1:16
It’s about a month before school starts, and I know some of you are already feeling that familiar knot in your stomach. I’ve got it too, that back to school anxiety. I get it. I really, really do, because I am someone who gets easily overwhelmed, and I’ve learned the hard way what happens when we focus on the wrong things. Let me tell you about my first teaching job. I was still in grad school. Didn’t even have my teaching certificate yet. I was on a provisional license coming in mid year to a high school. So I was green, I was brand new. And I thought, Oh, my room has got to look perfect. I’m gonna make it look great. So I completely got lost in the weeds of that. I spent hours on bulletin boards, arranging supplies, making everything Pinterest worthy, before Pinterest was even a thing, and you know what I found I wasn’t ready for the first day of school. I didn’t have a syllabus, I didn’t have lesson plans. I didn’t have the things that actually mattered. My mentor teacher, bless her heart, realized what was happening. She saw that I had spent all this time on my room but didn’t have the basics covered. She pulled me inside and said, Hey, number the desk. Take a Sharpie. Number them, number, the roster. Get it done. She gave me the practical advice that I actually needed. That was my very first seating chart, and it took me a minute to create you just print the roster. You number the students and you number the desks. I’ve done it every year since that experience taught me something crucial. When we get overwhelmed, we focus on the wrong things. We go for what looks good instead of what actually matters for our students. So today I want to talk to you about what you should worry about as you prep for the new school year, and more importantly, what you shouldn’t worry about because your students need you to be ready for them, not ready for Instagram.
3:27
Let’s start with what actually matters, the things that will set you up for success with your students. First, have your lesson plans ready for at least the first week. Notice I said the first week, not the first month. You don’t need to have everything mapped out perfectly, just get that first week solid. And this is where having systems can really help, like batch planning. I do have a complete unit planning system, course, that completely streamlines the process of unit planning. I will link to it in the show resources. But I don’t want for you to worry about any of that right now, right right now. We are worried about exactly what you need to do for the first week of school.
4:13
Second, have a first day activity ready to get to know your students. And here’s the key. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. It doesn’t have to be a game, and it probably shouldn’t be. What I do is simple. I have students fill out an index card with their name, something interesting about themselves, and the last social studies class they took, just basic information. Then I shuffle those cards up and call on each student on the very first day, I look them in the eye and have a short conversation with them. This does wonders for letting them know they matter. Look them in the eye, call them by their name, learn their names quickly. That’s what’s important. Where did that come from? I had a statistics professor in grad school. And you know how I feel about math, if you heard my first episode, but I really liked him. He did this index card thing on the first day, and he always looked us in the eye. He always remembered our names and called us by our names. That meant so much to me. Good teaching experiences stay with us and influence how we teach.
5:23
Third, you need a seating chart on the first day. Now, I already mentioned this, but you really, really do. Even for 12th graders. They might think you’re treating them like babies, but it shows you’re in charge of your room, and it’s a shortcut to learning their names. Here’s my system, I’ll repeat it. Just number your desks or tables. Sharpie cleans off. Don’t worry about ruining anything. Print a roster and put the student seat number by their name. Hang it up in the back of your classroom. Don’t do anything elaborate, just alphabetical order. Tell them sit in your assigned seat. We’re going alphabetical until I get your names down. This helps you learn names quickly, because if you ever forget, you can just glance back at the roster. They’re in alphabetical order, so you can be like, Oh Charlie or whoever. It’s simple but effective.
6:16
Fourth, have your basic non-negotiables ready. For me, that is my phone policy. I have students check their phones and numbered pouches that match their seat numbers for the first week or two, simple. And organized and for classroom rules, I keep it simple. Respect yourself, each other, and the classroom. That covers everything. If you sit there trying to list out everything they can do wrong. First of all, you’re giving them ideas. Don’t do that. But second, you can think of everything anyway. You can’t think of everything anyway. Respect truly covers it all.
6:55
Now let’s talk about what you shouldn’t worry about, the things that feel important but really aren’t. Don’t worry about having perfect bulletin boards. They don’t matter. Your students won’t learn better because your borders are color coordinated. Don’t worry about having color coordinated supplies. You’re not putting your room on Pinterest, or maybe you are, but that should be the least of your concerns at this point. Don’t worry about having every single procedure figured out from day one. A lot of my procedures are responsive to my students. What you’re trying to do from day one is build a classroom community, a community where everyone feels valued, where everyone feels like they’re part of it. You can’t plan every scenario anyway. So focus on building relationships first. Get to know those students.
7:50
Don’t worry about reading every single student file beforehand, I used to do this, and I learned it was a mistake. I remember one time I read about a student who had been expelled in middle school for gang activity. I thought, Uh oh, this is going to be a problem. But when I got to know the student, it couldn’t have been further from who that kid was. I don’t know what happened in middle school, and I don’t care. This was a great kid, super nice, super hard worker funny. That information about his past was something I could have lived without knowing everybody has a clean slate on day one. Don’t rob yourself of seeing who your students really are by going in with preconceived notions.
8:36
Don’t worry about having the perfect classroom management system from day one, you’re not going to have that. What you’re trying to do is build community, and that takes time. You’re trying to create a place where everyone feels valued and respected for who they are and where they are in their journey.
8:58
Don’t worry about having all of your copies made. I’ve started many successful school years with just my first week planned out my number desk, those rosters, hanging up, my phone pouches, ready, a stack of index cards by the door and no decorations in my room. And I’ve set myself up for some really good years just by doing that.
9:22
Don’t worry about elaborate parent communication plans. My school has a policy about contacting every parent in the first or second period class to welcome them from day one. That’s nice, especially for families new to the community. But if your school doesn’t have that policy, don’t kill yourself trying to do it. Your communication plan should just be reaching out as needed. You know when you need to contact a parent for both good reasons and not so good reasons.
9:52
Don’t worry about perfect ice breaker games. When has anyone ever built a real relationship through an ice breaker game? Let’s think about that for a second. You’re not getting to authentically know each other that way. The first day should be about building relationships, and you don’t build relationships through games.
10:12
Don’t worry about having detailed lesson plans for the entire first month, go a week at a time. It’s okay not to have everything mapped out perfectly. Don’t worry about having every single supply organized. It’s good to be organized if you can, but it’s not important on the first day.
10:32
Here’s what I really want you to understand. You are the only you your students need. You, not the perfect version of you, not the Pinterest version of you, but you. They need you to build relationships with them. Relationships make learning easier, especially as things get difficult as the year progresses. If you’ve got a solid foundation in that relationship, you can ask students to do the difficult work, and they won’t feel like you’re torturing them. They won’t feel like you’re giving them busy work. They know that what you’re doing comes from a place of care.
11:13
So here’s my best advice for you, as you prepare for the new school year, take care of yourself first. Don’t expect perfection. Focus on what builds relationships and community, not what looks good. Your students don’t need you to be perfect. They need you to be present. They need you to see them, to care about them, everything else, it can wait. Thanks for listening to if teachers ruled the world, remember, you’ve got this. You’re exactly the teacher your students need.
