It's that time of the year again. As Officeworks fills up with harried parents checking items off booklists, it's time to think about returning to school. To help you switch from holiday to school mode, here are twenty top tips we sourced from teachers and the logonliteracy team.
- Ease back into your routine. Don't make your first day back the first day you have to wake up before midday!
- Prepare to make mistakes. The best lessons and skills are learnt through trial and error.
- Have the day planned but be ok with the reality that you will only get through 20% of it.
- Remember it doesn't matter if you don't have the prettiest/coolest room decorations, it's about getting to know your students.
- Make this year the year you will get organised. Find a filing system that works for you and use it rather than dumping everything on your desk.
- Take care of your health, especially your voice. Remember to rest of an afternoon.
- If your day doesn't go to plan, do as Elsa says, 'Let it go'.
- Make sure your students can answer these two questions at the end of every lesson. What did I learn? Why did I learn it?
- Get a good massage a couple of days before you go back to school to ensure your body is ready for the change of pace.
- Introduce your students to graphic organisers to plan their writing. Using a graphic organiser reduces cognitive load and is also an excellent tool for teachers to check assignments are on track.
- Your students will love you for giving them very clear expectations, boundaries, and consequences. So, be kind and fun, but also teach your kids where the boundaries are and remind them consistently about what will happen if they push those boundaries.
- Prepare activities students can do from the opening minutes of the lesson while you mark the roll and organise latecomers. These lesson hook activities will ensure no time is wasted and will get students into the mind frame for learning.
- Pre-make lunches and freeze. It's the last thing you need to think about with everything else going on.
- Take five mins before the kids arrive to relax and think about how you want the day to look, break it down activity by activity. You'll be surprised what you might remember you haven't organised yet.
- Don't be too proud to use someone else's ideas. Put your own spin on it to make it your own but save your energy for more.
- A new year, be open-minded and get to know your kids yourself not what you have heard about them.
- Ask for help! Learn from other teachers and their experiences in managing a classroom. A mentor is worth their weight in gold.
- When creating your lesson plans, make sure you include plenty of opportunities for your students to practise writing.
- Vocabulary places enormous demands on students' literacy, so the sooner students and teachers develop a shared understanding of the terminology, the easier the learning becomes.
- Wear comfy shoes! It's nice to wear cute shoes but being comfortable is better.
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