Depending on what time of year you are reading this, you definitely felt a certain type of way when you saw the words “new school year” in the title of this blog post. Whether you are a brand-spanking new teacher, or a seasoned vet in the classroom, we are always looking for how to prepare for a new school year.
You may also want to check out my recent blog post, “How to Prepare For School Over the Summer-3 Teacher Must Do’s”
This is a crazy time of year for all of us. A time when school supplies are bought at a crazy volume, classroom decor tutorials are watched with record viewings, and (maybe) lots of alcohol is consumed.
Today I’m going to share my top 3 things you should do at the beginning of the school year. Not only are these 3 important, but they should be done before ANYTHING else!
Can you guess what the 3 are? Keep reading to see if you’re right!
Also, be sure to download my free “Roadmap to Curriculum Mapping Success!”
#1 How to Prepare for a New School Year – Get yourself a mentor
My first tip is suitable for all teachers, but particularly for new teachers.
The first thing you should do is find yourself a mentor. This can be a mentor teacher at your school, or maybe someone you already know.
A mentor is someone who can be a sounding board for you when you need to brain dump some ideas. They can give you advice, tips, and strategies that they have found helpful.
You will know you have found the right mentor for you if they….
-Are currently teaching in their own classroom
-Know your teaching standards/curriculum
-Have at least 2 years of experience under their belt
-Make themselves available to sit with you (at least every two weeks)
-Have a teaching style that you like
-Challenge you (without putting you down)
Another great place to get tips and advice is from a Facebook group. While a Facebook group shouldn’t replace a mentorship, it can be very helpful to be a part of a like-minded teacher community online. Click here to join The Elementary ELA Teacher Support Group.
#2- Decide on the schedule/flow/routines of your class
Once you know the actual schedule of your class (what time you are teaching your students and on what days of the week you teach them), you can start to plan out your schedule.
What I mean by schedule includes:
-Your students’ morning routine
-activities/routines that students will do each day or week
-Whether you will have constant lessons (Daily 5, etc…)
It is important to decide these routines right away because you will want to set this tone from day 1 of the students arriving.
Part of setting a routine is choosing resources that you will use regularly. This could include morning work, a writing journal, and a word work folder. Click here to check out my Paragraph Writing Resource!
Once you decide on these routines, you can organize them ahead of time so they are ready to go!
#3 How To Prepare for a New School Year-Curriculum Map
Curriculum Mapping is a crucial step at the beginning of the year! Curriculum Mapping is the process of mapping out your teaching units by deciding on which teaching standards you will be using the teach and assess students. Click here to check out my recent blog post that explains what curriculum mapping is!
Curriculum mapping or curriculum planning is time-consuming, so I suggest carving out time at the beginning of the year to do it. Otherwise, it will be challenging to find time to do it once you get into the daily tasks required during the school year.
Not sure how to curriculum map? Click here to download my free “Roadmap to Curriculum Mapping Success.”
While it does take a lot of time to curriculum map, once it is done, you will have a big picture of your teaching for the year. This means your weekly planning will take you half the time to do.
It also takes out the stress later in the year of worrying whether or not you have taught everything you had to because you already know you planned for all the standards to be a focus at one time or another over the course of the year.
Final Thoughts…
The beginning of the year is an exciting time for teachers. It can also be a very scary and nerve-racking time.
These three tips will help you get a system set up, which will help you make sure your class is run smoothly.
Just remember, even if you choose to take action on one of these tips I’ve given, you will have made one step towards rocking this school year!
PS-Don’t forget to download your free “Roadmap to Curriculum Mapping Success” by clicking here.
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