Each new school year is full of preparation. School leaders plan training for school-wide initiatives, teachers transform their classrooms, and parents prepare their kids to go back to school. New goals are created based on the past year’s performance. It’s tough to decide exactly where to focus. In our experience, it comes down to two areas: student performance and school environment.
Bring It Back to the Classroom Foundations.
Classroom foundations should be the focus of every new school year, for new and experienced teachers, to create trusting environments and high expectations. When student needs are met, they perform to higher levels. Here are our recommended classroom foundations to ensure success for all students, year-long.
Student relationships are the number one classroom foundation. These relationships tie into every foundation to follow in this list so make this a priority daily. The first week of school is great to build relationships in person but this process should begin before students walk into your classroom. You can find out family dynamics through your school and staff. Find out if they have older siblings you’ve taught or younger that are in the same building. Do they have extended family in school or around the area? Do their scores from last year show they will need remediation support or enrichment?
Talking to a previous teacher should be used with caution. It is great to discover a child’s special interests and strengths, even supports that were beneficial. Each student should, however, be allowed to start the school year fresh from past behaviors. Teachers and students do not always get along for various reasons. An adult should know how to speak about a student’s classroom abilities without letting their differences interfere.
In the case a previous teacher tells you a past student was especially difficult, make a note to give this student praise and call parents with positive news instead of looking for ways they might act up. Hearing a student ‘never did their work’ might be a cue they need additional assistance in the classroom. Do not let comments define a student. Instead, use them as an opportunity to better serve them in the classroom. They may just need more love and attention.
Once students are in the classroom, get to know them more and ask personal questions about them outside the parameters of school expectations. Discover how they are feeling each day, explore dynamics between friends, and check in with the sports teams and extra-curriculars. Each classroom foundation includes a community. Focus on building a community that comes together through conversation and expectations rather than individual goals and isolation. Building relationships together starts your community off on the right foot.
Everyone is going to struggle with something at some point. Whether it is academic support or emotional support, you’ll need to be ready.
Academic supports are more straightforward and are often found in IEPs and 504 plans. Be sure to contact your special education department to obtain any necessary information on all students with an IEP or 504 plan so you can be ready to support their goals. We suggest having a snapshot of all accommodations. This snapshot will be used when creating seating charts, lesson planning, and testing and should be updated regularly.
Remember those conversations you had with previous teachers and the review of last year’s grades? If you identified students who might need additional support but don’t currently have an IEP or 504 plan, add them to the bottom of the snapshot. You may want to refer them for services later in the year and you will already have documentation on strategies you’ve tried in the classroom. They may also show they don’t need these supports and can be removed. Either way, you’re supporting them from day one.
Your school may have Social Emotional Learning support initiatives in place but if they don’t, it’s a good practice to offer a space where a student can feel safe to take a break to calm down, get in a better mindset, signal to an adult they need help, or help themselves regulate their emotions before returning to the learning setting. Another idea is to have a mailbox where students can share information with you privately.
Now that you’ve established the classroom foundation of relationships, you’ll know your students and how to support them in these areas.
Believe it or not, parents and guardians are already embedded into our classroom foundation through relationships and support. Building a relationship with a student is highly impacted when we also have a relationship with their guardian. Get to know their life so you understand the best way to support them.
- Are the parents/guardians working? When and where? Work that takes place during the day, night shift, or out-of-town can affect many elements. From when they are available to talk to how the child feels when they are away.
- Who is living in their home? Students might have separated parents and a schedule that moves them around during the week. Guardians may be responsible for other family members such as elders or extended family that keep them busy.
- How and when is the best way to communicate? Guardians may communicate better when they see the message written out. Others might prefer to talk directly to you.
There is a lot that happens outside of the classroom and after talking to a student, the guardian is the next most valuable person to understand what is happening in a child’s life. Guardians are also key to implementing support. Be sure to communicate classroom expectations and routines so they know what is expected of their child. Keep them informed on what their child is learning in the classroom and what is coming home for practice or continued learning.
Being on the same page will keep students working towards success. Parents may need to support themselves to help their children with homework. Create extra handouts you can send home to help.
An organized classroom runs smoothly because everything has a place and efforts are focused on learning. Here is a list of some areas to consider for this classroom foundation:
- Teachers should plan out the layout of the classroom to focus on whole-group teaching and provide opportunities for small-group sessions. Plan out what will happen when there is group work or stations that require a flow throughout the classroom.
- How will papers be handed out and collected? Same with materials for the day’s lesson.
- Where will visual representations go to provide learning opportunities? Examples: word wall, vocabulary, infographics, maps, charts, etc.
- If there are students with specific manipulatives or supplies, where will they be kept in the classroom for easy access?
- How will you keep track of graded work, grades, standards assessments, portfolios, alternative assignments, etc?
- What does your teacher’s schedule look like? How can you utilize your time to grade, plan, take a break, and prepare for the next lessons?
There are many tasks to complete to get ready for the first day. Having these designated locations and procedures will ensure an efficient space focused on learning.
Academics are essential to the classroom foundation and should be reflected in your lesson planning, teaching practices, grading, classroom contracts, and other areas. You’ll want to check with your department leads on their expectations for lesson/unit planning as well as school-year testing schedules to make sure you create a pace that keeps you on track for these benchmarks. A few other areas to consider are the following:
- Prerequisite skills that students may need to practice before adding new skills
- Vocabulary embedded into the lesson
- Scaffolded practice that reaches various levels of learning. There should be some remediation practice, on grade level, and opportunities to try challenges.
- Prepare first-day/week activities for your classroom contract or other form of classroom expectations. This is going to set the tone for behaviors and effort within your classroom. You’ll also want to add team-building skills and expectations of school & classroom.
- Some teachers will also incorporate vision boards or student portfolios and will want to get them set up during this time.
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Some teachers find that they want to utilize a theme or goal for the year. Experienced teachers may choose to work on a skill they want to strengthen while first-year teachers aim to develop their classroom management. One thing we can all agree on is student success should be the ultimate goal. Decide how you will track student success, and identify students that need support and standards that need more attention.
You’ll need data to demonstrate your goal growth as well as how students are progressing through the year. It is easier to ask for help when you know specifically where to look. Do you need help motivating an individual? Is the class struggling to understand the concept and you could use an engaging activity to connect the dots? What does your data say?
Before classes begin, make sure your presentation set up is ready to go. You won’t want to troubleshoot in a classroom full of new students. Have a backup plan! How would you teach if the electronics stopped working? Is there a whiteboard you can use, or a large paper you can write on? Having a backup activity helps keep students on task and learning. Set up apps you plan to utilize school-wide or in your classroom. Class Dojo is great for positive motivation and you’ll want to use this on the first day.
While many back-to-school preparations could make this list, we believe these 6 classroom foundations are where to start. What would you add to this list? Was there something on the list that surprised you? Join the conversation below!
