Back To School

backtoschool

Photo by: woodleywonderworks

Why The First Week Of Term Is Always The Best!

The first week back at school is a busy week for teachers. Getting into the swing of things with the early morning starts, the late-night lesson planning sessions and new names and faces to memorize can feel like a daunting prospect to face after the long summer break.

But in the words of everybody’s favourite fictional 1980’s high schooler, Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it”.

With that in mind, here are some reasons why you should stop and savour the magical week that is the first week back at school and take it as an opportunity to remind yourself of why you got into teaching in the first place.

Here are some of our favourite things about the first week of autumn term.

The Stationery

As a teacher and moulder of young minds, few shopping trips are as hopeful and fun to carry-out as the Back to School stationery shop. Deciding on your main ballpoint pen and red corrector for the year sets the tone for all your future correspondence to pupils, parents and colleagues- so you want it to be a good ‘un!

Similarly, deciding on the colour scheme for your bulletin boards is also an important decorating decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. As we all know from the numerous interior design shows on TV, the colour of a space can influence your feelings and emotions, so by all means spend all day traipsing up and down the aisles of the stationery store, comparing swatch colours. This is your time to make a lasting impression!

Cut to the classroom, and the fresh pile of untouched, un-dog-eared exercise books is a sight to behold in all its perfection.  Come November time, naturally, all of these books will be tattered and tainted by graffiti, but for now, pick up one of those books and smell the bewitching scent of those fresh pages. Ahh, now that’s lovely.

The Reunion

Six weeks can feel like a lifetime when you are a small kid. But even when the summer holidays do come to an end, all children (some secretly, some not so secretly) relish that first morning break in the playground, when they get to recount all of their summer holiday adventures to their friends.

There is an element of one-upmanship and story-topping, sure, but during that first week back, everyone feels a bit more connected as a class and mature- probably because they have actually moved up a year and changed classrooms. But that feeling is always the most palpable in the first week back.

As a teacher the reunion with your class/classes can sometimes come as a shock, as some of you will notice that a few of your students have grown much taller than you over the course of the summer holidays.

Also, some of your students will be happier to see you than others. But in the first week back, there is always that element of ‘turning over a new leaf’ and in general, pupils will be behave better and will be more encouraged to participate in class discussions- especially if the planned activities are engaging.

The Eagerness

Following on from the idea of ‘turning over a new leaf,’ many students will also tend to try their very best in lessons during the first week back. Maybe it’s the act of writing their name on the front of a pristine exercise book, or their need to establish themselves as the ‘new and improved, coolest kid in school’ amongst their friends.

But this eagerness to impress during Back to School Week is a driving motivational force that travels through the entire school. If bottled, this force could quadruple your teacher’s salary overnight, but alas, no such method for making magical motivational elixir exists.

Instead, you will need to consider your school reward options and keep your pupils motivated and engaged in the classroom the old-fashioned, yet highly effective way. See for yourself here.

If you have any comments about the first week back at school as a teacher, please share your thoughts in the comments box below.

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