Going back to school after a summer off is always a bit of a challenge.
Despite this, you somehow have to transition back into the classroom and adapt in ways you maybe never had to before.
This year, however, coming back to the classroom may be more like jumping into ice water. Some teachers may not have stepped foot into a school in over a year.
Teachers nationwide are adapting to being back in the classroom. Today we’ll talk about the challenges they face and the ways in which they can overcome them to get back on track and get back to what they do best.
Every school district across Texas handles the complete return to in-person learning a little differently. Some schools will continue mask policies and offer virtual options for families, while others anticipate a full return-to-normal.
Never assume your school follows a specific set of guidelines just because the rest of the state is. Schools might be taking a more cautious approach. As such, spend some time familiarizing yourself with what it is your district expects of you post-COVID-19.
Before 2020, you may have had your classroom down to a science. Maybe you had flexibility when you did certain activities, or perhaps you changed up schedules at the last minute, pending classroom discussion.
However, students participating in online learning benefit from lessons being at the same time and place every day. As such, this might mean you need to build more rigidity into your schedule to ensure the needs of all of your students, both in-person and remote, are met.
Students may also be experiencing a heightened sense of anxiety following the COVID-19 pandemic, which means they’re going to need a bit more time for you to recognize their emotional and mental health needs.
Students may not have seen their friends in a very, very long time. Expect your students, especially for the first few weeks of the school year, to be socializing a bit more than usual.
To try and preserve a sense of control and stability, play icebreaker-like games and small group activities to encourage socialization in a way that won’t disrupt your regularly scheduled classroom activities.
Students don’t learn well on their own without a teacher guiding them consistently. This is a hard fact — we’ve all had to struggle with following COVID-19. As such, many of your students may be falling behind state and national benchmarks when it comes to academic success.
You may feel tempted to rush through lessons, but that would only put your students at a disadvantage. Encourage your students to learn at their own pace, and maybe cut out some of the review work you would have usually done to reaffirm knowledge. Instead, use section reviews and quizzes less frequently to judge where your students are at.
The transition back to school isn’t only stressful on you; it’s wildly stressful on families as well. Many families had to completely restructure how they conducted day-to-day life due to their kids being home 24/7. Many families needed to find last-minute childcare.
As parents return to the office, there might be some growing pains as everyone gets used to the old, but new, normal once again. To help ease this burden on families, provide parents with information about school-wide COVID-19 related changes and what both short-term and long-term plans look like. That way, families can prepare as best as possible when planning seems impossible.
Students, parents, and teachers will all feel anxious about returning to school. Rather than avoiding this anxiety, encourage the tolerance of that anxiety.
Be understanding and validating of anxiety, but help to encourage families to return to school for the best interest of the student’s academic success. Find ways to help diminish the stress by introducing a staged and gradual return to the classroom.
Coming back to school after so long away can prove challenging, but at De Alba Math Center, we are here to help take off some of the unnecessary burden. We have worksheets and foldables that you can use to teach STAAR-approved mathematics lessons, letting you focus on the anxiety and ever-changing policies coming your way.
The best part? Our materials are all able to be integrated into Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom. Even if you find yourself teaching students in a hybrid format going forward, none of your students will miss out on course material with our consumables and digital solutions.
Check out our math essentials today, and let us take out some of the anxiety that comes with returning to school this year.
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