Well it’s finally here, back to school season! It’s hard to believe that a whole summer has gone by. For me, it was only 6 weeks of summer, but still. There are so many bittersweet things about going back to school. I think most teachers would agree that their summer self is their best self. You have time to exercise daily, cook, take care of personal errands, and of course get enough hours of sleep.
It’s hard not to feel a bit sad in the days leading up to going back to school. The realization that your time is no longer entirely yours. It’s time to get back into the routine, and that inevitably means losing other parts of your personal routine. But with Back to School season the sweet part of it all is the refreshed and ready to go feeling that accompanies you in your first few days back.
The motivation that I bring to the new school year with me is my favorite part of getting back into the swing of things. Summer relaxation allows me to clear my mind and start slowly imagining the new school year. The things I want to improve on as a teacher, the changes I will make to the classroom, new resources I will use, and new teaching strategies I will try out with my students. There’s a lot to think about, but at the beginning the year, rather than feeling overwhelmed, I feel excited by the challenge. I feel refreshed and ready to dive into it all.
Motto: THAT’S OK
This year, back to school feels like an uphill battle. My new classroom wasn’t finished until the day before school started, giving me no time to prepare the classroom. Instead of panicking, I decided to just take it easy. I knew that even if I stayed working in my classroom all night it wouldn’t be ready for the first day of school. And I made the choice to say “that’s ok.” There are so many things within the education field that are out of our control as teachers. When those moments come, I’m finding it’s best to just take them in stride and focus on what you can control.
Showing up to the first day of school without a finished and decorated classroom was a first for me. But here’s what I saw. It didn’t really change how the day went. We still went through routines, procedures, and classroom expectations. We still played our community building games. We still did our first day of school read aloud. The decorations will get put up slowly this week. And in the mean time, the kids will still build community, practice routines, and learn.
Goals in the classroom
Back to school shouldn’t be about who has the prettiest classroom. It’s about the relationships you begin to build with students and the structures you set up for academic and social success in your classroom.
Another sweet part of back to school season this year is setting my goals for the upcoming year as a teacher. I think a lot about what kind of teacher I want to be, what I want to accomplish, and what feels most important going into the new year. This year I have several goals, some of them are the following:
- Create clear centers structures within the curriculum.
- Be consistent with PBIS structures and routines
- Demand more of my students in terms of speaking English in the classroom (they can do it!)
- Laugh more with my students.
I could have about 20 more goals, but keeping in mind SMART goals, these are the things that I really want to focus on this year. They all feel like goals I can achieve, I just have to stay focused on them. They touch on a little bit of creativity in the classroom and trust and relationship building with my students.
Right now things aren’t perfect at school, they never are. But the bitter part of back to school (hello 5:30am wake ups!) has worn off and the sweet part is starting to settle in. I’m feeling ready to get back into my routine, work hard alongside my students, and create loving and respectful relationships with my students. I can’t wait to see all that this school year brings!