I love the first week of school. As I prepare for the first days, I smile wide thinking about the energy of new classes, the nerves of wondering what to expect of the year ahead and even the earned exhaustion of that first Friday when you and your colleagues look at each other and no one has to say anything. 

That said, I also think that my excitement about being back in the classroom goes hand in hand with adjusting my own mindset so I can feel grounded and prepared before welcoming my new students. 

Today I want to share four of my top priorities for the first week of school that help shift my mindset into a positive and purposeful place, and set our classroom community in a meaningful direction for the rest of the year.

1. Control What You Can Control, Prepare What You Can Prepare

There are some things you cannot plan for. During my first year teaching, my principal came up to me a few days before the first day of school with two updates: 1) the book I had planned my first unit around had been recently banned by the school board, and 2) I would be teaching an additional course on top of four different English classes: personal finance. Needless to say, it wasn’t the smoothest first week.

In this current moment of education, I’m sure for many teachers it feels like there are many things you cannot plan for. The first week of the school year can be rife with pivots and curveballs, and I recognize how some teachers might feel like they’re treading water during the first few weeks of a new school year.

That’s 100% understandable, but I like to think we have options. So one thing I try to do at the start of every year is draw a line protecting the things I can actually control—and then investing my energy as much as possible into those “controllables” while not worrying (too much) about anything beyond that line. (I’m about to begin my 12th year in the classroom, and I fully admit that this is much easier to say than do, no matter where you are at in your career.)

Once I identify the things I do control, I prepare as much as I can to make the “controllables” the best they can possibly be from day one. That means keeping in mind the first impressions I want students to have when they step into my class.

For me, a lot of this comes down to prioritizing the mundane: finish up the lesson plans, revise the slide decks, prepare the rosters and print the first week’s materials in advance. That way, if and when those first curveballs come, I have more capacity to respond. Even if my plans for the first week need to change, the intentionality that I’ve brought to those preparations doesn’t disappear. Instead, they help me cultivate a sense of readiness I can call on during moments of change.

2. Structure Is Your Friend—And Is the Path to Flexibility, Too

In the same way that creating thoughtful structure within a classroom often opens the door to much more freedom for students to participate purposefully, creating detailed structures for myself during the first week of school lays the foundation for the flexibility I need throughout the year.

For example, in my initial lessons I plan out what students will be doing down to five-minute intervals, including some “buffer” activities in case we get done a bit earlier than I expected. This does not mean a bell-to-bell diagnostic assessment, though, as we will have many collaborative activities built into these plans. However, I do my best to avoid unstructured time where students are left to their own devices.

More than anything, I want students to feel that the moment that they walk in the room that I have a vision for what will take place and a process for us to get there. I want their first impression to be one of structure, which can be a source of security for many students—who are all bringing their anxieties and concerns with them into the classroom, too. One of the most common early pieces of feedback I have received from students is that they knew there was a clear plan from Day 1 on, something they noticed and appreciated.

In my experience, the amount of structure I create for myself as a teacher that first week translates directly to the amount of flexibility I can muster when the schedule shifts. That initial foundation also supports increasing student choice as the year moves forward.

3. Be Generous Towards Students—Choose Connection Over Reaction

I remind myself that the first week of school is stressful for students, too. Sometimes the stress shows, but sometimes it does not.

How we respond to that stress as teachers is incredibly important—and can also be a high-wire act as we ourselves often carry considerable nerves into that first week of school. Bringing extra awareness to our own nerves can protect those first opportunities to start building relationships with our students, and learn about them and people in their support systems. 

So I will once again remind myself this year to go into that first week with a priority around generosity towards the students, one rooted in a humility that I have very little understanding of just what story each student is walking into the classroom with.

This means immediately doing my best to actively notice the students who might seem uninterested in our opening activities or classroom agreements, and invest in those relationships from the start.

My goal is to try and find a way to connect early on with  students—usually just a quick check-in outside of class in the hallway, a handwritten note observing a positive contribution or an introduction call to their family celebrating what they did well the first week. That extra step starts to show that I’m invested in seeing them engaged, not just with the material but as a part of the community we’re building in our classroom.

 I also check in with other connections in their lives (other teachers, counselors, coaches and others) to see who might hold the different “levers” of support that we can pull as the year goes forward. Teaching is community work, after all, and I’ve learned that leaning into that community early on to support your students is a great way to not only be generous towards them, but also generous towards yourself.

4. Hold Yourself Accountable to the Classroom Community You Want

I lean on this principle the most: Make sure you are true to your vision for your classroom community starting the very first week of the year. You and your students control your classroom community—what do you want to create together?

I realized early on that one of the biggest mistakes I could make at the start of the year was presenting a teacher persona—a version of myself and my classroom that was inauthentic to who I actually am and what our time together as a class will actually look like. Instead, I’ve learned to be more of myself in a way that is sustainable for me, and allows me to bring more of my authentic best to my classroom.

When I look at the first week I have planned, I believe it is important to consider how it sets a foundation for the classroom community we might ultimately arrive at. This is the main area of my practice where I lean heavily on “backwards planning.” I think about not only what the best versions of past classroom communities have felt like at the end of the year but also how we arrived there—and then I try my best to plant the seeds the very first week with a hopeful eye towards that finish line. (For a sample of what that looks like from the past year’s closing, take a look here.)

That leads me to the most important question I ask in preparing for and moving through that first week: How would my students in the last week of the year feel about what we did that first week?

Most Of All, Trust and Take Care of Yourself

With that said, the most important thing I want to acknowledge is that there is no single way to navigate the first week of the school year. Everyone has their own context and set of strengths. Being authentic to who you are is core to building a meaningful foundation for a classroom community.

Trust yourself and what works best for you, lean on the supports around you, and also know where to draw the line in taking care of yourself. Our students need us to make the most of Week 1, but also make sure we walk out of it ready to be our best selves for them going forward.

Good luck, and take care of yourself! Have a fantastic start to the 2023-24 school year.