Tools and building materials via CraftED
Fresh start. New Beginning. Our first “firsts”. Each year as teachers we set out acknowledging the work ahead of us-we know what the road entails, anticipated bumps, exciting turns and ultimately to what it leads. This journey is what we love about our work as educators! As you embark on your journey down that road CraftED is here to provide you with a few tips and tools to sharpen your practice for this school year.
1. Dedicate time to set up your classroom community
The foundation for a positive school year begins with carving out time to establishing a positive classroom community. If you used up all your fun ideas in the first few weeks of school and new a few more to get you to that solid foundation, take a peak at CraftED’s Pinterest board: Classroom Community. Also, you may consider using the strategy “Defining our Academic Community”.
2. Establish, revise and reflect upon classroom norms
This is related to tip #1 but also worthy of its own bullet point. Establishing classroom norms for how students will interact together for the year is a process that you don’t want to slight. As a classroom teacher I appreciated the wonderful guidance Responsive Classroom provided me through this process. While developing norms is a valuable process, what is equally as valuable is revisiting and reflecting upon these norms throughout the entire school year. And if you are exploring Maker Education this year, you will want the new (and fun!) Tinker Times Norms poster for your classroom.
3. Give students tools for group worthy tasks
As any teacher knows, simply placing students in a group and hoping they work together nicely is not a recommended practice. Successful student collaboration requires scaffolded teaching related to the skills required of effective group work: listening, dialogue, questioning, etc. You may find this planning guide useful in helping you decide if group projects or activities are truly group-worthy. And if you land on “yes” then check out CraftED’s strategies for collaboration.
4. Introduce the term “agency” for future reference and reflection
I know it can be difficult to wrap your mind around covering yet “one more thing”, especially one that doesn’t feel immediately related to content. However, dedicating the time to introduce the term agency or growth mindset early in the year will save you time and enhance student learning as the year progresses. These mindset must dos can serve as helpful tips for getting started with this endeavor, in addition to CraftED’s bundle of strategies and posters to help you set up an agency station. 
5. Strive to redefine failure with students
Related to growth mindset, it is important for students to know from day 1 that failure as we traditionally know it is not only accepted, but expected and celebrated. Check out this strategy called “my favorite fail” related to an article recently featured on Edutopia by CraftED”s very own Jenny Pieratt on how to go about redefining failure with students. You may even consider some of these great reads: