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JULY:

The Self-Running Classroom

WEEK 2: plan procedures for


a smooth first week

THIS WEEK, youll choose actionable steps to help you:


q Plan out all your classroom routines and procedures
q Determine when and how youll teach each procedure
q Decide on your class rules and behavioral policies (and how to
teach them to students)
q Choose engaging activities for the first week of school

The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

Although its important to dedicate part of your summer to true relaxation, you
should set aside at least a few days to getting ahead for the new school year.
The teachers I know who work 40-50 hour weeks tend to spend quite a few days of
their summer breaks planning out lessons so all they have to do during the school
year is adapt the activities for their current group of students.
If you already know the standards youll need to teach and have a rough pacing
guide, you can do the vast majority of your planning now and save several hours
every single week during the school year.
40 hour workweek teachers also tend to go into their classrooms over the summer
to get organized. Its just too difficult to make thoughtful decisions about how your
classroom should run once your contractual year has started and youre swamped
with meetings, paperwork, and new demands on your time.
The key is to make sure youre using your summer to work on the right things:
the stuff that helps you systematize classroom routines and automate your
work in order to save time later. Thats what well focus on this week.

8 things you can do now to make BTS less stressful

In this weeks club materials, youll find a PDF with eight things you can do now to
make BTS less stressful. Though you definitely dont have to do them all, if you
choose to work on school stuff this July, these are the things I recommend you
focus on.
You may want to batch these tasks: choose one week this summer to focus on
getting ahead on school stuff, and write each thing on your To-Do List for that week
so you have a realistic plan for what you will accomplish each day.
The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

Alternatively, you could dedicate one or two days now and a few days later in your
summer, or use one day a week to work on school stuff all summer long.
I really cant over-emphasize how critical the tasks on this checklist are for helping
you achieve work/life balance later on. They are a huge part of what enabled me to
work a 40 hour week when I was in the classroom, and I know they can make a big
difference for you, too!

Your main focus for first week of school preparations


Creating, introducing, modeling, and reinforcing your procedures and routines is
the most important focus for back to school. How well you plan and teach your
procedures will have a direct impact on how much time and energy you spend
throughout the school year on classroom management/upkeep as well as
student behavior.
Just as I advised you last week to focus on arranging your classroom in a way that
facilitates productivity (rather than focusing on the appearance of the room), you
want your back to school prep to center on creating efficient systems (rather than on
what to do with the kids on the first day of school.)
Later this month, Ill provide some get-to-know-you and community-building
activities. That way, you can focus now on how youll teach rules, routines,
procedures, and academics...and focus on connecting with your students once
school starts.
Knowing your students well and having a strong rapport and relationship with them
is crucial for their success and yours, but its hard to focus on that when youre still
figuring out classroom management issues. Im going to help you plan ahead so
youll know before the school year starts how you want your classroom to run and
what youll be teaching each day for the entire first week of school.

How to plan out all your routines + procedures


Use the editable procedure planner youre receiving with this weeks materials to
help you think through how you want your classroom to run. It includes everything
from pencil sharpening to bathroom privileges to passing in papers to stacking
chairs on desks at the end of the school day.
Use your summer to figure out exactly WHAT you want kids to do, and HOW to
communicate those expectations to them.

You might be thinking, I know what I want kids to do, so I dont need to write
everything out. However, kids are not mind-readers, and if we dont want to repeat
The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

ourselves a million times, we need to be really clear about what we want. The more
specific you are about your expectations, the less room there will be for
students to misinterpret or push the limits of whats acceptable.
Plus, its surprisingly easy to get overwhelmed by everything else happening in the
classroom and forget the routine you wanted kids to follow, so write it down! Youll
also find that the procedure planner is an extremely useful document for your
substitute teachers to reference when students give conflicting instructions about
how the classroom is normally run.

Im purposely making the procedure planner available only as an editable


document only (not as a PDF) because I want you to think of it as a work in
progress. Dont expect yourself to create a perfect system right now! You can--and
should--change things later on as you get to know your incoming group of students.
I tried out new procedures and routines every single school year, looking for the
optimal way to make my classroom run smoothly for each group of kids. That's part
of the art of teaching, so enjoy the possibilities!
Remember that you are designing the user experience in your classroom: you want
to create procedures and routines that are intuitive for kids. Dont just think about
whats easiest for you: think about what will make sense to them so theyre
more likely to remember and follow through.

Planning when and how to teach routines + procedures


The procedure planner includes a section for WHEN and HOW you will teach
your expectations to students. We all know that telling kids what to do is not
enough, and giving a 30-minute lecture on How To Do Everything on the first day of
school will cause them to completely tune out.
Im going to help you introduce each routine to students in an authentic context, and
then model, practice, and reinforce your expectations on a continual basis so
students really internalize them and understand how to be successful.


The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

For both elementary and secondary teachers, instruction on classroom procedures


and routines can be built right into academic lessons. For example, you can plan a
shorter than normal writing prompt (perhaps a getting-to-know you assignment) so
you have 5-15 minutes of time built in for teaching how to head papers
appropriately and pass them in afterward. When youre ready to introduce iPads or
hands-on manipulatives, plan a very simple, short activity reviewing academic skills
from last year so you can spend the majority of your time introducing the devices/
materials to students, practice using them correctly, and putting them away.
Heres some more specific advice and resources, depending on your grade
level.

CLASS PROCEDURES FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS

You can't teach it all the first day, so Im providing an editable set of sample lesson
plans for elementary teachers to use during the first week of school--these
naturally integrate procedural instruction.

The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

As you read through the sample lesson plans, notice how I have prioritized which
routines must be taught first thing, which can be taught later in the day, and which
can wait for later in the week. You might find that your priorities are different, so feel
free to move things around.
For an elementary teacher, how to move about in the classroom (no running), where
to hang coats and backpacks, and hand-raising policies are topics that will arise
naturally within the first half hour of students entering the room. Later, you can
practice hallway behavior, bathroom expectations, pencil sharpening routines, and
rules/conflict resolution. In the afternoon, you can teach students about heading
papers, homework procedures, and dismissal routines. On the second day, youll
explicitly reinforce what youve already taught, and add things such as how to
distribute supplies, and participate in teaching techniques you plan to use (thinkpair-share, partner reading, noise level monitoring devices, the 3 Before Me rule,
etc.)

ELEMENTARY

See how it works in real classrooms

Teaching Heart

Teach 4 The Heart

Nerdy Teacher
Confessions

Fun in First

CLASS PROCEDURES FOR SECONDARY TEACHERS


At the middle and high school level, a lot less detail is needed, and the introduction
of procedures needs to be more creative and engaging, since students will be
hearing a different set of rules and expectations for every class theyre assigned to.
You may want to:

Provide a written outline or PowerPoint (perhaps with memes) and go through


each one briefly together
Put students in groups and have each group teach one procedure to the rest of
the class (you may want to save this for a few days into the school year to reinforce
procedures, as students may not be comfortable enough with each other to do
this on day one)
Give a interactive quiz on procedures (maybe with Kahoot)

The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

SECONDARY

See how it works in real classrooms

Scholastic

Better Lesson

Teaching with Ellie


Thorson

Simply Novel
Teachers

What about class rules?


So far, weve only talked about procedures/routines, so let's clarify now what
purpose rules serve and how they differ from routines.
Rules set the tone for the learning environment and provide broad guidelines about
what should and should not be happening as a whole in the classroom. Procedures
and routines are specific steps that kids are supposed to take in particular scenarios.
Therefore, your focus should be on preventing rule violations by pro-actively
planning routines and procedures.

Think about it like this: when youre driving, the rule is to follow traffic safety laws (or
face a penalty.) But the procedure is to keep an eye on your speedometer, place
both hands on the wheel, and stay focused on the road ahead of you (rather than
using your phone or listening to loud music that will distract you.)
The procedure tells you how to be successful at keeping the rule. When the
procedure has become automatic for you, rule violations will be pretty rare. So in
the classroom, you want to focus most of your time and energy NOT on drilling
rules and consequences into students heads, but practicing procedures over
and over again.

Kids know not to push and shove one another when lining up. They dont need a
reminder of the rule. They need to repeatedly practice how to line up quietly until
the procedure becomes automatic, and then have that procedure reinforced on a
regular basis all throughout the school year. Your rules and consequences will create
boundaries, but procedures and routines are what will keep your classroom running
smoothly.
So, do create a handful of general rules, but use them as a framework for your
routines. Students should follow the routines for keeping their desks neat because
The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

that's part of the rule about being a responsible student. They should follow the
routines for working quietly without disrupting others because that's part of the rule
about respecting other people.

Another way to think about and explain rules is to call them goals (i.e., Goal #1:
Respect Yourself, Goal #2: Respect Others). Then you can introduce the routines and
procedures as a way to help students meet the goals. Instead of saying, "Being rude
is against the rules" youll say, "Our class goal is to be respectful at all times. A rude
tone does not help us meet our goal." Following the 'rules' then becomes a team
effort to meet the goals that students agreed upon from the beginning of the year,
rather than something you have to catch students doing or not doing so you can
punish them.
If you choose to have a whole class reward system or behavior management system,
make sure you choose something simple and not time-consuming. (Ask in the clubs
Facebook group if you want to brainstorm ideas with other teachers at your grade
level.)

Planning how to teach behavior policies and consequences


Some teachers like to make rules as a class so students have more ownership. I've
found that to be effective, but you've probably figured out by now that I like to
experiment with different approaches! Because rules were a much smaller part of
my approach to classroom management than procedures, I often had simple rules
already created for the class. Normally I would select three rules that cover
everything from talking to fighting to writing on desks:
1. Respect yourself.
2. Respect others.
3. Respect the school (and everything in it.)

One year, I taught at a school that had an awesome set of five "Rules of Respect" that
I thought were perfectly phrased and could serve as powerful classroom rules or
goals.
1. I will reflect RESPECT.
2. I will be a RESPONSIBLE student.
3. I will display GOOD MANNERS.
4. I will practice acts of KINDNESS.
5. I will promise to ALWAYS DO MY BEST!

The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

An editable PowerPoint version of these rule posters is included with this


weeks materials. You can change the colors to match your preferences.
On the first day of school, we talked about the meaning of respect and described
what a respectful classroom looks and sounds like, creating a chart that we could
reference as needed during the first few weeks of school to analyze whether certain
actions are respectful or disrespectful.
If I felt like my class needed to explore the concept further, I put scenarios on scraps
of paper, had students draw them out of a bag and read them, and we discussed. I
tried to choose situations that were 'gray areas' and in order to encourage critical
thinking, moral reasoning, and lots of group discussion. It helped me understand
which students had higher-order thinking skills in place and get an idea of what
students value systems were. We also talked about disrespect: they could easily
name all the disrespectful behaviors that might take place in the classroom, but
needed help brainstorming a list of alternative actions.

After you introduce your class rules to students and ensure they understand the
meaning of each one, introduce any reward systems youre using and talk briefly
about the consequences or behavior management system youre putting into place.
For legal and accountability purposes, I think all behavioral policies you use should
be determined in conjunction with your team and/or administration, and then
written out in a contract for you, the principal, parents, and students to sign. This way
if problems arise, everyone is already on the same page about the expectations and
consequences. So when introducing rules to students, you might want to show the
contract (which will already have been signed by you and the administration), review
it together, have them sign, and then send home a copy for their parents to sign as
well.

ELEMENTARY

See how it works in real classrooms

Classroom
Caboodle

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2 Busy Brunettes

The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

Responsive
Classroom

SECONDARY

JULY WEEK 2: PROCEDURES FOR A SMOOTH FIRST WEEK

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Teaching

Managing the Art


Classroom

Lanternfish

New Teachers
Website

Choosing back-to-school activities for the first week


Later this month, I will send you several getting-to-know-you activities as well
as a wide assortment of community-building and character-building activities
which are ready to use. Dont worry about choosing those quite yet.
The beginning of the year is such a hectic time, so I dont recommend doing a lot of
elaborate activities. Keep it simple so you can focus on establishing your routines
and procedures, and connecting with your new group of students.
Be sure to choose and photocopy a class set of a few resources which your students
can do completely independently even on the first day of school. You may not ever
use these activities, but if an urgent matter crops up and needs your immediate
attention, youll want something engaging for the kids to work on. With all the stress
that comes with the first week of school, you may also need a few minutes of
downtime for yourself, so prepare some fun independent activities just in case.

Your goal for the week


Look over the checklist of eight things you can do this summer to make backto-school less stressful, and plan how you want to use your remaining weeks of
break to get ahead. The editable procedure planner can help you think about
what your classroom expectations will be and HOW youll teach each
procedure to students, and the sample first week of school lesson plans for
elementary can help you plan WHEN youll teach each procedure.

Next week: Im going to teach you how to automate and delegate routine classroom

tasks so you spend less time on management and upkeep. From the first day of
school, you can begin training your students in how to take ownership of how the
classroom operates and be responsible for everything from homework collection to
making sure your computers/tablets are working correctly. Ill walk you step by step
through how to design, introduce, and maintain a classroom job system that is genuinely
useful and that you can turn entirely over to your students.
The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club Angela Watson

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