Tips for teachers to start the school year right.
Teachers create the weather. – Steve Haberlin
August is here! Pretty soon your school doors will open to students from all over the area. Every human that walks through those doors is unique. They have their own family traditions, family makeup, and even home language. They have different economic realities, learning strengths, challenges, and needs. And the reality is this ~ how you start the school year is how it’s going to end.
Teachers are at the forefront of how students experience school. They are the ones who determine whether the learning environment feels safe or stressful. As Steve Haberlin writes, “Teachers create the weather.”
If it sounds like a lot of responsibility, it is. Educators shape the lives of children every single day. So, it’s critical to build a positive classroom climate and start the school year off right.
Strategies to Start the School Year with a Positive Classroom Climate & Environment:
- First Impressions Count: Be present as soon as you walk in those school doors. Greet students at the door. Have good posture. Make eye contact. Be intentional about how you greet students and help them settle into their desks right away. You are the leader, and they need to feel a presence of positive authority.
- Focus on Connections: Build a foundation for a healthy classroom environment by getting to know your students and allowing them to know you. Build and sustain relationships. This begins the first day of class.
- Establish Expectations from the moment the students walk into the classroom. Set clear and consistent rules and consequences. This includes classroom rules, behavior guidelines, and academic expectations. Always expect excellence. (And your students will respond!)
- Routine, consistency, and calm: To feel safe, kids need to know what to expect. Make your classroom a place where students arrive and know what to expect and what is expected of them. Be the sanctuary in their lives.
- Create a Comfortable Learning Space: This isn’t always easy, and there are ways to make even the gloomiest of classrooms (many of us have been stuck in that weird, windowless classroom down the forgotten hallway) welcoming. Key pieces of comfort include ventilation, light, and clutter-free spaces. Students get distracted fast when the classroom walls are papered with everything from the solar system to math equations.
Preparing your classroom for a new school year can be daunting and exciting. Invest time in relationship-building to create a classroom where students feel safe to share, to learn, to experiment, to raise their hands, and to excel. We wish you a wonderful 2026 – 2027 school year.
