What I Got Wrong When Preparing for a New Class (So You Don’t Have To)
By Sarah Young, experienced KS1 and Lower KS2 teacher
I love preparing for a new class.I get excited thinking about the new smiling faces, new topics to teach and how to improve from the year before. But over the years, I’ve made some classic mistakes in the lead-up to a new term—mistakes that left me tired, overwhelmed, and wasting time! So here are three mistakes I made and what I would do differently to save you from wasting your time.
1. Spending Way Too Much Time Decorating the Classroom
When I had my first ever class I was understandably very excited to get going and I then spent hours in the Summer Holidays printing, laminating and sticking things on the classroom walls. Every board was colourful and stuffed full of laminated things I’d printed from the internet. It was overstimulating, pretty useless and reflected what I presumed the children would need.
What I’d tell myself now: Keep it simple. Allow the classroom to evolve with the class. It’s their classroom too so they should be part of creating the space. Leave some displays blank to be filled in the first few weeks. And stop laminating! It’s takes so much time, isn’t environmentally friendly and often makes the displays hard to read because it reflects the light.
2. Timetabling Everything for the First Few Days
I used to think that if I didn’t plan out every second of the first few days, chaos would reign. I tried to start with detailed, formal lessons immediately. But everything took so much longer because we were still practising new routines and transitions. Plus, the first few days are such a good opportunity to get to know the class and have them get to know you! They’ll be nervous, wondering what their new teacher will be like.
What I’d do now: Treat the first couple of days as a settling-in time. On the first two days I will play some games, read lots of books and make sure we’ve all shared a laugh together. I will also plan some very simple lessons so that we can go over presentation expectations in books in a very low stakes way.
3. Writing super Detailed Lesson Plans for the First Few Weeks
I once spent a good chunk of my summer holiday crafting week-by-week, lesson-by-lesson plans for the entire first month. It felt productive! I was so proud! And then… I met the class. And realized they had a totally different pace, different needs, and different strengths than what I’d imagined.
What I’ve learned: Having an overview of where I’m heading is vital! But now I just map out the topics and units for the year and first half-term. Then once I’ve met the class I can start the detailed planning. This will save hours of reworking of plans and resources.
Final Thoughts
If you’re prepping for a new class right now, just know that you don’t have to have everything perfect. In fact, you shouldn’t. Flexibility, curiosity, and a good sense of humour will take you a lot further than laminated displays and rigid lesson plans.
So take a breath, leave some blank spaces (on your walls and in your planner), and give yourself permission to adapt.
You’ve got this.
Sarah xx
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