Vital back to school reading for teachers

Staff development network

Dr Mark Dowley January 30th, 2025 · 2min read

Welcome back coaches and leaders.

Hope you are well and had an enjoyable break. I invite teachers to read this before they teach their first class.

This back-to-school reading is a summary of a session I ran with Stephanie Garoni and LaTrobe University’s Nexus students before they began teaching this year. If you want a great start to the year with your new class, here are six of my favourite ideas.

1. Seating plan
It shows empathy, not cruelty, to assign students to a seat that maximises their attention. A seating plan with students facing the teacher is a sure way to start the year well. Pro tip: have a printed copy of the seating plan on your desk so you address students by their name. (Zach Groshell).

2. Plan for likely interruptions
Students will be late, forget writing materials and not have the correct resources. Plan for this by having spare pens/pencils, printouts and paper for students to write on.

3. Starter activity
A starter activity that retrieves basic knowledge from the previous year promotes the concept the classroom is for quiet, focused work. Ideally, the starter is printed and already on the students’ desks. For the first lesson, it should be accessible so students do not need to ask questions about the content.

4. Entry routine and Do it again
Students should (1) enter silently, (2) sit in the assigned seat and (3) begin the starter in under 60 seconds. Time students on the entry. They will take longer and be too noisy. You can invite them to go outside and re-enter the classroom more quietly and quickly next time.

5. Red hot on attention
Set the standard early. At some point, a student will call out to ask a question. Be prepared for this by answering it with, ‘hand up to ask a question, thanks’. During your instruction, a student will look out the window. When this happens, use a ‘pause in talk’ and gain the full attention of the class before you continue. Set the norm that when the teacher is talking, students must be paying attention.

6. Build belonging in the last 10 minutes
Many teachers start the lesson with a ‘tell us about your holiday’ or get to know you activity. These are great but do them at the end of the lesson, not the beginning. It’s difficult for students to switch from, ‘talk about your fun holiday’ to, ‘now sit silently and pay attention’.

Doing culture-building and belonging activities at the end of the lesson provides the double benefit of prioritising learning at the start of the class with the good vibes of students sharing positive experiences as they leave your classroom for the first time.

If you want to support teachers new to your school, consider including this online course in behaviour management in your induction training. Priced at $50, we believe it to be the best value training in practical classroom management you can get.

If you want more detail on these ideas, I invite you to check out the Classroom Management Handbook, Jamie Clark’s Teaching One-Pagers, and Zach Groshell’s, Just Tell Them.

All the best for another great year doing the best job in the world – teaching!

When all members of your school community are working and have read and understood these texts, it allows for a shared language in the organisation. Understanding the principles behind the decision-making process also builds coherence. We don’t want everyone to think the same, but having a baseline understanding of key evidence that supports the school improvement process will benefit all stakeholders.

Happy coaching,
Mark

 

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