Three Keys for a Great Back-to-School Season

As fall approaches and we wrap-up the summer professional development season, many educators venture a quick curriculum planning review to ensure the necessary steps are in place to get the school year off to a positive start! As you prepare for the school year, three areas are essential to keep in mind: Routines, Organizing Materials, and Small Group Instruction.

1. Routines

Establishing your classroom routines early on in the year is critical to a successful school year. When thinking about routines, consider two perspectives: classroom routines and instructional routines, and also the benefits of each. When thinking about the importance of routines, reflect for a minute on your own lifestyle. Think for a few minutes about routines you have in place. What do you do as soon as you get out of bed in the morning? Do you check your phone for email, do you turn on the TV to watch the national news? Whatever it is, most people have routines for many things in their lives. The question is, why do we have them? What is the benefit for your students? What about you?

Now look at your classroom routines. What do you think about right away? Lining up? Walking in the hallway? Turning in homework? Taking attendance? Putting names on papers? According to Dr. Fred Jones, “A classroom routine is simply a well-rehearsed response to a teacher’s directive.” The key to successful classroom routines is to be firm and consistent immediately. The first two weeks are the most difficult — because you are setting the ground rules, putting up boundaries, and letting your students know what to expect for the next 10 months. When considering classroom routines, think about all the things you do as a class. Now think about your expectations, such as what you expect your students to do in the hallway. Set the expectation on the first day of school, and be willing to take the extra time during the first few weeks of the school year to make sure the routine is in place. In some cases, it may mean a slight inconvenience for you at the beginning, when the expectations are first put in place. At the end of the day, though, you will be very happy you took the time to set up those classroom routines.

Next, take a minute to think about the instructional routines in your class. How do you teach decoding, reading a piece of text, writing, mathematics strategies? Instructional Routines are another key element of routines to consider. For these routines, think about how you will teach certain concepts throughout the year, whether it is learning about letters and sounds, reading a decodable book, vocabulary, or engaging in collaborative conversations. For each of these activities, there are certain steps and processes you want your students to use, and those are the routines you will seek to establish. According to Anita Archer, establishing instructional routines is beneficial to both you and your students. It empowers you and makes your teaching more efficient and effective. For your students, when instructional routines are in place, they can focus all of their cognitive energies on learning the new content, rather than wondering about the task.

2. Organizing Materials

Another area connected to routines is considering how you are going to organize your curriculum specific materials. Taking the time to think about where everything will go and how it will be organized is critical. If you have workbooks and readers, will you keep them in the desks, or will you pass them out? Will students pass them out, or will you pass them out? When it comes to workbooks and student books, consider using paper clips or book marks to help keep track of the pages. For passing out the books and finding the correct page, having an organizational plan and a routine saves precious instructional time. Small things like this will make a big difference as the year progresses.

In addition to organizing your curricular materials, think about how you will organize everything else. Will you use homework folders as a way to manage homework? A great place to look for quick, creative and free ideas is Pinterest. Here you will find different ways to organize everything from homework, to writing utensils, to writing folders — an endless stream of valuable tips will help you as you plan for the year.

3. Small Group Instruction

One of the most important times of the instructional day is the time teachers spend working with small groups of students while other students work independently. A best practice is that during the first few days of school, start implementing small group instruction right away. The sooner you get it in place, the better it will be. Your students will benefit from the early independence, the differentiated instruction, and the ability to accelerate their learning within small groups. Start with a short amount of time (5–10 minutes) and grow to a lengthier block of time (30–45 minutes). Some teachers prefer to pull small groups before the lesson takes place, to pre-teach necessary skills. Others prefer it at the end of the lesson. Another group of teachers like to do it in the middle and wrap it around some whole group work. There are advantages and benefits to each option as a teacher; you need to determine what works best for you. The most important piece of small group instruction is to do it right away and start small. Before you know it, you will have it running smoothly.

If you take the time to plan in advance for establishing routines, organizing curriculum resources, and implementing small groups, you will be well on your way to driving student achievement over the new school year.

About the Authors

Kimberly A. Proby is a Senior Curriculum Specialist for McGraw-Hill Education. Ms. Proby has over 20 years of experience in the field of education, including many years as a classroom teacher in Baltimore, Maryland. She brings this vast experience to school districts across the country, as they implement research proven practices to improve student achievement.

Jeff Ohmer is a Senior National Literacy Curriculum Specialist with McGraw-Hill Education. He works at the school and district level supporting the implementation of research-validated instructional practices to improve student achievement. He has presented at many state and regional conferences around the country focusing on Literacy, Mathematics, and the integration of technology into the classroom.