With change comes feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. The 20/21 school year has been filled with change and our emotions as teachers, parents, and students are running high. And yet, another change is still coming.
As the 20/21 school year ends, the next step is to focus on the transition into a new year and what that will look like for schools across America. Some schools are transitioning back to in-person learning for the first time, some schools may be keeping a remote or hybrid schedule, and some schools may be trying to get back to as much normalcy as possible.
How do we prepare ourselves when guidelines are constantly changing and the world is still facing immense uncertainty? We focus on what we can and do our best to help our students and each other feel safe and supported.
At The Juice, we understand how nerve-wracking this transition can be. We’ve done our best to offer advice to teachers, parents, and students as they prepare for the coming school year.
For Our Teachers
Review Safety Procedures with your Students
Be sure all of your students know the expectations from day one. Review the classroom expectations, hallway expectations, lunch and recess expectations. Go over these expectations every morning. Try to make it a fun warm up and quiz your students on the rules and procedures.
Stress the importance of washing and sanitizing our hands and keeping our masks properly on our faces. Show an informational clip about how quickly germs can spread. Teach the why behind every procedure so students will take it seriously and have more motivation to keep themselves and each other safe.
Communicate Changes and Expectations
We already know things will change throughout the school year, just as they did this year. Prepare your students for these changes. We cannot predict what these alterations will be and what they will look like, but don’t leave your students in the dark. Try to inform your students of any change as soon as you can and explain why the change is happening.
If expectations change around school work or school attendance, communicate exactly what their new expectations are and how to follow them. Let them know who they can contact if they have any questions or are confused on what to do.
The more you communicate with students and their families, the more at ease they will be in unexpected situations.
Be Flexible and Have a Plan
Try to be flexible and understanding when things don’t go the way you expect. Have a plan for things you do expect and anticipate things that could happen.
Have expectations and assignments already in place if a student needs to stay home and learn remotely. Have detailed substitute plans ready to go if you can’t make it into work. Plan on differentiated teaching to match all student needs and expect to hit priority skills even harder so students can catch up on what they missed.
Positivity
Students feed off your energy. If you come off as a nervous wreck, your students are going to be feeling the exact same way. It’s important to maintain a calm, positive demeanor around your students, even when unexpected things happen.
Use a lot of positive language and show your students how excited you are to have them back in class, whether in-person or virtually. Build confidence in your students and reassure that they are safe.
Don’t focus on negative things such as how behind students may be, time lost during remote learning, the difficulty of teaching during a pandemic. Instead, tell your students how proud you are that they are here and ready to learn. Show them you are invested in their growth and are excited to see how much they can learn this year.
Take Care of Yourself
With so many students to worry about, don’t forget to take care of yourself. Try some new self-care routines, say no when you need to, and ask for help. We could all use some support during these times.
For Our Parents
Keep Routines and Schedules in Place
If your student has been learning remotely, daily schedules may have dwindled. Starting a new school year after summer, especially if students are going back to in-person for the first time, can be a shock if your kids aren’t used to the routine.
Keeping up routines and schedules at home can help ease your kids back into the school year. Create a calendar with important events where the whole family can see it. That way, everyone is responsible for staying on track.
Have a set routine every day and have expectations for waking up on time, completing schoolwork at home or getting to school on time, eating meals, after-school activities, and appropriate times to go to bed.
Plan for extra time in the beginning as you and your kids are getting used to a new schedule. Normal tasks might take a little longer until everyone is set in their routine.
Review Safety Expectations with your Kids
Make sure your kids know the school’s safety guidelines. Buy plenty of extra masks in case they get broken or lost. Explain why safety is important and remind them that keeping themselves safe means they are also keeping their friends, families, and teachers safe as well.
If you want to implement your own safety rules with your kids, be clear with your expectations and continue to explain why. Knowing the reasoning behind a decision or expectation will help your kids follow the rules.
Have Some Fun
This year is going to have a lot of focus on academics. Teachers will be working hard to ensure all students get caught up on key concepts and any gaps are filled from the previous year. This can feel pretty stressful for your kids.
Yes, your kids may have missed some key learning and be behind on some things due to the unexpected changes last year, but if our kids are overly stressed it will cause more harm than good.
Help your kids take their minds of school and learning now and then and plan some fun activities you can do as a family. Make family time a priority and ensure your students have some free time to relax and rewind.
Teach Coping Skills
Speaking of being stressed, many kids don’t know how to properly cope with feelings of stress, anxiety, or depression. We know that these emotions have been heightened throughout this pandemic.
Teach your children how to care for themselves and offer some ideas for self-care. Model this by practicing self-care yourself and explaining what helps you calm down when you aren’t feeling 100%.
Create a space where your kids know they can talk to you about any difficulties they are facing and genuinely listen to their concerns. Here are some ideas to help start the conversation.
For Our Students
Make Physical and Mental Health a Priority
Taking care of your mind and body is so important during tumultuous times. With so much change and lack of normalcy, our bodies can feel extra run down and tired and our emotions might be all over the place.
A major part of making health a priority is getting a good night’s sleep. Teenagers should be getting around 8 hours of sleep. Stick to an appropriate bedtime and try not to hit the snooze button too many times in the morning.
Being active can also benefit your health in a major way. This doesn’t mean you need to hit the gym every day. Taking walks, playing sports, and dancing are some great ways to get yourself moving.
Take care of your mental health by practicing self care. This looks different for everyone and you may need to try some different activities to see what works for you. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Understand What it Means to be Safe
Safety is no joke. Know the safety guidelines your school and your family have in place and be sure to follow them. If you don’t understand why a safety procedure is in place, ask someone to explain the reasoning behind it. Not only are you keeping yourself safe, but also your friends, family, and teachers.
Stay Organized
Getting back to a normal school schedule can be tough at first. Keep your materials organized, have a spot for all of your work, and decide when and where you will complete your homework. The stricter you are with your routine, the more successful you will be and the less stressed you will feel.
Be Flexible and Understanding
Your teachers are still learning new routines and procedures and these may change throughout the year. You are also learning new routines and procedures. Everything might not be perfect as school starts and things may change as you go.
Be kind and compassionate to your teachers as they navigate all of these uncertainties and new expectations. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect and understand that you might make mistakes here and there when learning new procedures. Fix your mistakes, learn the best you can, and continue moving forward.
The Juice
With four unique reading levels to facilitate differentiated learning and to ensure all students have access to the same information, The Juice is the perfect solution for ELA, Social Studies, and Civics classrooms.
Students read today’s news in 10-20 minutes, interacting with informational text, practicing digital media literacy skills, and answering standards-based questions while sharpening their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.
Teachers receive real-time diagnostic information about student performance with data that highlights standards mastery and accountability.
