Congratulations, you made it! You now have your own classroom! You will probably spend the better part of your summer thinking about your classroom setup and decor. You are likely to purchase your first planning book and other teacher supplies. Even after 14 years in the classroom, I must admit I still feel giddy thinking about new supplies and classroom decoration ideas.

Your first year as a teacher will be both exciting and overwhelming. It will also be the best adventure you will take in your professional journey. As you embark on this endeavor you will want to examine and develop five basic “maps” to set you in a successful direction:

1. Establish a support system: Whether it be colleagues within your grade level or a veteran on campus, these people will be your lifeline. One uniquely inspiring aspect about this profession is the willingness to share and mentor. Veteran teachers have all been in your position at some point in time and can ease confusion or unknowns for you.

2. Ask a lot of questions: As educators, we are always reminding our students to ask questions, but we need to ask questions as well! You will need to know your school’s policies and procedures, school-wide behavior plan, schedules, and much more. I have taught in three different schools, each with a unique way of handling day-to-day tasks, so try not to assume too much!

3. Developing a solid behavior management plan: Once you have established whether your school has a behavior plan, examine what your role is. Explore whether colleagues in your grade-level have specific procedures for handling encouragement and discipline. Hopefully teachers at your school are already using ClassDojo and you can jump on board. If not, there is no reason for you not to use ClassDojo for your own classroom. You might be the catalyst for change. Speaking from experience, it can happen.

4. Establish strong classroom procedures: There should be a well-defined procedure in place for just about every classroom activity. This will save you an incredible amount of time that can be wasted during transitions. Your school might have procedures that all teachers must implement. If not, mentor teachers can help you develop procedures and there are plenty of ideas online. Whatever procedures you choose, put them in place immediately. Practice often with your students and maintain consistency. Both you and your students will be glad you did.

5. Plan for more than you need: I develop detailed plans for the first three days. We practice procedures, go over the behavior management plan, gather materials, and perform icebreakers. I give a presentation about myself and students give “brown bag” presentations about themselves. We develop personal goals, class goals and set expectations. It’s always smart to plan far too many games and brain breaks just in case particular tasks take less time than anticipated.

Remember that you are setting the foundation for not only your first year, but for years to come. The goal is to establish who you are as an educator. Your methods and structures may change as you find what works or don’t work in your classroom, but your foundation will remain the same. Solid foundations support solid learning.

Year one is exciting! However, enthusiasm can only get your so far. My advice? Be consistent. Whether you have a few weeks or a few days before school starts, it’s time to make some decisions that will allow you to establish a consistent classroom environment.

7 Questions to ask yourself when planning routines and procedures — and advice from a middle school science teacher…

1. How will students enter the classroom?

Always have students line up outside of class. This might sound elementary, but it allows for separation between hallway behavior and classroom behavior. As they enter greet each student and say their names! This might be the only “hello” they receive today.

2. How will I get students’ attention?

A bell, a countdown, or a clap is typical — try to change it up! Perhaps you can ask the students for ideas and have a competition for the best attention grabber. How about this… TD4Wbutton 🙂

3. How will I begin each day?

Students should be able to enter class and get started on whatever routine you have in place without any reminders. Always have the assignment up on the projector for students to see. I do a quick-write at the beginning of each class. Three minutes to write, one minute to share with their partner/group, then students are randomly called on to share with the class.

4. How will I be calling on students?

I love using ClassDojo’s randomize feature to call on students. This keeps the students who raise their hand too much at bay and the shy students participating. Teachers sometimes use popsicle sticks to call on students at random, but ClassDojo is much more engaging and interactive for the students.

5. How will I reward excellent behavior?

ClassDojo! Personalize positive behavior awards based on characteristics you want students to strive for. However, make sure you have an incentive program in place to keep students working for ClassDojo points. For example, the first 5 students to reach 20 points gets _________.

6. What is my discipline policy?

Most schools will have a discipline policy in place that you must follow in terms of detention, etc. For my own classroom I give a warning using ClassDojo. If the behavior continues after the warning, communicate with the parent. Send them a ClassDojo message! Or give an old-school phone call. Parent-teacher relationships are key for student success.

7. How will I end class every day?

Exit tickets! Put a prompt up on the projector and give each student/pair/group a piece of paper. Students must turn in “exit tickets” on their way out the door.

“Moment of Zen” (cred. Jon Stewart) — I end each class with an inspirational quote. I turn off all of the lights and put the quote up on the projector. Students must be silent for 20 seconds before they can leave. Namaste. 🙂

Whatever routines and procedures you put in place, stay consistent. Your stress-level will thank you for it.

Good luck!

Many teacher preparation programs tell you not to crack a smile until December. They say the first days of school are for establishing respect, rules and routines. While this advice is grounded on sound ideas, it overlooks an essential classroom practice: building community. It is community that makes a student look forward to going to class, and helps a student stay strong when the rest of his or her world falls apart. Community that encourages a student to work at his or her full potential. A strong community creates a learning environment where all students can succeed.

This past year I scraped all of my former first day plans in favor of activities that built our classroom community. We went outside and I shared my “vision statement” for the year. I asked students to help me complete an exercise that demonstrated that vision. Students looked at me a little confused as to why I was asking them to splatter paint on a canvas instead of reading a list of rules. However, this set a completely different tone for our year. Our vision, fully know(n) and fully love(d), created a community where we could freely express our ideas. We had to trust that when our classmates fully knew and understood our thoughts and feelings they would still love us. This vision encouraged us to share openly with one another, making our community that much stronger.

After the first day I hung the paintings and our vision statement on a bulletin board in a prominent part of the classroom. Each day my students and I were greeted with this reminder. During class discussions we’d go back to this vision and let it mold our conversation and tone of voice. On presentation days we’d start with a reminder of our vision and let it influence our feedback. When conflict arose we discussed where the breakdown in this vision occurred and how we could prevent it from happening in the future.

We eventually discussed our rules and routines, but this first day activity set the tone for what was most important in my classroom — it was the first impression, and I only have one chance at delivering a great one for the classroom! It both deepened our curricular learning and encouraged us to be better people. Isn’t that what every teacher wants?

My school is packed to the brim — there is never an empty room in the building. When one teacher is on prep, their classroom is being used by a traveling teacher. Being a traveling teacher the first two years of my career, I empathize with others in the same position. Here are a few tips that I learned that made my life much easier every day:

1. A pen drive is your best friend. At my school, teachers are required to post the objectives on the board for the day. Also, a posted schedule helps me keep on track and the students organized. After a few weeks of writing and re-writing the schedule on the whiteboard at the beginning of the hour, I learned that digital is the way to go.I now keep all important documents saved on one pen drive. With a pen drive, I can easily pop in the drive and I’m all set to go!

2. Use a cart if your classes are all on the same floor. I am fortunate enough to have been given a cart by a previous traveling teacher. Before that I kept all of my belongings in my teacher “man-purse.” I would enter the classroom, pull everything out of the bag, organize it on the desk and finally be ready to start the day. With my cart, I can have everything already organized by class and over time students learn where to find what they need on any given day.

3. Third: Mentally run through your day in the morning. I create a mental checklist each day to make sure that I have all the supplies I need before students begin entering the classroom. Once the day begins there is no stopping time — if I forgot to put the correct copies on the cart, I’m out of luck. If I need anything that doesn’t fit in the cart, such as a globe, I make sure to place the items in the correct classroom before school starts. My mental checklist keeps me prepared 95% of the time. Unfortunately, nobody is perfect and I am forgetful occasionally. That’s why #4 is so important!

4. Respect other staff members and help them as much as possible. We are very fortunate in our school to have a lot of paraprofessionals in the classroom to help. I try my hardest to always respect their role in the classroom and not take advantage of them. They are not there to make me copies or run my errands. I believe that respecting them as equals is greatly appreciated. Occasionally if I do need some extra help grabbing something I missed in another classroom, they are always happy to help me out.

5. Appreciate your job. When the day is not going well and your stress level is intense due to the problems that come along with not having your own classroom, take a deep breath. Hopefully traveling is temporary and once you get some more experience there will be a beautiful classroom to call your own! The light at the end of the tunnel may be attainable for me next year as we are moving into a new school and I could have my own room. Wish me luck!

Would love to hear any tips or ideas from other traveling teachers in the comments below!

Many students are cursed with what I like to call “Black Hole Syndrome.“ If you’ve dared to look into a middle schooler’s backpack you know just what I’m talking about. Incomplete homework from 6 months ago, notes passed in math class, remnants of what should have been used for their science project, and a few stale Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. I think we can all agree that the majority of students need a bit of guidance as far as organization goes. Enter the “Interactive Science Notebook”! (this can also work for other subjects, of course)

Important details for implementing a successful Interactive Science Notebook:

• Notebook size: 8 ½ x 11” spiral notebook. This will allow you to paste worksheets in the notebook perfectly. If notebooks are any smaller students will need to cut the edges off worksheets – total nightmare. Trust me on this.

• Cover: Students decorate the cover of their notebook to make it “special” — something creative and unique to who they are! I encourage students to go over their cover with packaging tape to ensure it won’t fall apart after 2 months.

• Title Page: Name of class, teacher’s name, name of student, period number, and school year.

• Table of Contents: You will probably need two full pages worth of Table of Contents. Set-up should look like this:

It is imperative that you update the table of contents together as a class before you paste anything in the notebook (updating might occur every day).

• Numbering Pages: Page 1 should be your first blank left-hand page, page 2 will be your first right-hand page. This keeps all odd pages on the left and all even pages on the right, just like the table of contents lay-out.

• Right-Hand Page Activities: Right-hand page activities are always done first. These activities generally involve students learning new information, taking notes, etc.

• Left-Hand Page Activities: Left-hand page activities are for reinforcement activities, such as labs, projects, thinking maps, etc. This is where you can get creative and make your notebook as ‘interactive’ as you wish! I’ve done everything from simple foldables to paper pockets, where students can place their CD recordings of the “Photosynthesis Rap” they created.

• Color: I ask students to “color” their notes on the right-hand page. After taking notes they grab a highlighter or colored pencil and color any words they think are important or could possibly be on the test. For left-hand page activities students are required to have at least 5 colors on the page (could be as minimal as underlining or as extensive as drawing in the margins). This may sound elementary, but coloring your work requires students to look at what they have done for a longer period of time, essentially studying their own work.

• Grading: When students enter class and work on their warm-up activity, students should open their notebooks to look at their work from the prior day . Give students a stamp if work is complete. At the end of the unit you can collect all of the student notebooks and give them 10/10 for a page with a stamp, 5/10 for a page that is complete but has no stamp, and 0/10 for an empty page. This can be adjusted based on your own grading system.

• Parent communication: At the end of each unit leave a page for parent communication. This is where you write the grade the student received. Parents can then comment underneath on the students work and write any questions or concerns they might have.

There are far too many benefits to Interactive Science Notebooks, it would be silly not to try it out this school year. Students lacking organizational skills master a tool that will be useful for years to come. Students will no longer lose their assignments in their black hole backpacks. You will have more interaction with parents, which is imperative to student success. The best part is, you will save so much time grading you might even start having some time for yourself! 😀

Happy notebooking!

Welcome to your new classroom! Here is your Chromebook, your cart of iPads, your interactive whiteboard, and a copy of the digital literacy expectations for our students… Good luck!

If you’re a new teacher, you’ve probably heard these words recently. You may have found yourself wondering how to use the devices so generously bestowed upon your class — so, we’ve listed a few tips to keep you from getting overwhelmed.

1. Make friends with the tech integration specialist at your school.

This person will be able to help you work through the technical difficulties of plugging in your devices and learning simple troubleshooting techniques.

2. On the first day of school, identify a student tech whiz.

Chances are your students had a similar technology setup in their classrooms last year and more than a few of them are probably well versed in troubleshooting and setup. Give them a chance to shine. You may have so many interested tech gurus that you have to set up a rotation.

3. Find your favorite how-to blogs or Pinterest pages.

You are NOT the first teacher to have these problems. If you’re not comfortable asking someone in your school for help, ask someone on the Internet instead! Pinterest pages like this one are especially helpful for ideas using iPads in class and finding digital resources and activities.

4. Go slowly; there’s no need to jump into each device in the first week of school.

Before school starts, set up your class rules for handling the technology and review with them your school’s Acceptable Use Policy, like this one from South Berwyn District 100. You’ll likely have to send home permission slips so your students are allowed to work online. If you share a cart of devices with another class, figure out what the rotation schedule will be. There’s a lot of administrative work to getting your digital classroom up and running — but that gives you some extra time to get used to the tools.

Once you get comfortable you’ll find that using tech can save you time and energy and that your students will develop greater interest in the subject matter. Just take it one step at a time and remember you’re not alone!

As humans we crave expectations, clarity, and common language. It feels good to go into a situation (especially a new situation) knowing what to expect and what is expected of you. People of all ages, from children to adults, feel more confident and capable when they know what to expect in different settings.

Consider being invited to a social gathering such as a dinner party. You might find yourself asking certain questions: “What is the dress attire?” “What kind of dish shall I bring?” “How many people will be in attendance?” Answers to these questions would allow you to be proactive with your behavior and appropriately organize for the upcoming event. Additionally, these answers would give you the confidence to walk through the door of the host’s house knowing that you will be socially, emotionally, and behaviorally appropriate to meet the expectations that have been established for the occasion.

It is critical to have clearly defined expectations in a school setting. Expectations allow a common language to exist and help to ensure appropriate behavior throughout the entire school-site. Students, teachers, administrators, parents, family members, and community members all want to know what is expected when they walk through the doors of a school building. They may not always express this desire, but it would be difficult to find someone who would not want to know what is to be expected. The nature of human behavior is to want to do what is expected in different settings in order to appropriately fit into the established social norm.

Here are a few suggestions I’ve learned over the years:

• Creating clearly defined expectations for the different settings of your school-site (i.e. bus, front office, hallway, cafeteria, gymnasium, classroom, playground, etc.) can help ensure comfort and security of those entering the building and can help create a safe and supportive learning environment for students.

• Do not assume that everyone already knows the expectations of a given setting. It is important to establish these expectations with all stakeholders and then teach the behaviors you want to see, just as we teach academics. The truth of the matter is no one wants to show up to a hundred-person black tie affair in ripped jeans and a t-shirt holding a six-layer taco dip that feeds four.

• Be proactive! Set the stage for this school year and help everyone in your building feel part of a positive school culture.

Would love to hear your ideas on setting expectations in the comments below!

One of the easiest ways to gauge a teacher’s effectiveness is by watching their students’ behavior. What tips and tricks do they use to keep students in line and attentive throughout the day? ClassDojo is a free online tool that allows teachers to organize classes and keep track of positive and negative behaviors of students. There is also an app available that allows teachers to follow behaviors throughout the day, regardless of where they are.

As an administrator I have seen ClassDojo used in a variety of ways. Rather than focus on the typical use as a behavioral management tool, I particularly enjoy classrooms that take ClassDojo to the next level. There are a variety of ways that ClassDojo can be used to help teachers manage their classrooms that doesn’t involve separating the “good” students from the “bad”.

One creative way to use ClassDojo is to edit the award titles to reflect concepts and skills taught in that particular classroom. This draws attention to different student learning objectives. “I mastered fractions” means more to a student than a teacher checking off a homework packet once a week. Obviously it would be time consuming to differentiate awards based on assignment, but concepts would be easy. Providing students with a visual where they can track their progress increases students’ awareness in a transparent way.

As a fourth grade teacher I would create a checklist for every assignment or project. Students would highlight or check off their name when they completed their work. ClassDojo can be thought of as an engaging, high tech version of the checklist. Teachers can create award titles through ClassDojo that teach students responsibility such as, “name on paper,” “correct heading,” “double checked work,” etc.

Lower grade teachers who have students rotate through stations could change their award titles to reflect each area and keep track of who has completed what. High school teachers could use ClassDojo to track novels, reports, or genius-hour projects.

Another amazing feature of ClassDojo is that parents can create accounts, giving them the ability to see how their student is doing in real time. In the world of IEPs and behavioral plans this is an easy way to keep parents involved with what is going on in the classroom. Parents will appreciate the ease of staying in the loop through reports as well as ClassDojo Messaging! The simplicity of this tool is a win-win!

Regardless of how you choose to use ClassDojo, get creative and make it work for your students!

When people find out I teach middle school I get the same reaction, “Wow, that’s a tough age!” It absolutely is. Middle schoolers tend to be highly energetic, socially awkward, and emotionally unpredictable — but that’s what I love about it. This “tough” age group is also quite malleable. By implementing the following behavior management strategies my “tough” middle schoolers have transformed into a group of students who successfully manage one another, with a little help from me.

In attempt to control the chaos, consistent routines and procedures must be in place: entering class, warm-up activity, organization of materials, handing out materials, clean-up procedure, closing activity, etc. Keep these routines consistent. When students know what they are expected to do, they begin to monitor each other. Instead of you managing the class, students will manage themselves.

We often hear educators talk about “wait time,” a powerful tool used to give students a moment to gather their thoughts after being called on. Teachers also need “wait time,” used after an attention grabber to give students a few seconds to quiet down before the teacher speaks. If your students don’t quiet down when you ask them to, don’t raise your voice, give wait time. If you are consistent students will start to “shush” each other because they want to hear what you have to say.

Middle schoolers crave compliments and are extremely competitive. Give them what they want! When students are on task, being respectful, helping each other, etc., students receive a positive ClassDojo point. However, when students are late to class, disrespectful, bullying, etc., they receive a negative ClassDojo point. The first 5 students in that particular class to receive 20 ClassDojo points are rewarded. This gives students the pat on the back they are looking for.

To reinforce the importance of teamwork I have a large “ClassDojo Points Board”. If you click on “reports” in the ClassDojo app you will see the percentage of positive points the class received that day. I teach four periods, each class receiving 0-100 points each day. At the end of two weeks, the class with the highest cumulative amount of points will receive a reward. Having periods compete with each other keeps them behaved as a group, craving bragging rights for being the winners of the “ClassDojo Points Board.”

Go ahead, let your middle schoolers manage themselves. You can then start to enjoy what makes teaching highly energetic, socially awkward, and emotionally unpredictable middle schoolers so much fun!

A middle school colleague and I recently were given the opportunity to present for our district’s summer tech class series. Of course we jumped at the chance to show the benefits of using ClassDojo. Generally when we present, we outline the basics and define new features. However, we realized that this presentation could move in a different direction. This class was held in a tech lab, allowing us to give our audience a more engaging, hands-on lesson. We planned on going over account setup, adding classes, and working with custom behaviors. We created a class list for teachers to use during the presentation. Needless to say, we were thrilled to be giving this presentation.

While planning, my colleague suggested we develop a class using our participants as the students. It was a brilliant way to model how we use ClassDojo in our classrooms, giving the attendees a student perspective on the product. This was a great opportunity for teachers to experience the excitement of seeing their avatar for the first time, or hearing the sing-song of receiving a positive point. We even purchased a couple of gift cards for the “student” who had the most points at the end of the class.

During the presentation, we secretly gave these “students” Dojo points as they asked questions or had insight on how ClassDojo could be used in their classrooms. When the time came to go live and show our attendees what we had been doing, their reaction was just what we had hoped. Just like our real students, they commented on each others avatars and how many points they had. This gave us an opportunity to discuss how their reactions were very similar to what they will find among their students. After our little experiment, we were able to show the teachers not only how useful ClassDojo can be in their classroom, but how exciting and positive it can be for their students.

We then gave them the freedom to explore ClassDojo. We walked among our participants to answer questions and give them one-on-one assistance. It was a wonderful to help them work with ClassDojo rather than just showing the app for a change.

In the end, this presentation was the best thing we could have done — we gave these teachers an authentic experience with ClassDojo. It reminded me that seeing is believing — but then again, doing is even better!