Back to School Prep for Teachers: Systems You Need to Plan

Want to know what makes me cringe in terms of back to school prep for teachers?  When newer teachers ask what they should prepare over the summer, and experienced teachers share things from deciding decor to creating for the classroom.  

Don’t get me wrong.  That is the fun and exciting part when you start teaching, and I love to do those things too.  Plus, many of us need our physical space set up ahead of time.

BUT so much of how we set up and organize our classroom depends on our systems.  Before we can worry about how to decorate and set up our classrooms, we need to determine the systems that we will be using to run our classrooms.

This post is for new and experienced teachers alike, so don’t go anywhere yet.  Keep reading for the systems you need to plan, or need to re-evaluate.

Back to School Prep:  Saving Resources

Has it already started for you yet?  Inevitably over the summer, teachers start sharing all kinds of helpful content.  And during the back to school season, we find so many ideas and resources that we want to use in our classrooms.

What is your system for saving all the ideas and resources you come across?

If you are on Pinterest, you can save ideas to a board.  If you’re on Instagram, you can save posts to collections.  You could also use the Notes App on your phone, or another app like Google Keep.

When it comes to choosing a strategy, it doesn’t matter which one(s) you choose. What matters is that you plan your own system ahead of time. Ultimately, you want to avoid saving resources in several different places, and not being able to find what you need later.

Plan a File Saving System

Usually, when I think of resources, I think of resources that I download for free or ones that I purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers. Make sure you have a system planned for saving these files as well.

Here’s my example: Since I already have all of my digital files organized, my system is to simply save them to a folder immediately. Each unit I teach has its own folder.  So, when I find a resource that belongs in a particular unit, I save it in that unit folder.

Distributing and Collecting Supplies

Another system you will want to plan as part of your back to school preparations is for distributing and collecting supplies. How will students get the supplies they need? How will you get the supplies back?

There are no right or wrong answers here. But, there are ways to plan these systems that will lighten your load.

When it comes to systems that involve your students, like these, it is absolutely crucial that you get your students on-board first. These are some of the procedures that you should be teaching your students on the first day. When students know what to do and what to expect, your classroom will run much more smoothly.

Back to School Prep for Teachers:  Questions to Ask Yourself

Here are some guiding questions to help you determine your systems around distributing supplies:

• Will you pass out the supplies?
• Will students gather their own supplies?
• Are there certain supplies that you must pass out? (for safety reasons, to prevent students from taking too much, etc.)
• When will students get supplies?
• Can students have supplies at their desks ahead of time? Will they cause distractions? (Is there anything more annoying than when pencils and rulers become propellers?)
• How are your student desks arranged? Are they in rows or groups? Could that be used to streamline the distribution of supplies?

Think through those same questions in reverse to plan your system around collecting supplies. There is a lot to think through, and it may seem like overkill.  But the more details you consider, the more thorough your system will be, and the more prepared you and your students will be.

Plan Your Systems for Collecting and Returning Work

Flashback to my first day of teaching.  My students were seated at their desks arranged in rows.  They’d just completed the survey I had set out on their desks for them.  I asked them to pass them up to me in the front of the room.  Students exchanged confused glances.

I had to actually teach them how to pass papers up through the rows.  🤯  Apparently the practice was not as common as I’d thought.

Among the many procedures we need to teach our students as we prepare for back to school, we need to make sure we also teach how to turn in work.  Likewise, we need a system for how we return work to students.

Teach Your Systems to Your Students from Day One

Will students have a bin or folder where they turn their work in?  Will you walk around to collect work from each student?  (Don’t completely dismiss this idea.  It does give you a chance to speak one-on-one with students and open dialogue about missing work.)  Where will you put your students’ work once you collect it?

Likewise, think through how you will return work to your students.  Can a student pass the work back for you?  Are there certain assignments that you must pass back?  Be very careful about entrusting students to pass back graded work to other students.  (Personally, I don’t recommend this practice, but we all have different situations, and you know your students/school better than I will.)

Back to School Preparations:  Plan the Systems You Need to Teach Students

Additionally, consider timing.  At which point in your class period will you collect or return work to students?  To prevent distractions, I like to collect work at the beginning and return work at the end of class.

Need more ideas about planning for these systems?  Check out my YouTube video!

Back to School Prep for Teachers: Grading System 

Once you’ve collected work from your students, you will usually end up grading it in some form, so we also need a grading system.  Grading is one of those teacher tasks that can take a ton of time, but you can find ways to streamline it.  

This will take some time and experience to find what works for you, but here some things to consider:

• When will you grade?
• How will you grade?
• When will you update grades in your school’s grade management system?
• Will you accept late work or make-ups?
• How will grading late work or make-ups be handled?

Having a system in place around grading beforehand will save you and your students aggravation.  For example, my students know that their grades will be updated every Friday.  It saves us both time from having to ask and answer questions about grading.

System for Time Management

My ultimate tip for back to school prep for teachers is to plan a time management system.  Remember this quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  

With a system for time management in place, we know what to do and when.  We don’t have to waste time wondering what we should do next, and ultimately, we save ourselves time and aggravation.

Would you rather stay late most days trying to catch up on tasks that weren’t completed during the day?  Or would you rather leave close to the end of contract time?  This is where I can help!  The Teacher Productivity Master Academy is now open for enrollment through Sunday, August 1st. Click here for all the details!

Need more inspiration for systems to create as part of your back to school prep for teachers?  Check out my blog post all about my high school classroom procedures.