Classroom Management

Getting Your Class Back on Track for the Spring

As the spring semester begins, have students reflect on what worked in the fall—and what didn’t—to make a plan for the rest of the year.

December 18, 2024

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Chris Gash / The iSpot

Ah, the sounds of the spring semester: the songs of birds chirping, the drips of snow melting, the rise in the noise level of students returning, the griping of teachers venting in the break room. As the warmer days of spring roll around, energy ramps up, making it more difficult to maintain a productive learning environment.

After returning from winter break, students are often more comfortable with their environment, have a good sense of their friends, are familiar with the teacher and the right buttons to push—and may be less enthusiastic about returning to the rigors of actually doing schoolwork. Every spring, many teachers seriously contemplate whether to continue in their chosen profession. Teachers find themselves daydreaming of becoming a river tour guide—or getting the band back together for one last shot shot at stardom (it can’t just be me!).

Over the years, I have tried being the friendly teacher who hopes my charm and kindness will cull the budding excitement of spring, and I have tried to bulldoze through with business as usual, hoping that I can just make it one day at a time until summer. Not only do these approaches amplify the feelings of frustration, but they do an injustice to the learning in the classroom—it’s not about surviving until summer, it’s about creating a thriving classroom.

In recent years, I have developed a process for revamping the spring that works. This process helps me regain the rigor and respect that keeps me in the classroom semester after semester and year after year.

Re-norming expectations in the spring semester 

It may be even more important for teachers to set norms and expectations in the spring semester than it is during the fall semester. An important element of effective re-norming is student buy-in. Students who are familiar with the expectations of the first semester, or who may have a skewed idea of those expectations from the loosey-goosey end of the last semester, won’t want to hear a teacher dictate new rules. Instead, invite students to participate in creating class expectations. This helps them recognize the value of positive behaviors within the learning environment and makes them more apt to follow those norms and expectations.

How to set your class up for success 

Re-norm yourself: Before the semester begins, re-norm yourself. Consider what worked and what needs to be revamped about your lessons, grading, approach, and classroom. Then, refresh your space by cleaning your desk, adding new photos, or adjusting the layout. 

Refresh the classroom: When preparing for the first day of the second semester, get the room prepped. Consider reworking the arrangement of the seating and the student seating chart now that you know your students and where and with whom they should sit. Refresh the layout and look of the room: Pull down the old student work, add some new posters, bring in some fresh plants to liven up the space, and create a welcoming space that invites change.

Lead with student reflection: On that first day back, consider having students reflect on what was successful in the first semester and what they think could be improved. This could be a written reflection or discussion of the first semester lessons and activities. What assignments did they like? What assignments did they learn the most from? What assignments did they struggle with? Consider this as constructive feedback from the students that helps you understand what works from their perspective, and it initiates student buy-in.

To secure their understanding, have them draft a reflection that demonstrates what they are agreeing to from the day’s lesson about the new norms and expectations in an exit slip. They can write about what they are going to work to improve on and why that will help maintain the classroom culture of a safe, positive learning environment.

Get student input on their learning environment: In addition, engage in discussions or writing that includes student input on elements such as classroom design, daily routines, and methods of instruction (projects, group work, etc.), and have students actively participate in reflecting on the lessons from the first semester—with the understanding that not all lessons will be games and group projects. 

Don’t forget social and emotional learning: If classes were a bit unruly at the end of the semester, consider adding an element within the lesson on empathy. How does it make the teacher feel when students show up late, ask for the pass during a conversation, check phones, interrupt during a lesson, or don’t participate in an assignment? How do your peers feel when they get distracted by someone talking to them, poking them, or throwing things at them, or are mocked for a response? How do you think the custodians feel when trash is left on the floor or gum is stuck under desks? 

Revamp norms and expectations: Go through the expectations from semester one. Discuss what should remain, what should be modified, and what could be discarded or changed. Also, what needs to be added. Build in conversations with the students with shoulder partners or table groups in which they discuss the importance of upholding and maintaining these expectations. Consider how they enter the classroom, the way they engage in the course and the activities, the way they should pack up and leave, and how they handle any other class norms. 

By using that first day back from the winter break to build student buy-in to address the norms and expectations of the new semester, teachers set themselves and their students up for success. When spring comes around and students begin brimming with energy, teachers will have a solid base of norms and expectations that will help maintain the safe, positive, and productive learning environment until the school year ends. Hopefully it’s enough to remind them why they like teaching and to keep them in the classroom—and out of the rivers and recording studios.

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