The Second Semester Reset

Now that the second semester for a lot of us has begun, you may be like me and want to do a reset. Bring it back to the basics, reset the mood in your classroom, and bring spirits back up.

What does the reset look like?

The classroom reset depends on you, your students, and what you want your classroom to look like. I personally view my classroom as a shared space. Meaning, that I value my students’ input into the classroom with art work, class work, and student creations hanging on my walls. I love the student-centered approach to the classroom environment and teaching. 

I personally am looking to reset some expectations, procedures, and try to include more SEL and student belonging content into my classroom. 

Expectations

This year over any other year, I’ve noticed my students needing more and more reminders about being safe, responsible, and respectful to each other and the materials. For my second semester reset, I’m looking to reinforce these expectations throughout the classroom, throughout each lesson and teaching them what it looks like for each activity, and having them practice these expectations occasionally. If you want to know how these expectations work during stations or centers activities, click here to visit my How To Create Engaging Stations post.

Procedures

I teach middle school, meaning that my students are fairly good with daily routines. However, the procedures that occur weekly, monthly, or intermittently are often forgotten. The one exception is my bathroom pass procedure. For some reason, my students always forget to sign out and take the pass with them! 

A plan that I am looking to implement for this second semester is to reinforce the sign out procedures and change the location of my passes. Currently, my passes are by the door which makes it easy to just grab and go, or forget and go. I am planning on moving the passes towards the front of the room by me so that students can grab the pass and I can remind them to sign out which will also be located up front by the passes

For the procedures that only occur every so often, like having a pep rally, going to the auditorium for an assembly, or having a guest speaker, I am planning on setting some time aside to do some practice. Meaning, on a day that is available, my students and I may practice walking to the gym or the auditorium, quizzing them on their seating locations, and role playing having a guest speaker in the classroom. 

SEL and Student Belonging

I am a strong believer in having strong relationships with your students, knowing who they are as people, and learning how to create the safest and warmest classroom environment. One way in which I try to promote student belonging is by displaying their work on my walls, having them choose a say in the color of my lights, and giving them choices.

In the past I had an art wall, even though I am not an art teacher, simply because I had so many students that wanted to show their work off! I love every piece of art I receive and want the students to feel proud of their work. That is one thing I am planning on bringing back this semester.

Incorporating social and emotional learning into my instruction is another way in which I hope to reset my classroom. Teaching about working with others, managing emotions, and dealing with possible conflicts is essential in order to create a solid foundation for the positive classroom environment. 

How can I reset my classroom?

That depends on what your goals are for your classroom! What do you want to change mid-year? What’s already going well for you this year? If something is going well, don’t change it! But if you feel like something needs to change, then let’s talk first steps.

What are my first steps?

Make a Manageable Goal

I’m all for lofty, big picture goals, believe me. However, we need to start with someone manageable. Something that you can do within the first week or month and feel successful with the goal.

This could be reinforcing how students behave in lines and practicing line basics. On the other hand, it could be reteaching students how to raise their hand to ask a question. You wouldn’t believe how many times I have to stop class to model and reteach how to raise your hand if you have a question— and I teach middle school! 

An example framework for the goal could be “I want 90% of my students to correctly sign in and out of the classroom this week.” This is a manageable goal because it only spans a week, it can be retaught if need be, and you have the data in front of you.

Set Clear Expectations

Clear expectations, for who? For you! How are you going to hold yourself accountable for achieving the goal? Persevering through a goal can be challenging when you have 30 kids or even 130 kids! How can you persevere to achieve your goal?

Use Your Resources

My teaching team is a valuable resource for me. I am constantly asking them if they are having similar instances happen or are seeing similar patterns with student behavior. If they are, we problem solve it together. If it is just happening in my classroom, that’s where the reset needs to happen most. Use your resources!