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Six Ways to Reset and Refresh for the Second Half

As we begin the second half of the school year, we can all use some renewed energy and attitude refreshment. We might want to leave behind some of what happened in the first several months of the year, and a shift in routine and some new perspectives can lift our spirits. While we may not be able to fully restart, there are steps we can take to reset our attitude, change up our routines, adopt new approaches, and discover useful tools.

Of course, there remains much from the first semester that we nurtured and coached with students that we want to maintain. However, students, too, will want to have new experiences and try fresh approaches to what lies ahead. Consider these six reset-and-refresh ideas to help your students—and you—get off to an energized start for the second half of the year.

Reorganize and refresh the classroom. Physically reorient the classroom. Maybe the “front” of the room can face a new direction. You might reconfigure student seating to support more collaboration or reduce distractions. New posters, quotes, and displays of student work are options, too (but be careful not to over-decorate). Studies have shown that changing the space where we work, learn, and live can reset our thinking patterns and shift our work habits. Not unlike occupying a new space, making changes in the space where we spend our days can be refreshing.

Get reacquainted with students. Rather than just welcoming students back with all the experiences and judgments accumulated during the first half of the year, commit to taking a fresh look. Be intentional about finding something new and interesting about each student. Let go of anything that might hold back or impede your relationship with them. You might go as far as reintroducing yourself and having students do the same. Letting go of history and connecting with students where they are now can open productive doors to learning and growth for us and them.

Revisit classroom rules and routines. Shifting routines can add novelty and variety as students return. Consider revisiting existing rules with students, reminding students why rules are important, and exploring with students any changes they think might be useful and warranted. Your flexibility and understanding can be a good opening message as students return. As an added challenge, see if you and your students can state all rules in language that explains what students can and should do rather than what they cannot do. For example, rather than having a rule that says, “Don’t run in the halls,” the rule might be stated as “Walk when traveling in the hallway.”

Set classroom goals. Consider teaching and coaching students to set goals. If goal setting was not part of students’ experience during the first portion of the year, setting some now can be an energizing and focus-building activity. The goals might be shared by the entire class or set individually. If the goals are group-based, it is usually best to focus the goals on behavior, relationships, or other non-academic elements to avoid placing undue stress and pressure on students who face learning challenges. Individually set goals might address these same elements and include academics, but having students focus on improvement rather than performance gives every student something for which they can strive.

Adopt a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can save you time and make your life easier. One of the promises of newly developed AI tools is that they can perform routine tasks that teachers previously had to do themselves. As examples, AI tools can draft correspondence, assist with lesson planning, and suggest real-life applications for what we are teaching. Take some time to explore, then decide what tool (or tools) might be most helpful and try them out.

Try a new instructional strategy. Start by reflecting on the types of concepts, categories of skills, or areas of content where students typically struggle. Talk with colleagues, check with professional development staff, consult instructional coaches, do an internet search, or tap other resources to see what might work for you. You might identify several options and possibilities. However, start by trying just one that seems to be the best match with your need. If that approach doesn’t accomplish what you want, having other options positions you to keep trying until you find what works for you. The key is to choose something that meets a need and will help you to be more successful.

Treating the return to school as simply resuming the work begun in the first part of the year may be the easiest option, but injecting some novelty and creating some variety can give us and our students a welcome lift. Also, treating this time as an opportunity for a new start can give everyone permission and encouragement to let go of what is not helpful and adopt what may hold more potential.

The Cost of Underestimating Our Students

In Your Corner, Student Learning

December 19, 2024

The Cost of Underestimating Our Students

At some point in our preparation to become teachers, we all probably came across studies showing the power of teacher beliefs and expectations on student learning. “Pygmalion in the Classroom,” the best known of these studies, demonstrated that steps as simple as telling teachers that a selected set of students had the capacity to succeed at higher levels led to remarkably higher performance.

The fact is that what we believe about students drives our expectations, influences our interactions, and effects how well students learn. Of course, this is great news when we perceive our students as having high potential and the ability to succeed with our help. We expect them to do well, we press and support them to excel, and we refuse to accept less than high quality effort and work.

However, the opposite also is true—often to devastating effect. When we are assigned students whose past performance has not been strong, we work in an environment where student achievement historically has been low, or our students come from families that do not have a history of support and successful experience with formal education, it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that our students are not capable of performing at high levels. We can begin to negatively adjust our expectations, modify our approach, and accept lower levels of effort and learning. Unfortunately, with lower expectations often comes less depth of content, slower pace of instruction and learning, less engaging learning experiences, and more reliance on remediation.

Meanwhile, when we lower our expectations, students respond predictably by lowering their expectations of themselves, lessening the effort they give, and accepting results that reflect lower levels of learning. Sadly, the process can be subtle and gradual, often spread over time. As a result, we may not even realize how our expectations and approaches have changed. Meanwhile, we may hear reinforcing messages that imply that we should not expect more, that the results we are seeing are predictable, and that efforts to shift outcomes are not likely to be worth the effort.

Yet, the truth is that past performance, family history, and other demographic factors do not have to predict the learning potential or performance of students. The good—and bad—news is that we are the key to changing what has been to what could be. Consequently, to change the situation, we need to start with ourselves and what we believe about our learners and learning. Consider these five places to guide your self-reflection:

Assumptions: What assumptions are you making that may limit your perspective on the potential students possess? What would happen if you reversed limiting assumptions and replaced them with the belief that your students have high potential and that you are the one to change their potential into performance? What if you assumed that you are the one to change what has been true in the past to what could be true in the future?

Expectations: How might your expectations change if you saw your students as having exceptional potential that has been ignored or overlooked? How would your approach change if you refused to believe that your students are not capable of learning at high levels? What if you began to treat your students as though they are yet-to-be-discovered gifted learners?

Relationships: How could you encourage your students to see you as the “guide on their side” rather than the person who tells them what they have to do? How might your relationship with students change if they experience you as their success advocate and coach? What if students understood that you see more potential in them than they see in themselves?

Flexibility: How can you demonstrate your commitment to your students finding a way to succeed no matter what? What if you committed to finding what works for your students, regardless of what you need to learn or how flexible you need to be?

Voice: What might happen if you committed to explore your students’ hopes, uncover their strengths, empower them to make significant learning choices, and begin to own their learning? How might your students’ effort and commitment change when they see learning as something that has value to them and is not just something they do to satisfy adults? What if you started listening deeply to students?

Resilience: How can you commit to seeing your students succeed, regardless of how they have performed in the past, their reluctance to believe in themselves, or the distance they still need to travel to experience success? How can you consistently communicate and demonstrate to your students that you will not give up on them? What if you told them that you know that they can do better, and you are committed to helping them to believe and show the world that you and they are right?

Admittedly, there are factors beyond our beliefs, expectations, and advocacy that have an impact on student success. However, none of them pack more power, are more under our control, or hold more long-term potential than our commitment to seeing our students succeed.

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