1. Don’t Waste Time on Activities That Have No Relationship to Intellectual Development

Before I start, we must understand the distinction between intellectual and academic development. Establishing group and teacher-student relationships has a direct impact on intellectual development. These activities may not be “academic”, but they indeed have a relationship to intellectual development. Building a positive environment and establishing relationships that foster students’ ideas of themselves as positive and smart students can be achieved in many ways, but not with some “Happy New Years” worksheet that you hand out just to get students “back in the groove” of school.

2. Don’t Assume You Have Students Who Cannot Learn

I know by this time of year you have a solid grasp on the “capacity” of most, if not all, of the students in your classroom. But just because Michaela has struggled with your program since September does not mean that you should make hardline assumptions about the rest of her year. The break should have been a time for you to re-charge your spirits; meaning re-investing your interest in every student, just like you did on the first day of school in September. Spend that time with those students who may have slipped a bit.

3. Don’t Quantify Your Students’ Capacity Every Day

I know most teachers want, and assume, to get students back into routine quicker after the winter break than the summer one. That’s fine. But that doesn’t mean that we have to quantify every last thing students do from the minute they step back into the classroom. This “don’t” specifically relates to #2 mainly because a fault of teachers is we (a) quantify everything students do in the classroom with some sort of academic assessment, and (b) make permanent assumptions off of these quantifiers. Balance and patience is key, we will all get to the finish line. But, we will be more successful if we engage students through demonstrating that not every last thing is high-stakes.

4. Don’t Rush The Academics

This is an obvious but understated rule to all “back-to-school” dialogue. The truth is, there is no magic time frame where one makes the shift from “ice-breaker” or team-building style activities to curriculum centered learning. But, if you are not going to devote at least some portion of that first day back to holding a conversation with your class about the goings-on of their holidays, good luck building that relationship with them in the long run.

5. Don’t Do Exactly What You Did Last Year

This one may be a little bit confusing, but follow me. We want our students to improve, right? Well then, in some capacity we have to model this behavior. For us, this could be something as disconnected (although nothing we do as teachers is really disconnected to the way we teach) as a personal goal like getting healthier. It could be a professional goal like being more patient or more accessible. It could even be a new saying. Basically, if we want our students to continuously improve and better themselves, we have to demonstrate this act. For me, I try to time up my math and language so that I finish up units sometime during that last week in December. I like to start the new year brand new. New units, new lessons, a new resolution…shoot, I may even come back on the first day with a new Polo! Point being, model improvement in whatever capacity seems appropriate to you.

The stretch after the winter break is crucially important for your students and you yourself as you look to carry on what you have established and maybe even elevate the bar. There are many things you can do to ensure that you have a tremendous second half of the year. But, there are also some don’ts that, if you stay away from, will almost equally ensure that your time back from winter recess will be productive and off to a flying start!

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The winter break is perfectly timed to provide some much needed rest all teachers need after that long, grueling, and dark stretch we endure starting just after Thanksgiving. Honestly, the zest of that brand new school year is often lost by mid-November and the Holiday Break comes at the perfect time to break up the year. Although we are almost halfway through the year, holiday festivities and New Year’s Celebrations are a great way to re-imagine the start of a whole new school year. The way that the first school week of January feels is identical to the first week back to school. Some students may not be so eager to get back into the groove, but all come with the idea that we are kind of starting fresh. There are a few things that every teacher should do when re-starting after winter break.

Those first few days of re-starting after winter break are ripe with opportunity to set straight some aspects of your classroom program that may have went astray in the weeks (or months!) leading up to winter break. It’s important to establish the tone you want to see in your class. Reminders about particular rules while reminding students that everyone is coming into the New Year with a fresh start is a solid way to foster the environment you want to see while giving your students the opportunity to see themselves in an optimistic light.

Don’t be so quick to dive right back into curriculum, especially on that first day. Yes, it is not exactly the first day of school and two weeks of winter break is a lot different than two months of summer break. But, if you’re not going to take some time on this first day back to talk to your students, then what day are you going to do that? Re-starting after winter break should include a little bit of candid conversation. Ask your students to share some stories about their break; don’t be afraid to talk as a class for a bit. Start to work on that classroom synergy again.

Lastly, this is a great time to allow students to set some goals for the remainder of the year. A New Year’s Resolution handout or goal-setting sheet works in a two-fold manner. Firstly, it gets students in a positive frame of mind and thinking about what they want to accomplish for the remainder of the school year, which will inevitably help them become “better students”. Secondly, it knocks the dust off of their brains, hands, and bodies and gets them back in the habit of sitting down and working on something in a classroom.

The first day and week back after any extended break always fly by. So make sure to include a few of these suggestions into your program, as you yourself get back into your teaching routine. By using a few of these ideas, hopefully you will have a happy new year!

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