School Year Prep pt. 2

Once the state of Texas announced students will be in the classroom, I knew I was ready to tackle the second part of preparing for the school year. After the initial preparation, I settle into my routine. I began buying my classroom purchases a little at a time. I attended as many classes of professional development as possible, and then started to plan for the school year. COVID-19 is making this school year prep unique, but I have accepted the classroom won’t be the same in the 2020-2021 school year, and I am planning on being flexible and hope this blog helps other teachers in their own planning process.

Veteran teachers know that getting quality professional development (PD) is hard. I have had to pay for it myself because the district I worked in didn’t even offer workshops in my subject. (The discussion of how non tested subjects are treated is a topic of conversation for another day. ) However, summer of 2020 has been excellent to me. All the training I have attended were useful. Since I’m teaching the same subject as last year, I am able to to know where in my curriculum I can use the PDs. If you are new to a subject, don't recreate the wheel. Use your coworkers and find out if your district provides curriculum. If you are able to choose PD, always choose ones that will impact student learning first.

My Webster’s pages composition planner is a staple for my summer professional development. The composition notebook paper is high quality, and I have experienced no bleeding which is rare since I’m a heavy writer. The pockets are a great place to keep handouts. I’m also able to keep a wide ruled schoolmate composition book inside the right-side pocket. The double pen loop is functional. I am impressed how well it still looks after two years of usage. I do plan on buying another Webster’s Pages composition notebook to put in it once I am finished with my first one. I only put useful information in it because it is the only notebook I refer to throughout the school year. I put a star to any information that is important to review once a term. I highly suggest having one place for useful PD information.

What about teacher books? You will not find me reading popular book written by teacher authors with no research behind their methods. I’m not against those books. I just don’t read them because they usually happen in environments that don’t reflect my classroom or have classroom management strategies that I don’t agree with. Just because something works doesn’t mean it’s not harmful. I’m a firm believer that instruction takes care of 90% of classroom discipline problems. If I’m having problem with students ,I take a look at how my instruction created it. Did I not build strong enough relationships with the student or class? Did I provide them assignments that were at their frustration level? Am I expecting them to be independent learners too soon? Teacher books can helpful with the new school year process, but make sure they align to research and your beliefs.

Each year I try to read a PD book that I’m interested in. I’m a big believer in having students own their learning so teachers should too. I know that I can improve each year. However, my district or appraiser might want me to improve in an area that doesn’t align to my personal focus. Two years ago, I attended a Visible Learning conference, and I was hooked. I was not looking for another program to improve my instruction. I’m want strategies that will increase my student’s ability to learn. Visible Learning: Social Studies is a book that aligns with my district and personal growth. The book’s focus is on moving from surface learning to transfer specifically for social studies classrooms. I’m able to compare previous lessons with high yielding strategies in the book. If you are familiar with visible learning, I highly recommend it. However, it should not be your first visible learning book. PD books can be helpful if they align to your teaching style and allows for personal teacher growth.

How do I plan for lessons? I’m currently at a school that team planning happens during the summer and during the school year. Last year, I didn’t tell my students the connections I wanted them to make with the real world and classroom lessons. This school year I’m working on making learning more visible with the lessons my team plans together. This year I’m being more intentional with my daily agenda slides and classroom posters. I have some ideas on how to do that for online learning, but I will share that later. I am able to use last year’s data to inform me where changes need to take place. Having a great team for planning makes the school year preparation easier, but I am clear on what I want to work on in my classroom.

I work on my lessons in the summer to ensure I am focused on my family and my personal goals during the weekends. When I didn’t have a team to plan with, I tacked the worst lessons first. These were lessons that didn’t achieve the goal of student’s learning. Then I would tackle engagement. Every class does not need to be entertaining. For example, close reading can take two days and it’s not the most entertaining to students, but it’s a necessary strategy. If I’m doing too much close reading, I change it the next year. I’m also honest with myself. Were they any lessons my students or I hated? Were they boring or tedious? I work on those lessons too. Create a clear strategy before you review lessons the previous year to make school preparation easier.

This summer there was a discussion about what is taught and not taught in history curriculum. My initial response is how do I analyze my curriculum? I reflect on what I did the previous years and how I could do better. I don’t use a textbook in my classroom and that often takes care of many problems. I’m not perfect, but I’m intentional about the stories I am telling. The best solution for curriculum problems is for teacher self-reflection. Research the areas that you are feel are missing to your curriculum and add them. This summer I learned about Oregon State’s curriculum merit checklist. It’s a great place to start reviewing your curriculum. I know teachers have different levels of freedom in their curriculum, but at the end of the day its your classroom. Choose to do what is best for your students.

What if my standards aren’t inclusive or diverse, but I want to show that in my classroom? I taught economics for five years and know there was no diversity when it came to people in the TEKS. I balanced that with my classroom library . I pushed diverse book and put them around my classroom. All student work is displayed to reflect that is the most important people in my classroom. I had off topic conversations with my students and tried to include the news into my curriculum when I could. Social studies teachers should be connecting their curriculum to today’s world. It is our subject overtaking the news in 2020. Your classroom doesn’t have to be Instagram worthy, but it should reflect your value all students and their learning.

How am I tackling the online learning for the upcoming school year? I’m always focused on student learning, but I refuse to create two new lessons. My school district uses Schooloogy as our LMS, and I plan on putting everything on there. I’m not a technology guru, but I’m willing to improve. I started working on a digital notebook this summer for various reasons. It is the best way for me to give students feedback in a manor I’m capable of and hopefully time saving. I’m not going to stay up late working on making digital products beautiful. Twitter is an amazing source to find a teacher network, and I’m using sources from there to help myself. I do buy resources from TeachersPayTeachers, but I carefully choose and will not use a product if I feel it doesn’t belong in my curriculum. My goal is to be realistic and my best with online learning this school year.

How I am planning to deal with COVID-19 in the classroom? I know there are many differing opinions about schools opening up during a pandemic. I have told my district that I would prefer online learning due to the positive numbers in Texas. I will be returning to the classroom if I must However, I am making plans on how to make my classroom as safe as I possible. I am buying cloth masks and a face shield because I’m not sure of what PPE will be provided at this time. I will be asking students to use hand sanitizer before they touch books in my classroom library. Students will put their books back in the “book quarantine” container before they can go back into the library. My school is helping provide resources so there will be no sharing of classroom supplies. I’m still not sure on how bathroom passes will work, but I will be asking my administration. My administration is still working on their plans and are willing to answer questions whenever I ask. The plans of opening up schools are constantly changing, and I’m dealing with the anxiety of it the best I can.

I don’t know what the 2020-201 school year will entail, but I know I am a teacher. I prepared myself the best I could. I feel I have received enough training to be proficient this school year. I kept my passion for being a better teacher and worked on my personal goals. I hope you are doing the same.

*I am not affiliated with Webster’s pages or Corwin Publishing. All opinions are my own.