Mentally Preparing to Return to School
August is here and with it comes a wonderful sense of anticipation, and perhaps a touch or two of fear and dread. All of these feelings are completely normal and can be used constructively if they are channeled and directed to profit our preparations.
Here are a few tips for getting your mind, body, and spirit ready to enter the classroom again.
Spend some time in your classroom.
I often find that just spending time in my classroom does wonders for my thoughts about school beginning again. The familiarity, the good memories, and thoughts of the delightful people whom I have spent time with there are all comforting and calming to my soul. I always begin to rearrange a few things, and this too is good for just getting back into the feeling of being a teacher again.
Preparation is golden.
The Bible memory papers are all copied and stacked, ready to go in the closet. The choir music has arrived and is ready to be hole-punched and put into choir folders. The textbooks have all been ordered, counted, and are ready to go. These types of preparations give an ordered and calming effect to us teachers as we prepare to reenter our classrooms.
Evaluation has its rewards.
As I look back on the last school year, there are two areas in which my staff and I targeted to work on. I am planning on how we will address these at our staff orientations, and how we can overcome our weakest areas next year. These solutions cannot be merely theories and philosophy– we need direct plans and strategies to carry out so that these weak spots can become stronger.
At the end of last year, all of the teachers at our school filled out an evaluation form (see below). I found their answers extremely helpful in planning for this upcoming year. Adjustments are being made, and new ideas--wonderful ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of--are going to be implemented, thanks to the suggestions of others. If you have returning teachers, it’s not too late to get their feedback for the upcoming year.
Make a phenomenal schedule.
Include every break and the times that the students should have their math and English done. Note when they should have time to work independently on fix-ups if they need to. Direct them as well as you can, especially if you have more than one grade in your classroom. Print these out on card stock and give one to each student. That way they will know what is expected of them and will hopefully stay on task.
Spice things up a bit.
For this coming year, we are overhauling our incentive program and adding in a goal that the entire school can work on together, without any pressure being on anyone. We plan to add a disc golf basket out in the field for some added outside fun, and we are adjusting our art displays so that every student can see his or her art on the walls. (These were all teachers’ suggestions.)
Have your classroom management plan ready to go!
Post it on the wall, read it every day until school starts (and aloud to the students every day for two weeks after school starts), and rehearse mentally (and possibly even act out physically in your classroom) what you will do when Johnny or Susie does something that he or she is not supposed to do. ANYTHING that bothers or distracts you as a teacher should be addressed.
Think positively!
2 Timothy 1:7 reads, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Preparing for potential problems and having a plan to fix the past issues frees us to plan and to dream about enjoying a wonderful school year.
Begin to mentally prepare yourself for heading back into the classroom. Embrace the concept, while acknowledging the fears as well, and do all you can to alleviate those fears with solutions.
Suggested reading: The Total Classroom Management Makeover Plan by Michael Linsin, available on Amazon or at smartclassroommanagement.com
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Teacher Evaluation Form
Name _________________________________
What do you appreciate about our school?
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What is the best part of your job?
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What is your least favorite part of your job?
__________________________________________________________________
How could this be improved? Is there anything that could be done to make this better?
__________________________________________________________________
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What suggestions do you have for improvements for the rest of this year or for next year?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
What would you like to do differently in your classroom, or for the school as a whole?
__________________________________________________________________
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