Back-to-school season can be stressful for many reasons: planning curriculum for the semester, finding resources and content, and gathering important materials to support your curriculum and students throughout the semester. On top of that, if you have school-aged children of your own, you will have to make sure they’re prepared for a new school year as well—and remember to make their lunches and get them to class on time every day.
Happy back to school! I have no idea where summer went and why it keeps getting shorter every year. Yet, here we are—back to another school year and ready to change the world one student at a time. But before we can successfully do this, we’ve got to get organized!
I recently read a great quote by Christina Scalise. She said, “Organization isn’t about perfection; it’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money, and improving your overall quality of life.” The start of the school year can be stressful and overwhelming, so here are a few tips to help you ease into your year and improve your quality of life.
Topics: back to school
Open house, also known as back to school night, is just days away for some of you, and this is your opportunity to make a great first impression. We just had ours—yes, some schools start in early August—so I thought I’d share a few tips to help you with yours.
Topics: back to school, tips for teachers
Summer break is slowly winding down, which means one thing: it’s time to go back to school! Between creating lesson plans, organizing your classroom, and stocking up on supplies, you’ve got a lot on your plate this time of year. We’re here to help with a roundup of the best back to school deals for teachers:
Topics: back to school, tips for teachers
Wasn’t it just yesterday we were putting away all of our school supplies so the janitorial staff could get into our classrooms to clean? And wasn’t it just yesterday we made a big summer to-do list? It sure seems like it. We teachers are lucky because we get to start fresh every year—a new school year in many ways is like a new calendar year!
Topics: back to school, tips for teachers
The new school year is quickly approaching, so you’re probably already thinking about all the things you need to do to be ready for that first day. Between working on your lesson plans, setting up your classroom, getting supplies, and learning your new students’ names, there is so much going on!
Need help prepping for your return to the classroom? Check out these blogs for helpful teaching strategies, back-to-school deals, classroom tips, and more:
Topics: back to school, Administrator Resources, tips for teachers
This certainly is an exciting time with the start of a new school year! It’s another opportunity to build relationships with students and truly make a difference in their world in ways we can’t even fully imagine. As an educator for 22 years, I have always loved the beginning of school—especially when I have the opportunity to have a fresh start. It’s a lot of work to get the ship ready to sail for the voyage ahead, but I truly enjoy it. Whether it involves creating the perfect lesson plans for an exciting new project, making curriculum tweaks to provide the latest great resources, or finding new ways to integrate teaching tools to make learning more interactive and fun, I find this hard work really satisfying.
Topics: Lessons, Professional Development for Teachers, curriculum, Training, back to school, tips for teachers
Whether you're a building principal, department head, or member of a grade-level team, there's a good chance you'll be working with new teachers as you start the school year. Being strategic and systemic as you meet with the teachers can be an important first step to starting the school year off right.
Topics: back to school, Administrator Resources, tips for teachers
Each year, we plan a theme for our school. We use this theme throughout the year for many things around the building: bulletin boards, locker tags, the newsletter, and individual student displays in the classroom. Some teachers are “all in” with the theme and their classrooms are completely decked out, while other teachers don’t decorate as much.
Topics: tips fpr teachers, back to school, tips for teachers
Over the years, I have found—and there is research to support this—that there is a power to a common language and common behavioral expectations across a school building. If teachers, secretaries, paras, and custodians are all on the same page when it comes to expectations for behavior, the school runs more smoothly and unwanted behaviors decrease.
Topics: back to school, Administrator Resources