etc. You may decide to select or use them all again this year. This depends on how relevant they are to your students’ needs and the intended learning outcomes.

In the case of new teaching content or grades, learn first about the syllabus and the intended learning outcomes. Also,  examine the textbook or any provided materials and think about what activities you can integrate to enhance your students’ learning. Start planning for the tasks you need to introduce during the first week of school to know your students and build relationships.

Yet, whether you’re familiar with that teaching content or not you should always embrace change to get more passionate about your job and grow. To do so, define what kind of materials and resources you need to make that happen. These can be classroom activities, more engaging lesson plans, a particular classroom management strategy, etc. Once you find them put them in a separate file (you can name it THE CHANGE THIS YEAR).

After deciding on your teaching resources, organizing them, and making them easy to reach, make your list of the necessary supplies you need to purchase to set up your classroom. Focus on what you need and avoid spending too much on things you won’t use (for more details read 10 Back To School Supplies For Every Teacher)

If you’re new to the world of teaching, learn first about what your school can provide before making any purchase. Ask your colleagues or teachers of the same grade on social media about it.

Don’t forget that knowing your students’ needs is critical to your teaching. So, think about what you need to do during those first weeks to explore them (observation checklist, questionnaire, etc.).

 

My tips to start the school year off right are to set a new goal, create the conditions to balance up your work and life, and get the necessary supplies.

This is a NEW opportunity for all of us to learn and grow. So, let’s turn our fears into excitement and enthusiasm and make these visible through our actions and attitudes. Our students need to see them from the start. What other tips to start this school year would you recommend?