5 Back-to-School Survival Tips From One Teacher to Another
Okay, teachers. It’s that time again.
You’re sitting through trainings, trying to remember seventeen new passwords, rearranging classroom furniture that has somehow gotten heavier since May, and staring at a to-do list that seems to grow every time you look away.
And the students aren’t even here yet.
The weeks leading up to the first day of school can be a lot. There are meetings to attend, lessons to prepare, bulletin boards to finish, supplies to organize, and approximately 4,892 emails waiting for a response.
Before you convince yourself that everything has to be perfect before the first bell rings, take a breath.
Here are five back-to-school survival tips from one teacher to another.
1. Pick One Thing
Not twelve things.
Not the entire classroom.
Not every problem in public education.
One thing.
Choose one thing you want to accomplish each day and let that be enough.
Maybe today you organize the student supplies. Tomorrow, you work on your first-week plans. The next day, you tackle the bulletin board that has been silently judging you from across the room.
Anything you finish beyond your one thing is a bonus.
Your classroom does not have to be completely decorated, organized, labeled, color-coded, laminated, and ready for its own HGTV special before students arrive.
One thing at a time friends.
2. Remember What Your Students Will Actually Notice
Your students probably will not remember whether your bulletin board border was perfectly straight.
They will remember whether you learned their names.
They will remember whether they felt comfortable asking you a question.
They will remember whether you listened to them.
They will remember whether your face lit up when they walked into the room.
A beautiful classroom is wonderful. I love a cute classroom just as much as the next teacher.
But a classroom where students feel seen, safe, welcomed, and loved?
That is the part that matters most.
Do what you can to prepare your room, but do not exhaust yourself trying to create perfection. Your students need a caring, present teacher much more than they need matching storage bins.
3. Build a Teacher Survival Kit
Every teacher needs a personal survival kit.
I recommend including:
- Emergency snacks hidden somewhere safe
- Dry shampoo
- A backup phone charger
- A comfortable pair of shoes
- Water
- Caffeine
- Chocolate
And please understand that your emergency snacks should not be stored in the community snack drawer.
Those are not community snacks.
Those are survival snacks, and survival sometimes requires secrecy.
Keep your supplies somewhere you can reach them when the training runs long, your phone battery is at three percent, and you suddenly realize that the granola bar you ate at 6:30 a.m. was not, in fact, enough food for the entire day.
4. Give Yourself Permission
You are allowed to leave work on time.
You are allowed to say no.
You are allowed to ask for help.
You are allowed to admit that you do not understand the brand-new system everyone else is pretending to understand.
You are allowed to have boundaries.
You are also allowed to have a full life outside of your classroom.
There will always be another email to answer, another label to print, another cabinet to organize, and another task someone suddenly remembers when it’s time to go home.
You do not get a trophy for being the last car in the school parking lot.
Go home.
Rest is not something you have to earn after completing every item on your list. You need rest so you can show up for yourself and your students without running on empty.
5. Find Your People
Teaching is too hard to do alone.
Find the people who make you laugh on the difficult days.
Find the people who remind you that you are doing better than you think.
Find the people who listen without judgment, celebrate your wins, help you carry the heavy things, and tell you when it is time to close the laptop and go home.
Find the people who lift you up, support you, and make sure you are being that kind of person for someone else, too.
We are stronger together.
That message means so much to me that I put it on a shirt! My Find Your People merch is a reminder to find your community, appreciate the people who support you, and never forget that you were not meant to do this alone.
Be sure to check out the items in my merch shop, featuring Find Your People apparel and plenty of other fun, teacher-loving goodies made just for you.
You Do Not Have to Start Perfectly
You do not need to begin this school year with everything figured out.
Pick one thing.
Wear the comfortable shoes.
Protect the emergency snacks.
Ask for help.
Go home on time.
And most importantly, find your people.
You’ve got this.
Jere