Back to School Resources for Principals

The back to school season is one that is filled with hope and excitement. Each new school year brings opportunities to leverage fresh commitments and new perspectives. In this post, I’ll share several back-to-school resources and strategies to help you engage your teams, teachers, and the local community at the start of the year. You will find resources for:

• Back to School Tasks
• Teacher Professional Learning
• Culture and Climate
• PLCs

Back to School Tasks Transformed

Here are three more ideas to help you level up your back to school leadership tasks:

• Make your teacher and staff back to school letter count with the Back to School Letter 2.0.
• Strengthen your culture of trust by providing opportunities for your teacher teams to connect as people first…Introduce your teams to Passion Talks.
• Last minute interview tips for finding star teachers, and yes, star teachers are still out there ready to come to your school!

Back to School Professional Learning Resources

Teachers have a lot of work to do in their classroom, and you have great plans for providing professional learning opportunities. However, there’s a major time crunch. Here’s a short list of free articles that can help your teacher teams guide their own learning discussions.

Classroom Management and SEL

• Developing student-teacher relationships by empowering students.
• A back to school classroom management checklist designed to help returning teachers and new teachers remember all the details.
• This resource is great if you’re looking into restorative practices or addressing challenging student behaviors: What to do When a Student Refuses to Work.

Pedagogy and Content Area Acumen

• Ignite and keep the flame of learning alive with The Art of Exceptional Teaching.
• Here 4 ways to bring guided reading into the current best practices.
• The ultimate guide to reading comprehension.
• Ready to explore or refine your differentiation in math stations?
• Here are 7 ways to level up your Spiral, Massed, and Spaced Math Practice.

School Culture and PLCs

It’s one thing to start an initiative toward creating professional learning communities. It’s another thing to craft a culture where collaboration and continuous improvement are the norms.

Here are a few articles and resources to spark new insights into this leadership journey.

• Using urgency and momentum in your PLCs.
• Goal-setting is no good if it doesn’t stretch you or guide your actions…check out these downloadable BHAG Goal-Setting Templates.
• Mindsets for Outlier Teachers who passionately pursue growth and student improvement!

I hope you enjoyed this guide of back to school resources and ideas. I invite you to pass it along on social or email to a colleague who could also benefit from it!