☀️ Summer Renewal

Some thoughts about rhythm, routine and structure in the classroom

This week, I spent time working with teachers preparing for the coming school year in summer intensive courses with the Micha-el Institute. I’ve taught in these courses for the past few years, and I always find the experience so inspiring. These days, as I have relatively little exposure to actual work with students in the classroom, it is fun to connect with teachers doing that work and remember my own days at the front of the classroom.

A lot of my time this week was spent with 5th-grade teachers (I’ve taught that grade four times) and the 8th-grade teachers. There are some real highlight moments in those grades.

Presenting state projects in the gym

My focus in the classroom, and with these teachers, tends to be on finding rhythms and routines that help make the work manageable. I learned the value of being organized and having systems and structures after my first few years of teaching, so it’s not something that came naturally to me. But as is so often the case when you have to work hard to achieve something, it has become an area of strength.

Paid subscribers: Make sure you scroll to the bottom to download my Grade Five Main Lesson Rhythm document to see an example of how rhythm and structure can support your teaching.

When I first started teaching, I thought that if I was losing my students’ attention or if they were difficult to manage in the classroom, it was because my lesson wasn’t inspiring or captivating enough. And though I’m sure that was certainly true some of the time, after a few years, I realized that rhythm, routine, and structure are incredibly necessary tools in the classroom. How I wish I’d known that in those early years, instead of spending hours into the night after my children had gone to bed to create a magically awe-inspiring lesson.

So, I encourage you to find structures and routines to inspire your work—just as much as you seek captivating stories and remarkable experiences. These two impulses are two sides of the same coin and they’re both essential to keeping your classroom humming along.

To see an example of how rhythm can support your work in the classroom, paid subscribers can click below to download my Grade Five Main Lesson Rhythm. Even if you’re not teaching fifth grade, the rhythm can be easily adapted to any grade.