S2, EP 1: Back To School

Back To School

Welcome back to the Teacher Takeaway Podcast for Season 2. We are so grateful that you have joined us. 

In episode 1, the Teacher Takeaway team will be unpacking and discussing all things back to school, including:

• goals for the podcast for Season 2
• our roles for 2022
• all things back to school and managing the COVID chaos

Season 2 Podcast Goals

We have some big ambitions and goals for Season 2, including:

• ​sharing resources on this website
• continue to be a valuable resource for educators
• practical ideas for teachers to takeaway
• building a sense of community

• guest speakers on key topics
• timely episodes that are akin to what is currently happening in schools

Our Roles for 2022

The Teacher Takeaway team are in some exciting roles this year. Check out what they are up to:

• James Gray - Deputy Principal at a new school
• Aaron Johnston - Stage 3 Assistant Principal and Instructional Leader 2 days a week at his current school
• Alice Vigors - Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction at her current school
• Rebecca West - Assistant Principal Curriculum and Instruction at her current school

Back To School Tips and Tricks

COVID Conversations
It is important to have an idea about how you might facilitate these discussions early on - will you embrace it, use a social story or scaffolding a conversation!

We need to be aware that our students are coming off a 6 week break that will have perhaps looked different. Some may have experienced isolation, contracting COVID or knowing someone who did, vaccinations. All of these experiences are valued and naturally kids will want to talk about what they did during the holidays, so ensuring we are prepared is essential. 

​Austism Spectrum website social story - visual schedule for RAT testing

Click the image to download the complete visual from austismspectrum.org.au

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Setting Expectations
​Begin the year strong by building a classroom culture and expectations with students by involving students in the conversation. This builds student agency and buy-in over the learning space. 

Engage in a shared conversation with students about learning and behaviour expectations for the classroom helps to build the norms for how things work in that classroom. Students are very attuned to how things operate in a classroom and what the teacher expects, so instead of giving them the rules, work with the students to create them together. This helps to give students ownership over the expectations we have of every one in the room and provides accountability. 

​It is important 

Read what Alice says about building classroom expectations - Thinking Pathways website

It is about building a community

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Building Routines
Start the year by building routines and spending lots of time getting them how you want things done. Time invested at the beginning of the school year in setting routines up properly is not time wasted. It sets your year up for success. 
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Make sure that you do things slowly and chunk bigger routines into small manageable components.

Be really explicit about your expectations, which goes right down to the smallest things, like:

• ruling a margin
• writing the date

Take the time to walk around and make sure it is the way you want it.

Practice It!

Expect it!

We guarantee you won't have to do it all year long if you lay the ground work from Day One.

Include visuals to go with routines for students whose English is a second language or a barrier for them. 

If you use a visual timetable. Be religious with it and think about how you will show change for those that really need it, like a STAR. 

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Behaviour
Spend time building quality relationships with students, regardless of if you have taught them before. 

• get to know the kids
• let them who you are as a person

Relationships must be reciprocal. 

Every child wants to feel known, valued and cared for!

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Classroom Environment
You don't need a Pintrest perfect classroom. Are they really practical?

Start with a blank canvas! Why?

Read what Alice says about the classroom environment - Thinking Pathways website

Alice highlights that the classroom is not just for th teacher but it is a space for the students as well and they need to have a voice in how that room looks and is set up. This includes the desk arrangement, the spaces in the room, and what goes up on the wall.

It is tempting  to put lots of things up on the classroom walls at the beginning of the year. Everything that goes up on your wall should have a purpose - shaing learning or instructional practice.

If we are putting a poster up before term has started, is it really going to have the instructional value that we are looking for? 

Anything that goes up on your wall for instructional purposes should be explicitly introduced and explained or be utilised in the teaching process for it to have any value and for students to use it beyond that learning experience. Otherwise it just becomes part of the background and takes up valuable wall space. 

Students love to help the teacher - allow them to help put things up on the wall. 

Think about the placement of your displays.

• Don't put things up too high
• Have plain sections that segment things
• If you haven't touched it, utilised it, used it for teaching in 5 weeks, is it the best thing to have up? Why is it there?
• Don't make the front of the room too busy, especially around the board and interactive whiteboard. 

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Remember