Sure, the schools have barely broken up for the summer holidays, but many of you will already be thinking about the new school year in September and how to make it as fun and stress-free for you and your pupils. Check out four of our top hacks for a stress-free September below:
Get ahead now
Teaching in the UK right now can seem like a never-ending cycle of marking, preparation and contact time, so it’s only natural that with six weeks off stretching out before you, you might be tempted to put off your prep work. Don’t! Get it out of the way nice and early so that you can spend the rest of your holiday really relaxing, not worrying about what else needs to be done.
Plan your first week of lessons, change displays in your classroom and order any resources you need now while your head is still in the game.
Plan to consolidate in the first week or two back
Remember that however brilliant your teaching methods are, your students may not remember everything that they learned before the holiday. In fact, they might not remember much of it – six weeks off will do that to a brain! To tackle this, it’s a good idea to plan some consolidation exercises in the first weeks back at school. Go over what was learned at the end of the previous term and make sure that your students have a good basis on which to build the next term’s knowledge.
Chat with other teachers
If you surround yourself with other teachers and only other teachers, that way madness lies, but learning from others is a great way to make yourself a better teacher. Other teachers at your school can help with your prep for the new school term, and teachers from other schools might have ideas you hadn’t thought of yourself.
…But do switch off at some point
A burned-out teacher is no good for anyone, so once your prep work is done, switch off your brain and try not to think about school for the rest of the holiday period. The rest will do you good and it will do your teaching good too – you’ll return to school in September feeling genuinely refreshed and enthusiastic, rather than desperate for another holiday already!
