I know, I know - It's summer! We work, but do we really want to think about it? Even worse, most of us are guilty of spending the summer drowning in work that won't actually save us time in the fall.
This year, focus on these three easy tasks that are guaranteed to help you start the school year off on the right foot.
Create a School Year Overview Plan
Many teachers skip creating a plan for the school year because it sounds like a lot of work or they don't think there is any hope the plan will hold up once the year actually starts.
However, a school year plan is one of the most essential tasks you can do to set up a successful school year. I completed one every year I was in the classroom and it's now the very first thing I do to help my clients plan their curriculum.
And the best part? It won't take you more than an hour if you do it right. One hour of summer break is absolutely worth the feeling of starting your school year knowing you will finish the curriculum before it ends.
How do you get this done in an hour or less? Follow these steps:
Open up the district school year calendar and your favorite calendar application on your computer. (Google Calendar and Outlook both work well)
Create a new calendar in your app called "School Year." Add all the important dates to the calendar. Be careful not to miss any non-instructional days. Estimated Time: 10 min
Open up a blank document for your school year plan (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.). Create the bones of your plan in the doc. Estimated Time: 10 min. You will need to create a space in your plan for the following:
Each month of the year and the number of instructional days in each month
Total number of instructional days
List of Units with number of allocated instructional days If you need help with this, purchase our simple school year planner for $4 in the store :)
Return to your school year calendar. Count the instructional days in each month. Add these numbers to your school year plan document. Estimated Time: 10 min
Add the instructional days in each month together to get your total instructional days. Subtract ten from this number to account for unexpected lost days, such as field trips, assemblies, or snow days. This is the number of instructional days you have to work with next year. Estimated Time: 5 min
Decide how many of these days you will allocate for each unit. If it's your first year teaching the course, take a look at the content standards to decide which units will need more time than others. Add these numbers to your School Year Plan document. Estimated Time: 10 min
Return to your calendar app. Create all-day events to add each unit to the calendar, using the projected instructional days on your School Year Plan as a guide. Remember to distribute your ten buffer days equally into each unit. This is also a great time to make adjustments based on the calendar, such as adjusting units to fit within a marking period or to avoid stretching over a break. Estimated Time: 10 min
And there you have it! A full school year plan in an hour or less. If you stick to it, you'll know you will fit your entire curriculum into the days you have left. No more skipping the last unit or sacrificing content simply because it comes at the end of the year.
Set Goals
Take ten minutes to reflect on your goals for the upcoming school year. If you don't nail these down at the beginning of the year, it will be tough for you to achieve them.
Stuck for ideas? Here are a few popular goals of teachers I work with:
Earn an overall highly effective rating
Be selected as a department or team lead
Rewrite curriculum to incorporate a new strategy or concept
Various goals related to pass rates on standardized exams or MOSL's
Plan the First Week of Lessons
When the summer ends and it's time to step back into the classroom, nothing will reduce your stress like having at least the first week of lessons ready to go.
We all know what the beginning of a school year is like - Last minute staffing changes, assemblies, staff professional development, classroom organization, parent nights - the list goes on and on.
Having that first week of lessons finished will help you focus on the many tasks teachers end up with during the first week of school without feeling like you are already scrambling.
A word to the wise: Avoid planning too far in advance if this is your first year in a new building. Far too often, teachers plan ahead only to find something significant has changed in their program when they arrive on the first day. Nobody wants to plan twice!
Other Tasks for the Summer (if you're looking for them)
If you have extra time to kill or are looking for more tasks that will have a big bang for your buck, try some of these:
Complete the summative assessments for each unit of the year
Draft unit plans that include the lesson aims, daily activities, and formative assessments
Set up templates for data tracking you can use for differentiation
Plan additional lessons
Reach out to co-teachers to begin talking through your plans and intentions for the school year
Wrapping Up
Instead of spending your summer working hard on items that won't reduce your early school year stress, focus on these three tasks to best prepare for your school year. Complete a simple school year curriculum plan, set your professional goals, and plan the first week of your lessons.
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