 LOOKING FOR EASY SUMMER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT?
If you are one of the lucky ones like I am, you have been able to enjoy at least a full week from all school-related duties. It has been glorious! My creative itch began to emerge. I was looking to share my ideas with others and decided to submit an idea for a session. Out of that, Cultivate Calm was written. This guide features a lot of ideas to help you in the classroom.
The idea for this came out of the past year I spent in an exhausted state. I barely made it through. I know I am not alone in realizing how tough it was. I questioned why I was still in the classroom.
I knew I had to make a plan and hopefully help other educators along the way. You will learn:
- Beginning and End of the Day Routines and Rituals
- Morning Meeting
- Time Gaps and Flexible Time
- Handling Tattling and All Those Questions
- Teaching Grit and Perseverance
This guide is designed to give you ideas, guidance, and actionable steps to discover what works best for your personality and teaching style. Create your own action plan to start creating calm this week. As with all other teaching strategies you learn and attempt to implement, you get out of it what you put in.
Here’s a peek inside!
WHAT’S YOUR REASON TO CREATE CALM IN YOUR CLASSROOM?
You are always rushing around in the mornings. You’re always tired and can’t seem to get ahead. Your classroom is chaotic at times and you are ready for change. You should listen to what your heart and brain are telling you. That you need to slow down, you need to reset, and you deserve a fresh start.
WANT TO SEE A SAMPLE CHAPTER BEFORE YOU BUY?
If you are ready to make a change for yourself, I highly recommend checking out this free chapter sample to see if the ideas in the guide fit your personality and teaching style. We know what works best for us. Simplify your teaching by choosing how you will design your classroom.
HOW TO TAKE BACK YOUR CLASSROOM
Achieving a functional, calm classroom is attainable if you’re willing to put in the work. You have to be willing to devote your mindset and class time to teach your students to create calm within your class. This is not to say that classrooms bursting with noise and excitement are bad because sometimes mixing it up in your classroom is exactly what you and your students need to stay balanced. We all like to have fun and it belongs in the classroom! Just be aware of your trigger points that exhaust you and focus on creating moments of fun. Schedule them into your day so it does not become a spur of the moment decision that gets out of hand.
One of the most important elements you should build into your schedule is a morning routine. This gives students a chance to work on meaningful work while you get administrative tasks finished. Think about incorporating music into your morning. This can be when students are arriving or after announcements to signal a transition.
Next, have a greeting for when students come into your classroom. Over the years I’ve seen how important and beneficial it is to greet my students at the door. Harry Wong was right, of course!
The next thing you should add to your morning routines is a predictable way for students to come in, put away their things, and begin working on morning work. Those activities should allow students to work on them independently. They can be print or digital. You can also let students self-assess or grade them yourself.
After they finish morning work activities, you can have a choice board available for students to choose various activities. Ideas include EPIC!, Prodigy, XtraMath, virtual classrooms, and many more.
FREE Sample Chapter
A POWERFUL MORNING MEETING
I started incorporating morning meeting into my classroom practice when I was a 1st grade teacher. That was 7 years ago! I knew with my little ones, it was important to review the calendar and include number sense in daily meetings. When I moved up to 4th grade, I knew I had to adapt it, but I was going to continue with it.
I invite you to try this out or adjust it to fit your needs and try it for one semester. See the benefits you will experience when you set up your day with a focused plan. Here’s a peek into my morning meeting components.
RE-IMAGINE YOUR CLASSROOM
Take the summer to refresh your mind and soul. Flourish in the summer moments that give us a taste of our childhoods. When things were simpler – or so it seemed to us. Now that we are adults, we must pause and reset ourselves. Listen to what this past year has taught you and move forward with a new perspective.
What parts do you want to hold onto? Which ones are you okay with letting go? Really think about designing your classroom to cultivate a calm and focused classroom. Don’t overwhelm yourself with trying too many. Choose 1 or 2 to start with and build from there.
Take care,
