The Joy of Teaching

No matter if this is your first year of teaching or your fortieth, the first day/week of school can be overwhelming. Here are some tips that just might help you survive those first challenging days.

Before the first day:

1. Plan the first and most important day minute by minute… and then have more activities or fun Read Alouds in your “back pocket” for any unexpected down time. (I write an abbreviated version of the minute-by-minute schedule on a large index card for quick reference throughout the day.) This should counteract the spinning head/panic that might otherwise occur!
2. Create a temporary rug placement chart or desk chart using any information you have about your new students.
3. Use lined chart paper and write large headlines on each paper, such as When I Arrive At School; Before Recess; Lining Up For Recess; Walking in a Line, etc.  You can co-create the behavior rules/expectations charts throughout the first day of school. The charts can then be posted on the walls for the first weeks.
4. Put up simple bulletin board headliners for each subject area that can stay up all year.  I like to create phrases:  Super Scientists, Future Authors of America, Math Detectives, Got A Problem?
5. Organize and label all the folders
6. Label all the school supplies, book boxes, etc., with student names
7. Put names on the discipline card pockets (or your our own system) for use on the first day
8. Copy all student paperwork for the first week (at least) and stack it up in order of use.
9. Have name tags, books, temporary folded desk/name tags, first day fun packets, etc., organized on top of student desks.  (I use packing tape to mount laminated student desk identifiers on desk top book boxes instead of right on the desks. They will last all year and not peel off!  I use the smaller ones that have room for a small photo of the student along with the student’s name.  I save the large, fold-up name tags for substitutes.)

First Day/Week Tips:

1. Keep your schedule handy on an index card.
2. Focus on the students! Give each student a hug and wear a huge smile. All children deserve to feel welcomed, loved, and appreciated for who they are!
3. If you feel nervous or uptight, take a deep breath, slow down, and act like everything is under control. The power of positive thinking works.
4. I have the students get started right away on a fun packet of activities. Here are some ideas:
   • Evan-Moor’s Draw…Then Write
   • First Day of School activity books
5. While students are quietly working, I go around the room and take photos of each child (to be used for bulletin boards and name tags.) I greet and reassure the parents, take attendance, guide late students to their spots in the room, take a breath, etc.
6. A lot of the first day is sensing when it is time to move on to the next item on the schedule. Be flexible!
7. Before you have the students transition to the next item on the schedule, give explicit instructions and model when you can.
8. Try to do as much as you can of the yearlong daily routines, such as: Calendar, Number of the Day, Problem of the Day, etc.
9. Work together on the behavior rules/expectations charts.
10. Use a soft, calm voice to set the tone of the classroom atmosphere.
11. Use your discipline system from the get-go. Your goal is to make things as real and routine as possible from the beginning.
12. Do a fun art or P.E. activity on the first day. I like to use a big bubble maker as a P.E. activity outside for my second graders. I call off numbers and children try to pop as many bubbles as they can!
13. At the end of the busy day, read aloud a funny book and lavish praise on your new family of students! I hand out inexpensive medals or certificates to every student.  All students deserve to end their first day on a positive, happy note!

My final advice after teaching for more than thirty-five years:

Make it as real and routine as quickly as possible!

For example, it is easy to put off the challenging training involved in the rotations and routines. So, I start the all-important flexible Guided Reading groups on the Monday of the first full week of school. So much anecdotal information can be obtained about each student’s reading needs during the group time. I usually have three or four groups:  one group remains at their seats doing Daily Work such as Evan-Moor daily practice lessons;  one group is at the computers; one group is selecting and reading Independent Reading books; and one is meeting with me for Guided Reading.

Remember: get the routines flowing and the hard work will pay off down the road!

Contributing Writer

Alice Evans is a forty-year veteran National Board Certified elementary classroom teacher and is a published author. She recently retired from the San Diego Unified School District.

At the start of my teaching career, I was fortunate to have a perceptive principal who loaned me a book. I don’t remember the title of that book, but the essence was about keeping a balance in your life as a teacher.

Most people who don’t have a teacher in their lives would be surprised to learn that the challenge of keeping the balance drifts into summer breaks. Part of me wanted to frantically catch up with every appointment, home project, and neglected family member that had to be put aside during the busy school year.

Conversely, I also felt pressure to get a head start organizing and preparing for next year’s class and take advantage of professional growth opportunities. Yet another part of me craved to indulge in travel, relaxation, lunches eaten slowly—basically anything that was the opposite of a bell schedule.

This is a natural reaction to having a job that daily tugs at your heart strings, demands oodles of time and energy, and regularly spills over the school day into your early morning, late afternoon, evening, and weekend hours. Along the way, I had some great summers that were personally relaxing and career recharging. Be good to yourself and seek the balance.

Tips for Relaxing and Recharging

• Indulge in a hobby
• Exercise
• Connect with nature
• Rev down and practice being “in the moment.” (No planning lessons in your head while you are enjoying a vacation on a tropical beach.)
• Keep a notepad or journal of the good ideas and inspirations that pop into your head, when you are not successful at being in the moment.
• Read for pleasure and professional development. Here are some ideas for summer reading for teachers.
• Collect basic resources that will help you launch the new school year effectively, such as Evan-Moor’s How To Plan Your School Year and Lesson Plan Books.
• As you would for your students, assess what you need this summer, and work toward your goal of achieving balance.
• Finally, keep in mind that if you have a summer break where demands of career, family, or the unexpected encroach on your time, plan mini-breaks throughout the school year, so that you can still relax and recharge.

Connect with ways that other teachers strive toward a balance in articles such as Edutopia’s “Balancing Work and Life: The Ongoing Challenge for Educators,” by Elena Aguilar.

What are you planning to do this summer to relax and recharge?

Marti Beeck started her career in education as a parent volunteer in her three children’s classrooms. Her teaching experience, including adult school, intervention, and the primary classroom, was inspired by her background in psychology and interest in brain-based learning. Marti currently works in the field of educational publishing as an editor.

Bringing yoga to the classroom offers a new kind of education for teachers and students alike. Yoga in the school setting has grown at a fast pace over the past decade. According to Karma Carpenter, founder and director of the Association of School Yoga and Mindfulness, this is largely due to the collaborative efforts of child-yoga and mindfulness training organizations. These organizations are proving through research that yoga leads to academic achievement, positive behavior, and physical and mental well being of students. These groups form the International Association of School Yoga and Mindfulness, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing mindful education into the classroom for the benefit of PreK-12 students of all abilities, economic backgrounds, and cultures.

The purpose of yoga in the classroom is to focus the mind of the student to be better able to receive or retain information. Benefits of yoga in the classroom include:

• A positive environment, linking learning to movement
• Builds self-esteem by honoring students’ individual learning styles
• Reduces test anxiety through simple relaxation techniques and improves concentration before testing
• Relaxes and de-stresses students for improved learning

How to Begin

1. Choose the purpose—Yoga may be used for relaxation before a test, to start off a class with improved focus, or as a time of physical activity, depending on your students’ needs.

2. Begin with breathing exercises—Bringing the focus to the breath is necessary to calm the mind. Essentially, yoga is the science of linking breath and movement to bring you to the present moment. If your students can begin to understand this basis of yoga, yoga can be done anywhere, at any time. For the purposes of this blog, sitting and standing will be the focus for incorporating yoga into the classroom. Yoga can also be adapted for children with disabilities, simply linking movement to breath.

3. Begin sitting in a chair—The students should close their eyes for this exercise and listen to your direction. Simply closing the eyes offers the students the ability to listen to the sound of your voice for verbal direction without the use of sight.

• Take a deep breath in as the arms move overhead, reaching towards the sky.
• Exhale and bring the arms back down to the lap.
• Inhale a longer, slower breath and reach the arms back to the sky at a slower pace, coordinating the movement of the arms with the breath.
• Hold the breath at the top of the inhale for a count of three.
• Exhale and bring the arms back to the lap at a slow pace with a slow breath.
• Hold for a count of three.
• Repeat several times, fully linking breath with movement.

4. Move to standing with feet apart—The students will begin holding their hands together over their heads.

• Have students inhale deeply, count to three, and swing their arms down in front of them, bending forward at the waist until their hands are between their knees.
• Encourage the students to breathe out of their mouth to exhale as they fold forward, making an “Ahhh!” sound or a grunting noise. The goal is to release tension and stimulate the nervous system.
• This is called “the breath of joy” and can be repeated several times.

5. Finish seated at a desk—The students should close their eyes again with their hands on their knees or lap.

• Focus on the breath; begin to relax the eyes, the eye socket and the jaw.
• Allow the lips to part slightly and the tongue to rest at the base of the mouth.
• Have the students inhale and say to themselves the word “peace.”
• Have the students exhale and say to themselves the word “joy.”

Feel free to measure the effects or improvements in the classroom from these exercises and share with other teachers. There are a large number of resources out there to support your success with yoga in the classroom.

Another organization that is making a difference in the classroom through yoga is Headstand, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that works to combat toxic stress in disadvantaged K–12 students through mindfulness, yoga, and character education in the classroom.  Headstand offers K–12 school programming, teacher training, and consulting on how to integrate social and emotional wellness strategies through mindfulness and yoga in school.

Having a healthy body and mind is important for the development of children. At all grade levels, students have shown improved academic and behavioral performance when yoga has been introduced in the school. Do your homework and see what you can come up with for your own curriculum. Most importantly, enjoy the exploration and the effects of a tangible stress-relief tool through yoga.

Contributing Writer

Leslie Edsall loves to work with people to simplify the noise and develop healthier habits through nutrition, yoga and self care. She is a Certified Health Coach, Health Education Specialist and Registered Yoga Teacher. Leslie offers a variety of online and in-person health coaching programs, teaches yoga, runs workshops in the DC area and leads wellness retreats. To learn more about Leslie visit: www.TrifectaWellness.com.