Welcome to Back to School Jitters-3 Things to Take Into This School Year

It’s that time of year again! The time where you have the Sunday Scarries, only they are happening all of the time. You feel panicked to get everything looking perfect. All of the things must be 100% prepared or the world as you know it might combust. Welcome to back to school jitters! 

Maybe you don’t feel this way at all. I have noticed a real shift in social media lately. Teachers posting about how they are going into this school year without striving for perfection. The past year and a half have been such a whirlwind. It has made us shift what we deem most important in both our personal and professional lives. 

Regardless of which side of this you are on, I think we can all take some of what we have learned into this upcoming school year. Keep reading to check out my top 3.

Are you a teacher in Quebec? Click here to download my free QEP Competencies Handbook. I made this free tool as a way to simplify the QEP for myself by listing the skills that I needed to teach in an easy-to-use bullet format. Click here to download!

Welcoming Yourself Back to School

You know that first staff-only day back to school? When the principal welcomes back old teachers and introduces new staff members? Then you will play some silly get-to-know-you icebreaker games? Have you noticed that we never welcome ourselves back to school? 

We arrive in school and just jump back into our teacher selves as if it’s a coat we took off in June and just put back on in the Fall. We welcome each other but don’t take time to welcome ourselves back to school.

What if we made this day special for ourselves? Let’s turn this first day back into something to look forward to! And in this case “Go big or go home” is a must!

Here are some ways you can make this day special for yourself (and nobody else):

• Take yourself out for breakfast
• Wear a new outfit 
• Take a few moments to yourself in your classroom to just sit and soak it in (don’t jump into organizing right away!)
• Journal the morning of to get your feelings out
• Get the fancy coffee drink
• Buy yourself something nice (not practical) for the classroom
• Go for a walk before you leave for work

Make a list of the top 2 things you want to get done that day (yes, only 2!)

Notice how I focused on you, the teacher, before anything or anyone else. That’s because getting your head on straight (or at least beginning to) is what is most important during this time of the year.

Click here to download my QEP Competencies Handbook. It’s a must for Quebec Elementary ELA Teachers!

How to Welcome Students Back to School

Once you have taken care of yourself, we can start thinking about the best way to welcome back our students. For some of you, this may be the first time your students are walking back into a classroom in a year and a half! If you teach the younger grades, this may be the first time your students are ever walking into a classroom!

Since this is a different year, the way we think about this time needs to be different also. You need to pick one or two top priorities for the first day back. These might be:

• Creating a safe, calming space-click here to check out the Kindergarten Cafe’s post about creating a welcoming classroom environment.
• Tending to students’ anxieties-click here to check out a related blog post!
• Allowing space for students to form relationships-check out my favourite get to know you activity!
• Transitioning students into a classroom routines-click here to check out my blog post about setting up routines!
• Ensuring students know you are there for them
• Having students create their own space in the room (organizing and personalizing their desk and locker)

These are all goals you should have for the first couple of weeks of school. However, I think it’s important to choose just one or two for the first day. Then, you can begin thinking of how you are going to do it/them. 

Helping Students Who Are Struggling with Welcome Back to School Jitters!

Most of your students will be unphased about coming back to school. They will simply be excited to see their friends again! After all, students are resilient.

However, for some of your students, the back-to-school jitters may be overwhelming! These are the students who will be hesitant to walk into the classroom or be very quiet around their peers. While it is important to form relationships with these students, it is also important to give them space. As teachers, we tend to be overbearing on the first day, or even week of school. That’s because we want to show that we care, and want to cover all of the things we have to. Click here to check out Read Hope Love’s post about helping students with coping skills for mental health.

One way to give students space on the first day or week is to provide students with choices. Click here to check out my blog post about student choice. 

Another way to calm students’ nerves is to have some quiet time built into your day. My favourite way to do this is through listening to podcasts. I use podcasts a lot in my classroom, so I like introducing this routine early on in the school year. 

Click here to check out my Podcasts in the Classroom resource!

My final tip for helping students with nerves on the first day is through humour. Getting students to laugh is a way to break the ice and to get them out of their heads a little bit. Check out these funny get-to-know-you task cards to use with students. A way to introduce humour to students is by talking about silly stuff. Click here for my National Days of the Yera Discussion Prompts. 

Final Thoughts

This time of year can be nerve-wracking. However, if you approach it with a calm mindset and by taking it day-by-day, it can be manageable. 

Do you do something special for yourself on the first day? Comment down below!

PS-Be sure to click here to download your free QEP Competencies Handbook before you go!