Coming back to school after a long break can be exhausting. Students have forgotten all about the classroom rules, and everyone is dragging. Despite the challenges, it’s the perfect time for a classroom reset. You can also use this opportunity to establish new methods for classroom management or implement new behavior management strategies. Whether you just want a refresh or want to try something new, here are a few areas I recommend focusing on during your classroom reset.
#1 Introduce Agenda Slides – the ultimate new year classroom reset
Agenda slides are a great method for classroom management. They help students prepare for the day and know exactly what to expect. Your agenda slides can contain information like the objective, warm up question, daily schedule, or supplies to have ready.
#2 Review Supply Procedures
A big part of your classroom reset is reviewing procedures for getting supplies. Go over where students can find supplies, when they should get them, etc. This is one of the behavior management strategies that will make a big difference in engagement (because the sound of a pencil sharpener going off mid-lesson is always distracting).#3 Utilize Warm-Ups
January is a good time to rethink your warm ups. Maybe change how students find their warm ups or where they turn them in. You might even reconsider the type of warm up you use, like switching from a problem of the day to a review question.
#4 Refresh Lab Safety
This is a big one! Go over your lab rules, like no food on lab days, wearing closed-toe shoes, and how to clean broken glass or another mess properly. These lab safety activities will keep your refresh engaging and can be used year after year.#5 Review Clean-Up Procedures
If you want to avoid that end of the day mess (you know, the one where you pick up 27 pencils off the floor), then you definitely want to review this method of classroom management. Go over your end-of-class procedures, like cleaning the floor, storing journals, and tidying their desk.#6 Managing Interactive Notebooks
You and I both know that interactive notebooks can easily become a mess. Having conversations before it gets to that point, though, is the best behavior management strategy. Remind students where to glue pages, how much glue to use, how notebooks are graded, where they are kept, and how often students need to bring them to class. Use this interactive notebook set-up kit to help keep those notebooks organized!
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