January Reset for Teachers – 12 Tips for Resetting Classroom Expectations

First things first — take care of YOU. It’s hard to go back from a break!

While one of the best parts of a teacher’s job is the breaks during an academic year, it can also be a tough transition. So be good to yourself this week.

To make your first day back the best possible day for YOU, try to:
*Go to bed early the night before
*Wear something cute and comfortable
*Pack something you love in your lunch
*Plan something fun or relaxing to do after school.

On to your students! Here are 12 tips for resetting your classroom expectations and making those first days back as productive and enjoyable as possible.

1 – It helps if you first “reset” the class environment before your students return. See my post about doing that HERE. If you have not had a chance to do any of this, try to get to school a little earlier than usual on your first day back from break. (Yes, I know that sounds awful. Bring extra coffee. 🙂 Do what you need to do to make your room look warm and welcoming and ready for the new year. Change the date on the board, change the calendar, hang some new posters or charts, put some new books out on a display — whatever you can do to make things look fresh and new.

2 – Greet your students at the door. While this is a good practice to do every single day, it’s especially important after a break. This is the best way I know to really gauge the “mood” your students bring with them when they return. They might be tired, they might be happy to be back, they might have been sad or hungry during the break. Assure every one of them that you are happy to see them.

3 – It’s okay to be honest with your students about how hard it can be to come back to school routines after a break. I usually talk a little about how I tend to stay up later, sleep a little later, etc., so I’m a little tired on the first day back. Being “selectively vulnerable” with your students is a great trust generator and culturally proficient strategy that helps your students connect with you.

4 – Reward your students quickly for everything that they do right in the first days back after the break. Whether it’s earning points toward a reward or whatever your classroom or school behavior reward system may be, use it to your advantage during these days!

5 – Talk with your students about this time being a great opportunity to “reset”. Get your students talking (to partners or in small groups) about fresh starts and how they help us. Talk about how routines & procedures help everyone be more productive so we can all learn more and enjoy the learning.

Be positive about the whole thing instead of sounding like it’s such a chore to have to review rules and expectations. Also, assume they don’t remember anything. 🙂

Talk to your students about their own expectations. While you might have done that at the beginning of the year, it’s a good time now to ask them what they expect their classmates to continue to do in the new year. Let the kids lead the discussion and restate what they expect, now that we are entering the second half of the year.

6 – Unlike the beginning of the year, all of your students probably know each other by now! So instead of doing “get to know you” type activities, use your best engagement strategies throughout the day. These allow your students to talk to each other while also getting back into the routines of academic work. If you can’t think of any good engagement strategies, HERE is a reference guide to some Kagan cooperative learning strategies that work for every subject area!

7 – Think about your top three procedures for your classroom.

Here are mine: how we enter the classroom and get to work quickly, how we do turn & talk or think/pair/share, and how we transition (to change classes, end of day, etc.) Review those three key procedures. As you go through the day, if there is some small procedure that you see needs review (not blurting out or when to sharpen pencils, for example) re-teach that part at the point of need. (In other words — don’t spend an hour in the morning going over every little procedure for your class.)

Instead of your having to do all the talking or explaining, have your students discuss them (using turn & talk with a partner or triad), then share. If time allows, a fun way to review is to ask a student to model what NOT to do, then have another student model what to do instead. You always want to end this modeling with the correct model, not the incorrect one.

8 – In my last post about resetting your classroom environment, I suggested listing what is going well in your classroom and what you might want to improve. This is also a good conversation to have with your students. If you do this, try very hard to listen to what they share and try not to dismiss their suggestions. As they list their ideas and discuss, remind them that your classroom is a “benevolent dictatorship”. You will listen and take their thoughts into account, but you might not implement every single thing they suggest. The buck stops with you, in other words.

You could do this as a brief activity when you get to that part of the day OR you could do it all at the beginning of the day. I find it’s helpful to do a few of these early in the day, then do others later in the day. It seems to keep kids’ enthusiasm for the activity at a higher level.

9 – One way to keep track of all this is to start a set of Google slides (or on some kind of chart to post). When you review the procedure and kids talk about what is working, list those steps. Then, when changes are suggested (that you approve), add those to the list. Everyone can see what you are all agreeing to and it encourages buy-in since they all had a role in naming the expectations.

10 – Have your students do some reflective writing in journals about what they think about their year so far and what they would like to do to make it even better during the second half of the year. I use our class dialogue journals for this activity. Read about how I use those journals HERE.

11 – Read aloud, even more than usual, during the first days back. This is a calming and “bonding” activity for you and your students. I listed some good read-aloud books in my resetting classroom environment post HERE.

I will also start reading aloud a new chapter book this week. Here are some of my favorite options:
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty
Savvy by Ingrid Law
Nowhere Boy by Katherine Marsh
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullally Hunt
Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson

12 – Here are some fun activities to do in the first days back:
*Year in Review for 2019
*What’s Your Word? Student goals for the new year
*Welcome Back from Winter Break task cards

I hope that some of these tips will help you reset your classroom expectations and get back into the best routines with your students. Watch for my next post on new year self-care for yourself!

Do you want more guidance with resetting your classroom? I’m creating a mini-course with more step-by-step tips. Sign up for the waiting list HERE and I will notify you when it’s ready! (Signing up does not obligate you in any way.)