4 Old Habits I Pruned From My Teaching Routine

Recently, I moved to a new school. I am no stranger to change in my career—I’ve moved grade levels, schools, and even countries before. This recent move, however, hit a bit differently. While I still teach the same subjects, my class meets only three days a week, similar to a college course schedule. I am expected to teach the same material but with less class time. This new challenge prompted me to reflect on what deeply held classroom routines I needed to modify or scrap altogether. Letting go of my tried-and-true classroom routines has not been easy, but the class time gained makes it worth it.

Here are four routines that I have (somewhat reluctantly) pruned from my teaching routine and replaced with effective substitutes.

1. Assigning ‘traditional’ homework every day

For me as a math teacher, daily practice has been an enduring feature of my daily lessons. I assign a problem set, the students bring it back the next day, we review it. Wash, rinse, repeat. 

However, with more schools shifting to block scheduling or reduced/no homework policies, you may need to reconsider how you assign “daily practice.” Get creative with homework assignments beyond traditional book work or worksheets. For example, you can have students choose from a short list of assignments. Here are some other ideas: 

• Have your students create their own short videos. Dr. Monica Burns shares easy-to-use video recording tools for students to record their reflections on a reading, solutions to a problem, or reading aloud of their writing.

• A Spanish teacher at my school assigns Duolingo podcasts for her students to listen to when preparing for class. 

• For a quick low-tech alternative to a worksheet, I had my eighth-grade Algebra class write a “quiz” with an answer key. 

2. Grading everything 

In one episode of her podcast Truth for Teachers, Anglea Watson asks, “Is there one type of assignment I’m giving to students that is taking me forever to grade and that I might be able to reduce or change up a bit?”

I used to grade everything. It was exhausting and fruitless. My suggestion? Put the task of correcting assignments onto the students, depending on their developmental level. Upper elementary, middle, and high school students can successfully check their answers with an answer key. If you’re assigning a project, have the students complete their own rubric score as part of their finished product. Not only does this reduce unnecessary work for the teacher, but the real benefit is that students gain valuable practice with self-assessment skills. 

With practice and time, students start to accurately assess their own work. (If my assessment of their rubric differs vastly from their own assessment, a valuable one-on-one conversation can be sparked.)

3. Prearranging seating charts 

Because I teach in four different classrooms, I no longer have the luxury of setting up my preferred desk arrangement—seating charts are impossible. I also no longer spend time thinking about which students work well together and which do not. Instead, inspired by the research of Peter Liljedahl, I randomly assign seats every day. Early in the school year, I assign each student a number based on their order in the class roster. I quickly drop a laminated number on each desk as I enter the classroom to indicate their assigned seat. Groups are formed by the three students randomly assigned to their table group. The blog The Educator Mom offers additional creative ways to assign random seats, such as with playing cards or Popsicle sticks.

4. Using Warm-ups or Bell-ringers 

This might be a controversial take, but I decided that I just don’t have time for daily warm-ups anymore. I used to be the biggest cheerleader for warm-ups, so this was a hard routine to shed. I found that only a few students were authentically participating. 

Instead, I ask students to have their assignments and their supplies ready when class starts. To “warm up the audience,” I now rely on a silly but effective way to start the class: I tell a joke. Sometimes this is a fun meme or a corny joke, but it’s always relevant to the topic. If you teach math, check out We Are Teachers’ 100 Math Jokes and Puns.

If jokes aren’t your cup of tea but you’re seeking a time-saving way to start class, consider posting brainteasers or inspirational quotes that require little preparation by you or the students. A former English teacher colleague started his class with a daily grammar check by embedding an error in a playful sentence about other teachers. The students were racing to get to class to see the daily sentence.

My old routines served my former students well, but environments and structures change, and I have to change with them. Change is hard, but also exciting and revealing. I have learned that no matter how ingrained my classroom routines were, I am flexible and adaptable enough to make the shifts I need to fit with the current constraints.

I encourage you to reflect on what classroom routines may no longer be effective or practical for your students. Consider the words of Deepak Chopra, “In the process of letting go, you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.”