I know you’re still in full on summer mode, but along with relaxing (which we talk about in this blog post), it’s important that you also prepare for the upcoming school year. What are ways you can prepare? Well, for starters, you’re preparing by just taking a break, like I mentioned in this podcast episode. Self care is oh so needed to help you be a better teacher. But, what else do you need to do to prepare for the school year? We’ll explore that in this blog post.
Reflect on the Previous School Year
The word reflect means to think deeply or carefully about. So, this is exactly what I want you to do. When you’re reflecting on the previous school year, you’ll want to think about…
- Lesson plans that worked or could’ve gone better
- Classroom management you might need to adjust
- How to collaborate with other teachers
- Ways you can make class time run more efficiently
While you’re reflecting, jot down any notes that come to mind. You may have lessons that didn’t go terribly, yet they could’ve gone a little bit better. When you’re reflecting, you can think about those particular songs or activities that maybe didn’t go so well. Do you need to stop teaching that particular lesson? Or, do you just need to adjust a few things so it goes a little bit better? We discuss more of this in this podcast episode.
Go Through Your Resources
Raise your hand if you attended (or are still currently attending) several different professional development opportunities this summer. What in the world do you do with all of the new material you’re receiving?
The first thing you can do is go through your current resources. In this podcast episode, I talked about how having too many resources is like having too many clothes. You know you already have 14 t-shirts, yet you just keep buying more. What ends up happening, is those shirts never get worn because you just simply have too many!
This is the same with your resources. Do you really need 7 books to teach creative movement to your students? Probably not. Realistically, you only see your students around 1 time per week (give or take). So, don’t go overboard with the new resources.
Start with the resources you already have and go from there. Instead of teaching every single thing from every single resource, put sticky notes on your favorites and organize them by subject matter or the quarter you’re wanting to teach them in on an excel spread sheet or Google doc.
Then, once you’ve decided what to teach from the resources you already have, you’ll be able to plug in lessons and activities from the new resources and materials you got over the summer. Basically, what you’re going to want to do this summer is to write down what you want to teach to your students by grade level and objective, choose the resources and lessons you want to teach these lessons from, and organize your resources so you know what to pull from and when.
Get Your Calendar Ready to Go
I am definitely all about keeping a calendar, whether it’s a Google calendar you keep on your phone or a paper planner. Honestly, that choice is completely up to you. But, no matter what type of calendar you choose, you’ll definitely want to have one as the school year starts.
Can I let you in on a little secret? I put everything (and I mean everything) on my Google calendar. For example, the other day I knew my sons needed their finger nails cut. I’m a mom of 3 boys and this task takes about 74 hours per kid. Anyways, I knew it was bedtime, so I put it on the calendar to do the next day. Yes, this sounds all kinds of crazy, but I promise it works.
See, what happens is, when you start to put things down on your calendar, the notes app on your phone, or even a good ol fashioned pen an paper, it’s like a brain dump of everything swirling around in your head. If you’re forgetful like I am, jotting down all the things seriously helps you keep track off all that needs to get done.
So, what else besides finger nails do you need to put on your calendar? Any programs coming up, your son’s soccer game schedule, the due dates of any bills, and any other life happenings you need to remember. Then, the awesome thing that starts to happen is, you begin to see what afternoons or nights are open to do laundry, get groceries, or just go to the park with your kids after school.
You’ll also want to jot down any dates you want to come in early or leave a little late from school. If it’s on the calendar, and you designate just a couple days a week to do this, these become your non negotiable dates where you know the rest of the week you’ll leave right on time.
There are SO many more things that go into starting the school year off with success which we’ll talk about in the free challenge. You can sign up for the “Start the School Year Off Right” challenge by heading here.
Also…I wrote a book called “Make A Note: What You Really Need To Know About Teaching Elementary Music” to help music teachers move forward in your teaching career. You can get your copy here.
