Take It From Me: An Advice on 'Back to School' Preparation

          

          Thinking about effective teaching, I find the need to address teachers towards a fruitful start and what could be more effective than helping teachers get prepared for a new school year? A ‘Back to School’ preparation is a must for teachers who are looking forwards being prepared  to feel more confident, motivated, and less stressed transferring encouragement and motivation to students. There is so much to do before our first day in the classroom. As teachers, we should find a time and roll up our sleeves to transform that empty space into a warm and inviting place for our first class before the school begins. The process of ‘setting things ready to go’ is both theoretical and practical, intending to end in the stream of meaningful learning through effective teaching.

To continue, teachers must develop their unique teaching philosophy. New teachers must decide on what their teaching philosophy would look like, whereas experienced teachers are left with the reevaluation of their teaching philosophy, thinking about their past experiences and reflecting on them so they can be more prepared for the future, by answering questions like: What do you feel is most important about teaching and education?

To add, teachers should start getting organized before the school begins. They should establish routines that are easier to follow through the rest of the school year and they should be able to manage the ‘on-the-spot’ problems that might appear, from their moment of birth. Getting organized goes back to creation of new lesson plans, handouts, activities, written materials…etc, and/or the organization of old materials and resources, it also extends to involve the organization of folders, even electronic ones. Since teachers are given the mission of discovering new lesson plan ideas before the school starts, summer is the perfect time to collect some new interesting lesson ideas that can be gathered through various resources like the web, books, colleagues and many others.  Experienced teachers should go back for updating, that is going through the lessons, to decide on what worked last year and what didn’t, and get rid of anything they will no longer need. At this phase teachers can preplan for first day class including a variety of interesting ice-breaker and welcoming activities that will appeal to the different learning styles, without forgetting to make copies of the materials ready to be handled to the students during the first week. Getting organized also embraces classroom organization, where classroom supplies like the mathematical classroom set, papers, pencils, board erasers, chalks and markers should have a specific storage place to maximize facility of usage and safety and minimize chaos and clutter.

 To continue, a welcoming environment can set the stage for meaningful learning. Here, teachers are left with the task of actually transforming the empty space into a warm inviting place for their first class by arranging the classroom without forgetting the special touch and style that they might add. Teachers should decorate; also, plan their bulletin boards by making decisions like: Which boards will be for subject area work, and which boards will students design? Where will I place the students work? Also, it is at this stage that the teacher should decide to set up learning centers if they are planning to have any in their class. When talking about seating arrangement, classroom teachers should be aware to place the seats according to purpose (whether individual, pair or group work) in a way that determines the flow of traffic and ease of movement for both the teacher and the students.

Furthermore, before school begins, teachers should reach out to parents. Teachers can arrange face-to-face meetings in which they could introduce themselves to parents, also discuss some take-home manual packets about school rules, transportation rules, teacher’s expectations, syllabus, students themselves, supply lists, and many others, to build trusting relationships and to encourage, from the very beginning, parent’s attention, care, and involvement. There are many other ways to contact with parents like through electronic mails, phone calls and others, but to be realistic meeting parents in the school best works for most schools in Lebanon.

To continue, not only should teachers reach out to parents, but also they should reach out to students. To set it on ground, teachers in Lebanon can reach students through meetings before the school year or by e-mail, and here teachers can talk or even develop a handbook for students, reminding them about attendance procedures, fire-drills, dress code policies, some school rules and regulations, the schedule, school hours, and other important information on how the school runs.

Adding to all this, teachers could talk and meet with other teachers and colleagues, especially if they are new in the teaching domain, to gain a clue about old students and to benefit from the experienced, saving time and effort. A teacher could contact other teachers to gain information about the students (especially if this teacher is new or if the contacted teacher has previously taught the students) that is essential for seating arrangement and lesson planning for various types of learners.

            To conclude, the beginning of the school year can be a stressful time, not only for parents and students, but also for teachers. So, no matter how long a teacher has been doing this, getting ready for the start of a school year is always an exciting, but also, frustrating and busy time; every year is completely different from the previous year, teachers have to change, engage and adapt, and that takes planning, all that planning will finally pay off once students start streaming into the classrooms Monday morning. Be prepared for that first day back to school, and remember to stay flexible. Do not forget that it is within your grasp to make the start of a school year an easier one. 

Don't hesitate to provide me with your comments and opinions.