Starting a New School Year: Acts of Self-Preservation or Acts of Proactivity
Some of us have already made our way back to our classrooms to transform them into inviting, organized, and ready-for-instruction spaces. Other teachers, having mastered self-care at this point, are now beginning to savor the remnants of summer vacation until the alarm clock awakens them on the morning they report back to their respective campuses.
During my later years as a full- time teacher, I fell into the latter category, but before that, guiltily burdened by the tasks for the new school year, my mindset took the former path for a few reasons.
Every year, no matter how precisely and methodically I labeled my classroom technology, cabinets, chairs, and other movable furniture, I still had to hunt for these misplaced items that somehow made their way into a class, office, hallway, or a colleague’s classroom during summer school or summer cleaning. Some items would mysteriously show up in my classroom the day before students’ first day of school, while other times they eluded discovery altogether, probably fallen prey to a colleague’s finders keepers mentality.
However, coming back to campus a few days early increased my chances of finding and reclaiming my things. Additionally, the layout for my classroom was ever-changing and always first on my to-do list, especially since my first configuration for the new year rarely matched up with the actual dimensions of any classroom to which I was assigned. This task alone would become quite time- consuming for me.
To some, this might not seem important, but any experienced teacher can attest to how a classroom's seating arrangement can positively or negatively impact instruction and behavior. Plus, “spatial design . . . can dramatically improve classroom outcomes” (Terada).
Another reason I chose to shave a few days off my summer to prepare for my students was the need to decompress after the beginning-of-the-year in-service trainings, professional development, and ancillary meetings. Once freed from these mandatory collaborations, my mind was not immediately ready to tackle classroom design and lesson planning.
Instead, I decompressed by lunching with colleagues away from the school building or simply eating lunch alone in my classroom, mindlessly scrolling social media until it was time for the next meeting. Subconsciously, my anxiety was building because I was also contemplating the amount of preparation I would need to be ready for my students’ arrival the first week of school.
Some years, teacher prep days were two consecutive days; sometimes they were nonconsecutive. Other years, we were given only one full day and a random morning or afternoon. Either way, I knew I would need to use additional personal time to feel adequately prepared.
Share your insights. Do you savor every last remnant of summer vacation, or do you prefer to make the most of the start to each new school year by curtailing your leisure time to feel more prepared?
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MW
References: Terada, Youki. Edutopia. 18 8 2025. 6 8 2026.