But August sneaks up on me. Every. Year. And even though I am not in the classroom anymore, I still think about all the teachers out there, perusing the school supplies and thinking about what their students might need, what items might be too expensive for some parents to buy, and which items you will need no matter how many your students bring you (TISSUES!).
The one thing that always weighs on my mind was my first year teaching. The lead teacher on my team handed me a textbook and said, "Figure it out. I am too busy to help you if you have any questions." I couldn't believe what I was hearing! So there I was, having to figure out what to do, even though I didn't know what I didn't know.
That is why I am writing this list of essentials. I don't want other teachers to feel as helpless as I was the first few days (or weeks!) of school. I know you are probably thinking how you need to finish your classroom and get your copies made, so follow my list of back to school must-dos for teachers, and this will be a great start to the year!
- Make plans to go over class and school expectations for at least 2 class periods / days. Explain to students WHY you have these guidelines and expectations (p.s. I don't call them rules. Sounds icky). Having this set up from the beginning will help students realize what is and is not allowed in your classroom, and makes the year go more smoothly.
- Print out your roster and assign each student a number. Then, write the number on a sticky note and place it on the corner of each desk. this way, when you are greeting your students at the door, you can let them know, "You will be seated at desk # ___" and there will be less confusion.
- Have something for the students to do when they find their seat. This will cut down on the chit-chat, but it doesn't have to be something laborious. It can be a simple 5-minute get-to-know-you information sheet.
- Get at least a week's worth of copies taken care of. You have no idea how many times the copy machine has broken down the first week of school! And it takes a couple of days for the repair guy to come out and fix the copier. If you use more digital items than paper, be sure to have your files backed up on the cloud AND a flash drive. We had our internet cut off accidentally the second day of school, and no one could access any of our files on the cloud.
- Call some parents before school starts and let them know who you are and that you look forward to teaching their child this year. If you have a lot of students (one year I have 207!) then mail them a postcard. If you mail it for school purposes, the school most likely will pay for the postage.
- Remember that it is ok for your room not to be Pinterest perfect! I sometimes didn't have all of my bulletin boards finished, my posters up, or my supplies artfully arranged. Make sure you have YOURSELF taken care of first!
