Use your breaks

Hello everyone,

Lengthy breaks in the school year, such as the sort that happen during winter break, are an ideal opportunity to make mid-year corrections in your policies and practices.

When I was first teaching, I discovered (well, someone suggested it to me and I used it; I'm not the discoverer) that changes were best made after a break. Weekends are good; three day weekends are better. Lengthy breaks are ideal.

You may spend the next few weeks before schools re-open in January, thinking about what is working and what is not working in your classes. When students return, you might say something like, "I've been thinking that these things aren't working very well in the class." (Be honest, but be careful about not getting into accusation/counter-accusation with the students; and don't undermine your own authority or credibility by emphasizing your faults.) "Because of that, I've decided to [tell them what you're going to do]."

Some things I recommend.

Many of you will want to reconsider the seating chart in the class. All sorts of bad things happen when students move around and sit in irregular spots. (It's true that some classes function well enough without a seating chart, but they are frankly the exception, not the rule--especially for new teachers.) I think it's not a bad thing to have students begin in strictly alphabetical patterns. This will account for the changes that many of you will have at the semester, and it will give the middle school students the feelings that they may begin the New Year with no previous marks on their character. (If they mess around, then change their seat later, but start them off in alphabetical order.)

Take this opportunity to get out of the habit of giving multiple warnings and chances for misbehavior. Resolve to tell your students what you expect of their behavior and what the consequences are, then give the consequences immediately--not after repeated warnings. "I'm not going to tell you again," is more a joke than a warning. "If you do that one more time...," is more an invitation than a threat.

Resolve to learn again to laugh and find humor. A good joke is a good joke, even if you are the brunt of it. Seeing the humor in situations is a healthy way to live. In the middle of a pitched battle between a teacher and a mis-behaving kid, it's easy to lose perspective, so take the time off to try to rebuild it.

Come back on the first day and begin working. Establish in your students the expectation of work, and keep building on that expectation. They're too far behind for you to waste time--especially after they just had time off. (If you're in a class that justifies it, by all means give work during the break.) They'll buck you at first, but they'll come around.

Whatever you do, work toward simplifying your routine. Don't plot ways to make things difficult. Plot ways to make things better. Then carry out your plot.

Jeff Combe