Ep 49: Pressing the "Restart" Button On the School Year was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best audio automated transcription service in 2020. Our automated transcription algorithms works with many of the popular audio file formats.
Hey, teachers, if you have a classroom and a commute, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Rachael, and I want to ride along with you each week on your ride into school. This podcast is the place for busy teachers who want actionable tips, simple strategies, and just want to enjoy their job more. Let's go. Hey, guys, what's up is Rachael from The Classroom Commute Podcast.
Thanks for joining me for today's episode. I cannot believe that we are just days away from the end of 2020. It's hard to believe how far we've come and what we've experienced this year. I believe good things are on the horizon as we enter 2021. And I hope that you are also feeling hopeful as well. Even though our calendar year is wrapping up, we know that our school year is far from it. You might be thinking that you wish you could start this whole year over. It has been a whirlwind, so many things have been thrown at you. You've done things that you've never done before. But nonetheless, here we are as we approach January 2021.
Remember that fresh year, fresh classroom feeling that you always have at the beginning of the school year. Your classroom feels so organized, everything is crisp and new. You always have big plans for curriculum and classroom management, right? Although that fresh year, fresh classroom might have taken a digital approach this year, you still likely had grand plans for what this year was going to look like, even though it was going to look like no other year. If you're like me, you often get to January and just wish you could restart all those great plans, ideas and definitely wish you could go back to that crisp, clean classroom that welcomed your students in the fall. Anybody else's junk drawer getting a little overwhelming this time of year? Yeah, that's how it always was with me. Well, here's a question for you. Why can't you? Why can't you just restart what's stopping you? If you are feeling less than satisfied about how your school year is going, then by all means, press the restart button. If you're listening to this episode at the time that it is release, it's the perfect time to do so. Your students are going to be coming back after a long break. They're going to need a refresher anyways. You might as well take advantage of that and give them a little back to school boot camp when they return. It's likely that you as teachers also need a little boot camp as well. Let's be honest, those cute filing cabinets that you put together in August could use a little TLC and your teacher desk, also known as that pile of papers over there, could use a little attention as well. I encourage you to take the first week or two in January to go into school over break if you want and have the access too. I encourage you to take just a little bit of time as you begin this second half of the school year, getting all your ducks in a row so that you can finish out the school year strong. Before you know it, we're going to be talking about wrapping up the school year and getting our summer plans in order. So let's get started, here are some things that you might consider restarting in your classroom.
The first one is restarting your classroom decor. Now is the perfect time to make any changes to the look and feel of your classroom. Did you start a classroom theme or color scheme, but you never had time to finish it? Or maybe you never did start one and you would like to? You don't have to wait until next year. After a few months in your classroom, your students will have appreciated a new look and feel so just adding a theme or a color scheme in a simple way will breathe some new life into your classroom. Now, back in Episode 22, I talked about how to use simple design tips to create the classroom of your dreams. If you want to head back and listen to that episode, you can find it at classroomnook.com/podcast/22 and I'll also link to it in today's show notes as well. Of course, you don't want to spend your entire winter break putting together new decor elements for your classroom so if you need a little help in that department, I have some print and go ready resources for you. A variety of classroom themes and color schemes, making it super simple to breathe some new life into your classroom. Of course, you do not need to go all out here. You can add as little or as much to your classroom now and save the rest for later. You can even consider it a little head start to next year's planning, I won't tell. If your room doesn't need a complete overhaul, then just consider adding a few decor elements to your reading corner or updating your schedule or job board, or even just adding a fresh set of labels to your supplies or book bins. A little change can make a big difference and your students will definitely take notice. It's a great way to draw new attention to an overlooked area in your classroom.
Another thing you might want to consider restarting as you begin the second half of the school year is to restart your routines and procedures. You didn't think I was going to go through the entire episode without talking routines and procedures, did you? No, no. It's one of my most favorite things to talk about or at least one of the most important things to talk about. I don't know about you, but without fail, my students would return to school in January after having a break and they would magically forget when it was appropriate to sharpen a pencil or use the restroom. I know I'm not alone. That's why January is the perfect time to review those routines and procedures that had you running like clockwork. OK, mostly running like clockwork before all the holiday craziness set in. The point is, you are most definitely going to need to review routines and procedures and not just a little bit. You're going to basically need to start from scratch so that students know that you didn't forget when it's time to sharpen pencils or when they can use the bathroom or how to line up for lunch. All those good things that you talked about at the beginning of the school year, you're going to need to cover them all. I've shared this freebie on the podcast before, but I'll share it again in case you want to grab it. I have a free routines and procedures checklist that outlines exactly the routines and procedures you should be covering. You can grab that for free over at the show notes at classroomnook.com/podcast/49. Again it's free and it's in our Members Resource Library so make sure you grab that. It's not only our students who will need a little refresher on routines and procedures, you too will likely need a little review of your own routines and procedures that you had set in place before the long winter break. I did an episode back in Episode 34, all about routines and procedures that teachers need to set and establish for themselves. Go ahead and check out that episode as well and grab the free routines and procedures checklist for students.
All right, let's move on. Another thing that you might find yourself needing to restart and reestablish are your readers and writers workshops. Reading and writing instruction takes up a huge part of your school day. I know for myself that I would sometimes get to the middle of the school year, like in January, and feel like my readers and writers workshop never really took off in the way that I planned. If you've been trying to get your readers and writers workshop up and running but still feel like you're spinning your wheels, then perhaps it's time to step back and make sure that you've set a solid foundation. So many times we're eager to get going on the reading units, the writing units, and pieces that we want our students to complete in the school year that we rush setting the foundation for our readers and writers workshop. Then we just end up back pedaling all the time to get our students where we want them to be. This is the perfect time to restart your readers and writers workshop so that the second half of your school year can go a whole lot smoother than the first half. This summer I did two blog posts about starting and launching your Readers and Writers Workshop. You can find those in Episode 29 and 30. I walk you through exactly how to set the foundation for readers and writers workshop. I also have two resources that I will link to in the show notes as well that have all the lesson plans and student resources that you need to do it successfully as well. I will link to both the episodes that I did, as well as the resources for setting up readers and writers workshop in your classroom. If you head to classroomnook.com/podcast/49, all the links will be waiting for you.
All right, moving on. As you begin January, it might be time to restart and reset your relationships with your students families. I know, I know. The intention was there. You totally meant to make time in your schedule to make phone calls home once a week with positive reports about your kiddos. You didn't just want to be contacting parents when their child flipped out on a classmate or forgot their math homework...again. But you got busy. Please, you don't have to tell me. I get it. It's really, really hard to stay connected. However, you don't have to call it quits on trying. There are a few things that you can do to help set yourself up for success in this department. One of the things that I found that always helped me was to have a set of prepared notes that I could grab at a moment's notice to send home with a student. For example, these notes might have some generic text on it, such as "Your child was a star student today because..." And then you just need to fill in a quick sentence or two about what they did that you want to highlight for your parents. Having some ready to go notes on your desk and having it right in front of you will be a great reminder to send those notes home often to your students families. It's not too late to start a private Facebook group or Instagram account to share the things that are going on in your classroom. You can post pictures, special announcements, or reminders about things coming up at school on either your Facebook or Instagram account. It's just an easy way to keep contact with your students. And if you're like me, if it doesn't get put on the calendar, it doesn't get done. You might find it helpful to write in your planner on Fridays, 2 or 3 students that you're going to intentionally send notes home to or call their parents to share something positive that their child did in class that week. Make it part of your weekly routine by putting it on your calendar so that you know it's going to get done. The point is, it's not too late to establish that home to school relationship with your students families. It just needs to have a little intention behind it so that it gets done.
Finally, my last tip for ways that you can restart your school year is to brush up on some of your tech skills that maybe got overlooked or pushed to the side at the beginning of the school year. We all know how crazy the beginning of this school year was so maybe you did not get a chance to learn how to use something specific in Google Classroom or Google Slides. So now, while you're home on break, might be the perfect time to watch some video tutorials to help you learn a new skill or two that you want to use in the second half of the school year. If you head to my video library over on the website, you can get to it by going to classroomnook.com/videos. I have an entire section for Google training and classroom technology. These are some videos that will help you do things like how to make printable resources digital, how to assign in Google Classroom, how to add audio directions in Google Slide and a whole lot more. If you were hoping to get a little more tech savvy this school year, but you just haven't had a chance to do it, now is the perfect time to do that and brush up on some tech skills.
All right, guys, there is no reason to raise the white flag just yet and surrender to the school year. You can still fully take charge of the school year and accomplish so much in these last few months. If you're feeling less than satisfied about how your year is going, all you need to do is press the restart button.
Now, in next week's episode, we're going to continue this theme about thinking about the second half of the school year. We're going to talk all about how to curriculum map out your second half of the school year. I've got some tips and tools to get you there. All right. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and a great rest of your week. I will be back again next week with another episode. Bye for now.
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