To Plan the First Week Back to School [S1 E20]
Stress levels are at an all-time high as we process all of the emotions, logistics, and the unpredictable nature of returning to school amid a global pandemic. As if planning for the first week of school wasn’t already next to impossible (in terms of the overwhelm!), now, teachers are finding themselves tossed and stretched and blindsided like never before. Amid all of the chaos, we wanted to provide some actionable steps and practical advice for handling the back to school overwhelm. And, before we gets started, remember this: do what you can when you feel like you can. No one here at this podcast, or hopefully anywhere else, is trying to set some kind of “keeping up with the Jonses” bar. Focus on these three steps and you’ll be getting to know your students in no time!
How to Plan Your First Week of School
Gather all the things. All the ideas. All the insta inspiration. Brain dump EVERYTHING somewhere.
In this step, there’s no need to censor your ideas or label them as “too this” or “not enough that”. For us, that means embracing the cute trends, grabbing ideas from primary teachers on IG, and recycling our favorite ideas from years past. Go down the Facebook group rabbit hole looking for new ideas and to see what everyone else is up to. But remember, after step one is done, there’s no going back to this! It will only cause chaos in your very precious, stressed out brain. Once you’ve satisfied this curiosity, DUMP IT ALL OUT in your new notebook, a Google Doc, or wherever you’d like.
Decide what matters to you. For us, this typically means:
Classroom norms: the way we establish expectations for behavior, how we will handle a variety of behavior issues, your general philosophy in the classroom. These things must be established early and reinforced often.
Routines. How will students access information? How often should they check email? Where are the daily agenda slides? How do kids complete and turn in bell work? Is there a daily attendance check-in?
Skill check: Which activities can you use to check in and casually pre-test knowledge and skills? Can you get a writing sample? Sneak in a vocabulary activity? Evaluate small group discussion skills? I always have a socratic seminar to start the year because it helps me hear how my kids think and gives me a glimpse into their personalities. That paired with a letter to the teacher/writing sample gives me a lot of information quickly and with little prep or exhaustion on my part.
Community building: Establishing a classroom environment where students feel comfortable and brave enough to speak up is an ongoing focus in our classrooms, but it starts in the first week of school. As much as the other things matter to me, some of the activities I do do not serve any other purpose than to simply get kids acquainted with each other, the room, and to just be FUN. In the virtual classroom, I like to have kids create and present their digital “happy place” and in-person, I always start the week with a team building marshmallow challenge.
I wrote a blog post last year (so normal school - no pandemic) that walks you through how I (Amanda) do this in the first ten days. I’ve labeled where the things that matter to me apply to each different activity. I know things look a whole lot different, but maybe the post can help your mindset get where it needs to be. Take a look…
Choose your ideas to fit what matters to you.
If it all matters, then cover all the bases. If you only want to focus on building routines, then choose activities that build routines. But if you use the things that matter most to you to guide you through the sea of brain dump, you can start putting lesson ideas down on your calendar and feeling good about your decision. There’s nothing worse than the wishy-washy back and forth decision making, so take it easy on yourself and pick activities that serve the purposes that you set out from the beginning.
