Podcast Episode 23: Heading into the New School Year!
“I Statements” for the Beginning of the School Year!
It’s that time of the year! Back to School Time! And, this episode is all about Back to School. I live outside NYC on Long Island, and this year, my kids are heading back to school after Labor Day. I, however, begin teaching my classes next week, which is the very last week of August. So, in honor of heading back to the classroom, I put together some literacy ideas for this time of year.
Beginning of the Year Writing Activities
Writing is a great way to learn about the students in your classroom. It is one of my favorite things to do with students at the beginning of the school year because it allows me to get a sense of who the students are as individuals. One of my favorite new ideas for writing is to have the students write “I Statements” - similar to a personal statement (see the photo above). The only rule is that the statement needs to begin with “I”.
Introducing Yourself to Your Students
Many of my former students have been going on interviews this summer and have shared that the administrators want to hear about how they as the teacher will introduce themselves to their students. They want to hear how teachers will share about themselves with their students. I thought this was a great thing to think through before the school year begins. I share a wonderful example that a former student of mine did so that her students knew something about her.
Read Alouds for the Upcoming School Year
I like to use certain books with students at the beginning of the school year to build a classroom community. It also sets the tone that reading is a part of our daily routine. I have some favorites that I return to each year, such as Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers and The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald. There are always so many new books that are great for the beginning of the year. I’m thinking of using This is a School by John Schu this year - and side note, it’s been fun to see how this book is being used in schools during this time.
Before ending, I shared a time management hack that may be useful for teachers as they head back to the classroom. A few of my former students have shared that they can be overwhelmed with all of the tasks and planning they have to do and they never feel like they are done. So, one idea is to assign specific tasks to a particular day of the week. For example, you can plan reading lessons on Mondays and grade on Tuesdays. This allows you to know exactly what you have to do on a given day and if you have a set time to do the planning – it’s automatically scheduled. Jamie Sears spoke about the importance of batch planning for teachers when I spoke with her this past spring. If you try it, let me know how this worked for you!
As always, I do hope that you will listen to this episode and that you hear something that will help you at the beginning of the school year.