Here's a breakdown of not only when to reset your classroom, but also how and why it's effective.
Resetting your classroom will help you have a smoothly ran classroom, prevent disruptive behavior, get your students to listen to you, and help students follow directions the first time you ask them.
These 3 strategies will help you confidently teach procedures, create your classroom rules, and incorporate natural consequences.
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// ABOUT
I’m Helena, a coach for new and first-year teachers sharing knowledge on how to have a thriving career and personal life.
The Present Teacher Podcast is a resource for classroom management, classroom organization, time management, and teacher wellness. Follow along and learn how to thrive in the classroom and in life.
Subscribe to The Present Teacher Podcast to get inspired by new weekly podcast episodes!
Here's a breakdown of not only when to reset your classroom, but also how and why it's effective.
Resetting your classroom will help you have a smoothly ran classroom, prevent disruptive behavior, get your students to listen to you, and help students follow directions the first time you ask them.
These 3 strategies will help you confidently teach procedures, create your classroom rules, and incorporate natural consequences.
Download the Ultimate Classroom Management Guide Here: https://sunny-creator-106.ck.page/68df834c5c
Join the 3-Day Classroom Management Challenge: https://sunny-creator-106.ck.page/16b7f30fc2
Get support inside The Present Teacher Circle Community: https://thepresentteacher.com/present-teacher-circle/
___________________________
❤️Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/thepresentteacher/
🔥TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@thepresentteacher
🚀Website | https://thepresentteacher.com/
💜YouTube | https://youtube.com/@ThePresentTeacher?si=meqMmiDHJN-0Jmlr
___________________________
// RESOURCES
💌 Join our email list for weekly motivation | https://sunny-creator-106.ck.page/4277e03f92
🌼 Join our Community on Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/groups/thrivingnewteachers
___________________________
// ABOUT
I’m Helena, a coach for new and first-year teachers sharing knowledge on how to have a thriving career and personal life.
The Present Teacher Podcast is a resource for classroom management, classroom organization, time management, and teacher wellness. Follow along and learn how to thrive in the classroom and in life.
Subscribe to The Present Teacher Podcast to get inspired by new weekly podcast episodes!
So your students are coming in a lip it off and you're wondering when is the right time to reset my classroom? When do I know I need to reset my classroom and how do I reset it? What do people need when my classroom needs to reset or they reset their classroom? Well, today we're gonna be diving in on when to reset your classroom and what that looks like and how to know when you should do it. So, that being said, let's dive in.
Speaker 1:Hey, teacher Bestie, my name's Helena and I'm the creator of the Present Teacher Podcast. I'm a first year teacher coach and in this podcast, you are gonna learn everything from simple, actual classroom management, social learning and teacher wellness strategies. You know that impact you wanna make in the classroom, or we're gonna make it happen here. So the first thing you might be wondering is what do I mean by reset your classroom? Before we dive in, let's get super clear on what I mean by resetting your classroom. In true teacher fashion, I'm gonna cover the who, what, when, where of resetting your classroom. So first let's dive in to who. Resetting your classroom is not only important for you, but also for your students as well. It's a way to start fresh with a clean slate and make sure things are better and you improve them as you go. So now that we know that who resetting your classroom benefits, let's talk about what resetting your classroom actually looks like. Resetting your classroom is when you feel like how your classroom is running doesn't really align with your goals and you decided to give it a clean slate and revisit certain expectations. For example, maybe students are continuously not following your expectations because you realize you haven't had consistent consequences. These are both areas that you might review or do a reset on and actually gets the beginning of the school year and review them in depth all over again. Or maybe you need a classroom reset because students have forgotten procedures on how to do X, y, z, so you decide to do a classroom reset and review those procedures. Either way, resetting your classroom is essentially going back to the beginning of the year and resetting or restarting the school year, and the benefits is you can do it at any time. So now that we talked about that, resetting your classroom isn't a bad thing, it's actually a really good thing, and here's why All teachers reset their classroom in one form or another during the school year. I can pretty much guarantee it. So have you ever seen Polar Express, the movie? The train is moving on ice and it's getting off track and the conductor directs the train to get back on the path of the railroad, just like your classroom. You are the conductor of the train, trying to get your train back on the tracks. That's essentially what you're doing when you're doing a classroom reset.
Speaker 1:So now that we talked about what a classroom reset is, let's talk about when is a good time to reset your classroom. A good time to reset your classroom is actually at the beginning of the year. This is the time where most teachers go over the rules, expectations, procedures and consequences. But what I find, especially with newer teachers, myself included, is oftentimes teachers do this once and then they tend to forget it or until it becomes really, really major. That's why it's really important to do resets and reviews throughout the school year.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about some other times you might be doing a classroom reset in your classroom. The first one is before and after major break. One time of year I highly emphasis on, highly highly recommend resetting your classroom is before and after school breaks. Now, I don't know about you, but my students tend to get a little bit excited and exhausted right before and after major holidays or breaks. I'm looking at you winter break and spring break, which is the perfect time to reset your classroom. It's pretty common in the elementary grades, but take the first couple of days following or before break and go ahead and review those classroom procedures and revisit areas of your classroom that isn't running smoothly and not running the way you would like it to.
Speaker 1:Another great time to reset your classroom is to reset it when it feels like your students aren't listening to you. If you feel like you've asked your students to get in line at a level zero a dozen times and they still aren't listening to you, chances are this is a good sign to reset your classroom. This is a big lesson I found out eventually was that students don't typically ignore directions on purpose. A majority of kids want to make you happy, especially when you have a strong relationship built and follow expectations when they can. They just aren't clear on what you want or they forgotten. So, for example, let's say you were in my class and I asked you to get in line. So class, class guess. Yes, I would actually have a song for a transition. I'm going to talk about that later in later content. But everybody get.
Speaker 1:You get in the line and you start talking to your teacher bestie about how excited you are for lunch. Well then, me being the teacher, I get frustrated at you for not doing it quietly and make the whole class do it again. Now I was pretty vague. If I just would have established the expectation that we are going getting in line at a zero from the get go, we most likely wouldn't have initiated that conversation with your teacher bestie when you got in line. So now let's say I dismiss you by group to get in line, but instead of just telling you to get in line, I physically get up and show you what it looks like and sounds like to get in line. Then, when it's your turn, I start to praise you and the other teachers on what I like about how you are getting in line. For example, I love how Miss Smith is using walking feet. Thank you, mr Jones, for going in line on a level zero. You get the idea, but doesn't that energetically feel better for not only me as a teacher, or, in this case, you when you are, or you as the student when you do that? That's the whole idea. It feels good for both. So try doing it that way.
Speaker 1:The point is, students need clarity, and it's so easy for students to forget what the expectations are If we aren't reviewing them consistently. So that's a good indicator that it's time for a reset. I like to think of this a lot like driving a car. The first part, first few times you are driving a car, you're double checking every single little move. You're anxious, you're not really that confident, but eventually you do it so naturally that you drive without even thinking about it. The same goes when it comes to your expectations. Once you've reviewed them enough, they become habits, and if your students have created habits that you don't like, that's a good indicator that it's time to reset. You want to help your students get to that point in the classroom that there's clarity, and that's where clarity comes in.
Speaker 1:Another good indicator of when it's time to reset your classroom is when students are continuously forgetting expectations. As I mentioned earlier, it's really easy for them to forget what they are supposed to be doing, and in my new teaching position, I've been in several classrooms and it's safe to say that every teacher does things a little bit differently, so it's no wonder students forget who does what which way. So make sure to reset your classroom when it feels like where students need a quick refresh on more expectations in the classroom. The next way or time you should be resetting your classroom is, frankly, when you want to. If I make 100% honest, sometimes you know you need a classroom reset because you just simply feel like you needed. It's hard to explain that feeling, but you just know that you need to make a change and you and your students could use a fresh start. So that's a good indication and that it's time for a reset.
Speaker 1:Now that we talked about who a classroom reset benefits, what it is and when to do it, let's talk about the how. How do you go about resetting your classroom? Here are some questions to ask yourself. One can my students run the classroom without me? For example, a couple actually.
Speaker 1:I believe it was three years ago I stepped out to go talk to the admin in my building. The special education teacher was there. My students were in the middle of centers. As a second grade teacher in second grade, so I went ahead and stepped out. I had someone who had a job of running transitions. They played the music. When I came back, my students not only ran through three more rotations of each of the centers, but they were also at the carpet with their books for whole group learning. And I talked to the special education teacher when I got back and her mind was blown away. She said she didn't have to do anything, that the students ran the computer and everybody knew what to do and they all followed the expectations.
Speaker 1:So the question is can your students run the classroom without you? If you were to step out and go talk to another adult or go do something and had someone else supervising that class, could they run the expectations without you? That reminds me of another story I heard and I know it was trending on Facebook there for a while, but of a high school class running the classroom and they got through four periods before the students reached out to the office to let them know that their sub had never shown up. Yet all of the students followed the expectations and got their work done without a sub. Can your students get to that level, or are your students at that level?
Speaker 1:If no, question number two what areas do you need to reset or revisit together to make that happen? Here's procedures to revisit that. If you feel like your procedures need a reset, make a list of procedures that your students don't have down as a habit yet, that you want to reset, revamp or revisit over the next couple of days. Here are some examples of some procedures that you could be maybe revamping or revisit. Turning in work what does that look like and sound like? Adding to a discussion are we raising our hand or are we just turning without the teacher saying anything? Do we have a signal that we're ready to join the whole group conversation? Discussing with a partner what does that look like and sound like? Packing up to leave, transitioning from whole group to small group, using scissors, sharpening a pencil, getting in line, grabbing our materials, grabbing extra materials these are all examples of some procedures you might want to review on what it looks like and sounds like.
Speaker 1:The next thing you might want to review or revisit is where roles. Ask yourself do my roles still represent the heart of my classroom? I like to think of your roles as your building blocks to your classroom. Do my students know and follow the rules by heart? If not, then maybe you decide it's time to keep them or tweak them, and if you want to review them more frequently, you can revamp these and change these whenever you want. That's the beauty of being a teacher. It's your classroom. Do I recommend having 20 plus roles and changing them every month? Definitely not, but you can still fix them as you go and reset your classroom whenever needed.
Speaker 1:The next thing I recommend revamping or revisiting is your consequences. Am I being consistent with consequences when students aren't following directions, or am I giving them a lot of warnings? Here's some ideas on how you can revamp your consequences. If not, map out what it looks like the first time, second time, third time, fourth time, that a student doesn't follow expectations, here's an example of what the consequences could be if students aren't following the classroom expectations. The first one proximity. Maybe, for example, it's your students are talking when you're teaching, so instead of calling that student out in front of the whole class and getting in a power struggle, you decide to go stand next to them and your presence will hopefully make the two students refocus on you and the lesson. Maybe that's the first warning. The second time is a sideline and a natural consequence. Maybe the second time you have the student come talk to you on the sideline or out in the hallway. The next time they do it if the proximity doesn't help, and you have a conversation on what the expectations are in class and you let them know what will happen if they do not follow the expectations. The third time, maybe during that free time at the end of the day they're practicing with. That procedure looks like and sounds like. The fourth time, maybe it's a family contact.
Speaker 1:Fifth time, a behavior plan. But start mapping out. What am I going to do? The first time students aren't following the expectations or directions. And then what's the second, third, fourth, fifth time? You don't want to give four or five warnings before you take action, because then students will know that you don't actually mean what you say. And you want to make sure you have that structure in the classroom, because students thrive off of structure. Yes, room for creativity, but still, structure will help you with that as well. So that wraps up when you should do a classroom reset.
Speaker 1:We talked about when or who a classroom reset benefits, what it is, when you should do it and how to actually go about resetting your classroom. If you want to dive deeper into classroom management in general, I want to invite you to download the ultimate classroom management challenge for new teachers. This is a three day challenge diving into how to handle disruptive behavior, like how to handle when students aren't following directions, when they're chatting a lot, and then how to create a classroom management plan that's aligned with you, and more values. And if you want to also get more resources I have you can download the ultimate classroom management guide. I'll make sure to put this in the description, but this answers the top questions I get in regards to managing a classroom with confidence. And then, if you want to take it a step further, I want to invite you to join us inside the present teacher circle community where we dive deeper into topics that every new teacher should know with confidence, like planning, prepping, classroom management, communication and everything in between, like classroom organization. It covers a lot. It's kind of the hub for all new teachers to come hang out.
Speaker 1:So I hope you found this helpful. Let me know are you doing a classroom reset and which of these strategies did you use? Let me know in the comments or send me a DM. As always, remember we are stronger together and I will see you in the next one. Teacher bestie Bye. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. I hope that you were able to take away some value that will help you thrive inside and out of the classroom. It would mean the world to me if you could take five seconds right now and leave a review on this podcast. And if you found this podcast especially helpful, make sure to take a screenshot of this episode right now and tag me on your socials to let me know you're listening. As always, remember that we are stronger together with all the love in the world. Helena, aka the present teacher. See you next time, teacher bestie.