Back to School: Tips for Teachers


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New school year – New students – new expectations, the busy back to school season is here!

As a teacher, you get to experience a lot of new things and be a part of hundreds of ‘firsts’ on the first day of school. Wouldn’t it be great if you could make those new experiences awesome?

Let us help you prepare an effective plan to tackle the new school year!
tips for teachers - back to school activities

How to remember so many new names?

It is one of the most common awkward situations teachers face when they forget names. It becomes almost impossible to remember every student’s name during the first week with other tasks and responsibilities. Here are few edutopia recommended tactics in remembering the names.

  1. Assigning short written assignments, as you personally return papers you can practice names.
  2. Framing a funny sentence on a unique feature of a student and their name.
  3. Make it a routine to greet students by their names as they enter the class.
  4. Say the name back, when a student says his/ her name.

Plan, plan and plan!

It takes few days after the beginning of the school to get familiarized with the rhythm of your class. Till then it is better to plan on more resources than necessary. Couple of weeks later, when the class comes back to its natural flow, you may plan accordingly.

Manage Time Efficiently

There will be situations where you have around five to ten minutes left for the period bell, you can neither start a new topic or a new chapter. During these short stretch of time, conduct sponge activities which are fun and informative at the same time.

Take some ‘you’ time

For a teacher, there is little or no time to sit and relax during school hours. Make some time for yourself. Conduct some activities or assign work where you get to sit and observe your students. Do something that makes you feel relaxed. You are the teacher and you deserve it.

Shop for necessary teacher supplies

Pencils, ruler, crayons….might be back to school supplies for students, but teachers have their own classroom supplies without which they can’t have have a successful teaching session. Check and shop for your supplies before going back to school.

Arrange for Fun Activities

First day of school activities can be nerve racking for the both students and teachers. Try to make it fun and informal by conducting activities like spiders web, find someone who etc. Jessica from what i have learned and Steve from steve spangler science have both shared a quite a few engaging activities that can conducted on the first day of school.

Back to School: Tips for Parents


Proper understanding between students and teachers play a vital role in academic progress. Share your journey as a student to make them more comfortable on the first day. Share some of your books with them, show them some of your pictures(which it always a hit!). Make sure you build a strong relationship with your students for a smooth run of the year.

Develop Evaluation Techniques

If you are a new teacher, adapt to some proven techniques which you know works instead of trying out a new method. You can always try new methods once you have enough experience.

For more tips like these, refer to the links below

  1. How to be the most impressive teacher on the first day of school (Lumos Learning)
  2. Little prep goes long way (Edutopia)
  3. What did you call me how remember students names? (Edutopia)
  4. 9 ways start year off right (What I have learned)
  5. Five cooperative learning activities to do on the first day of school (What I have learned)
  6. First day of school activities for big (Teaching with a mountain view)
  7. relationships matter more rules (Edutopia)

 

Related Links

Back to school activities for Preschoolers
Back to school activities for middle school
Back-to-school Worksheets

Back-to-school Tips for Parents

Jennifer Wilson