Depending on where you are, summer is over or almost over, and I’ve got some great back-to-school tips for teachers to help you start this upcoming school year right. Back-to-school season can be nerve-wracking for some teachers, especially if this is your first year or you are new to a school. It can also feel like that if you are not as organized as you would like. Most schools plan several events to accommodate the various needs of parents; these events might be Back to School Night, Meet the Teacher, Orientation, and Open House. No matter what grade level you teach or what your school or district calls these events, I’m sure you will find some of these back to school tips for teachers helpful.
1. Setup event stations
Meet the Teacher, Back-to-School Night, Orientation, Open House (or whatever your school calls it) can become overwhelming really fast. But you can make it easier by having stations set up ahead of time. First, start with a welcome PowerPoint/Google Slide slide on your Smartboard (if you have one). You could also create one in Canva. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You could say something like, “Welcome! Glad you are here!” At the bottom, you could put go to station one, complete all the stations before coming to see me, OR complete all the stations before leaving (make yourself the last station). Signs could also be printed out and put on your door with this information. I suggest spacing stations out, especially if you are expecting many parents. Here are a few stations I recommend.
- Station 1 – Sign in – Have them sign in.
- Station 2 – Transportation – have a transportation sheet to find out how they get home on the first day of school and after – especially if it’s different.
- Station 3— Supplies – Drop off any supplies. You could put out various bins with supply labels on them so parents can sort supplies into the appropriate containers. Or they can drop them off, and you can sort them later.
- Station 4—Forms to complete – Maybe your school has specific forms that parents must fill out, or you might have a student information form/packet. Have pens and clipboards and tell them where to sit. Or, if your forms are all digital now, have access to tablets, desktops, etc., with directions on how to access the forms. You could even use a QR Code for quicker access.
- Station 5 – Seats – Help your child pick or find a seat. You could also put forms at their child’s seat, which could be station 4 instead.
- Station 6 – A scavenger hunt to find the most used places and things in the classroom. Each item could have a number/letter/shape; students must write or circle it on their sheet.
- Station 7—Volunteer sign-up sheet with dates, times, what, and where in case they prefer to work from home. You could also put classroom wishlist information here for parents who choose to give items instead of their time.
- Station 8 – Conference sign-up sheets if you are planning that far ahead.
- Station 9—Have families come to meet you! They can ask questions, turn in paperwork, and you can ask them questions, etc. This would also be an excellent time to remind them what to do after visiting your classroom or giving other important/last-minute updates.
2. Develop a classroom management plan (the most essential back-to-school tips for teachers)
Classroom management refers to the techniques and strategies that teachers use to maintain a productive, orderly, and focused learning environment. It involves managing student behavior, organizing classroom space, and establishing routines and expectations to facilitate effective teaching and learning. Mastering classroom management is essential for creating an environment where students can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. I have included a few of my most used ones below.
I cannot tell you how important having a classroom management plan is. This plan determines how well your school year is going to go. The more detailed the plan, the better off you will be. Follow-through is also important. Having a well-detailed plan that you never use is a waste of time and effort. Your plan should include your classroom rules/expectations, consequences, rewards, routines, and procedures.
Our school-wide behavior plan requires us to use ClassDojo. Therefore, that is what I use for classroom management. You can give points for anything and set the number of points. I award points for each rule and school-wide expectations students adhere to. I try hard only to take points if it is needed. When a few students are being disruptive, I award other students points that are adhering to the expectations. That usually gets the disruptive students’ attention, and they fall in line. Students can use their points at the end of each month to buy fantastic things from my classroom store or our school store.
Additionally, within ClassDojo, you can set something to 0 points. I would use these for data collection purposes. For example, we wanted to track how often a student went to the restroom because we believed the student was doing so to avoid work. However, we also needed a quick way to communicate this information to parents, and Class Dojo was perfect. So, each time the student went to the restroom, we noted it in Dojo. Dojo also time and date stamps these events automatically. You can also add notes to each event as well. The automatic stamping allows the parents to see how often the student frequented the restroom. At the end of the year, you can print everything out and add it to the students’ files if needed.
As teachers, we always want to be in control of our classroom. The best way to exhibit control is by giving choices. Why? Because you are in control of the choices. I have worked with several students who hated a specific subject area or activity and would act out to avoid it. First, I would acknowledge their feelings and then say I know you do not like adding, but I must teach it to you. I see your frustration and want to help you. Would you like to do all 10 of the problems or five instead? Would you like a 5-minute break now or after you have completed the first half of the assignment? Offer whatever you feel is appropriate and stand firm on your decision, but never argue with a student.
3. Determine routines and procedures
I have procedures and routines for everything from lining up to grading papers and teach them almost exclusively during the first two weeks of school. For example, students are given a number at the beginning of the year, and when I say let’s line up, they know that they line up in number order. The line leader and electrician (the person who turns on and off our lights) are in their respective places in line. The line leader job would change weekly or monthly depending on how many students I have.
Here is another example – students who come to class late know that they must put their things away and quietly go to their seats. If we are working on an assignment, my para or I will call the student to our table and explain what we are doing. One of us would check in regularly to ensure they complete the work. If they come in while I’m teaching, they would still put their things away and go to their seat. I would typically quickly review what we have learned so far if I’m in the middle of a lesson. If I’m closer to the end, I would tell the student to wait until I’m done and I will catch them up. If you need help developing routines and procedures, click HERE.
Once you have all your routines and procedures written out, develop a plan to teach them to students and be consistent. As you are creating your plan, you may realize that specific supplies are needed or need to be assembled (like a take-home folder); go ahead and take care of that now or work it into the plan for the students to put together but make sure you have all the copies you need and that they are hole punched if required. I suggest teaching your routines and procedures directly for the first two weeks. While teaching them, you may figure out that some things need to be changed or tweaked, which is ok. Make the necessary adjustments and teach them again. If you need more information on how to do this, check out this blog post or this podcast.
4. Have your first 10-days plan ready.
Your first 10-days Plan outlines what you will do with your students for the first 10 days of school and is high on my back-to-school tips for teachers list. In addition to teaching routines and procedures for the first ten days, you should include Social Emotional Learning (SEL) activities, school-wide behavior plan expectations, classroom community activities, and baseline data. We must always have a ten-day plan turned in before school starts to ensure we cover all these things. Academic work is minimal during the first ten days, except for all the baseline testing, as students acclimate. There might also be school assemblies, drills, and other events to work into your schedule. The first ten days are often hectic, and you want to be well-prepared.
5. Set up a substitute binder
Setting up a substitute binder is one of my first things to do each year. You never know when you might be out due to an emergency and you don’t want to leave the burden of putting stuff together on your teammates or team leader. Within my sub binder, I include school information (who to call if…, team leader, etc.), emergency procedures, student information (noting any helpful students, students that might struggle with the change in teacher for the day, students that have health issues, etc.), classroom procedures and routines that should be used while I’m out, classroom behavior plan, classroom schedule, and lesson plans.
I make sure all pages are labeled to match the lesson plans. If copies are needed, I note how many. I keep this binder in a location that is easy to find and inform my team leader and next-door teacher. I update this binder every nine weeks as students come and go and things change.
6. Establish a parent communication plan
Communicating with parents can be overwhelming and stressful for some; this is where a good plan comes into place. Determine how often and which methods you will use and stick to it. Communication may be daily, weekly, monthly, or whatever your school or team mandates. Methods might include an app, email, newsletter, website, etc. Many apps now have a feature to schedule messages ahead of time, which can save you time if you plan ahead.
It is crucial to make the first contact within the first nine weeks and ensure it is positive. Doing so establishes a good relationship with the parents, making those not-so-good phone calls more manageable to have in the future. Parents don’t only want to hear from you when things are not going as well as expected. They want to know that you care for their child and can express that. If you need help developing a communication plan, check out this resource.
7. Make friends with the main people.
The main people include your school secretary, custodians, cafeteria staff, bookkeeper, and registrar because they are all great resources, and here’s why:
- The School Secretary typically knows e-ver-y-thing. Our school secretary was the bomb dot com. She was my go-to person for all of my who do I and how do I questions. She was very patient and kind to me.
- During pre-planning week, finding an available custodian and a dolly is challenging. Everybody needs one. However, if you can get into your classroom before then, find out which custodian is responsible for cleaning your room and introduce yourself. I have a great relationship with all the custodians at my school and can get whatever I usually need when I ask for it. I also do an exceptional job keeping my room clean because custodians are not maids, and I like a clean environment. My students know that if they make a mess that does not require adult assistance, they must clean it up themselves.
- Depending on how well you like the cafeteria food, you should be friends with the Cafeteria staff. This friendship could keep you from starving when you don’t have any money or forget your lunch and don’t have a snack stash (see #10).
- The bookkeeper is a great friend to have because this person knows everything about field trip paperwork and all the joys that come with it, contract hours, how to request time off, and your paycheck.
- I don’t know about you, but I prefer to know beforehand when I’m getting a new student. I don’t like surprises, especially being a special education teacher. The registrar is a good friend to have because this person can give you a heads-up when you have new students coming or students leaving. I also do not like surprise exits. I want to be able to tell my students how much I have enjoyed teaching them, how much I will miss them, and how I expect them to go and do their best at their new school, or I’ll have to visit.
8. Read all of your IEPs
You must ensure you understand what you are supposed to do, how, and when. Remember, an IEP is a legally binding document. If you need help understanding any part of it, especially the part that pertains to you, speak to your school’s ESE teacher(s) for clarity as soon as possible. You should document that conversation in your teacher binder and follow up with an email. If that student’s file is audited and you are asked to produce data, you want to avoid scrambling to put something together quickly or have nothing to show. Trust me on this! You can see what I use to document data HERE.
9. Make a teacher binder
At the beginning of the year, you are often given many papers to keep for future reference. A teacher binder is a great place to keep them. You can include documents you must keep, like schedules, bookkeeper procedures, benefits information, evaluation information, and any other schoolwide or district information. I also keep meeting agendas, training notes, etc., in my teacher binder. You never know when you will need to produce proof of something. Check out these cool binder covers and spines that you can use to make all your binders look the same and super cute, too!
10. Snack stash
This one should have been number one on this back-to-school tips for teachers list. I’ll be honest and tell you some days are tough, and you might need a quick pick-me-up, or you want a sweet treat while completing report cards, or perhaps you forgot your lunch. Whatever the reason, a snack stash is always a great idea. I have a personal refrigerator and microwave in my room, so I don’t have to limit myself to non-perishable snacks and room-temperature drinks. I keep a small stash for my students, too, in case they do not have a snack for snack time, come to school hungry after breakfast is over, and there are still a few hours left before lunch, or deserve a special treat for doing something extraordinary.
Let’s wrap this up!
The beginning of the year can be an exhilarating and overwhelming experience, especially if you are a new teacher. I could write a post about each one of these back-to-school tips for teachers because they are that important. Whether this is your first year teaching or you are new to a district, school, or grade level, I have one additional tip for you . . . find your tribe! Teaching can be challenging and exhausting. The last thing you want to do is bottle all of that up because you are new or are an introvert. Make at least one good friend and lean on them when you need to and sometimes when you don’t. You need someone other than me in your corner. I am always happy to help or lend an ear. Good luck, my friend. I hope this year is productive and successful for you and your students!
In case you need more back-to-school tips for teachers, check out these other blog posts:
Quick Tips for Communicating with Parents in Special Education
Conquer Your Day: The Superpower of To Do Lists for Teachers
