In today’s episode, I will share with you 5 ways you can reset your classroom anytime of year.

The first one is to revisit classroom expectations. It is okay, when the classroom starts to feel out of control, you can stop and ask yourself and your students questions like these to make sure expectations are present and clear.

• How do we begin a class. Show me what the students do and what the teacher does.
• When do we talk in class?
• When do we go to the bathroom?
• How to we ask for help?
• What is your responsibility if you are absent?
• What does group/individual work look like?

Next is goal setting - I talked about this in Episode 46. Ask students to think of one word to encapsulate their focus for the rest of the school year or the entire year. Another way is to make them more tangible by creating  a weekly goal tracker where students can reflect regularly on their progress and process. 

Number 3 is to be honest with your students. I want to know that I’m human and can often relate to things they are going through. 

Number 4 is make activities easy to manage.  One of my favorite classroom strategies is a choice board that includes one “must do activity” and a few other optional activities. Another strategy is to break down lessons into manageable pieces. With any strategy, it is essential to explain and model as often as you need.

The final tip for a classroom reset  is to “clean up and change up” your space. Classrooms can get cluttered and messy during the business of the day to day. Taking the time to pick up, organize, and give your space a little makeover can really refresh the room and change the energy.

Do you do a classroom reset? If so, what do you do?

What you will hear about resetting your ESL classroom in this episode:

• Revisiting expectations and the questions you can ask yourself and the students
• Activities you can do to check for understanding
• The importance of setting goal and being honest with your students
• Tips for how to make assignments simpler and easier to understand
• How resetting your physical space can reset the energy of your classroom

Resources

• The ESL Teaching Roadmap – membership community for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. As a thank you for listening, use code ESLPODCAST for 10% off when you join. 
• 25 Authentic Speaking Activities for Your ESL Classroom
• Simply Ieva ESL Teachers Pay Teachers Store
• Teachable Platform - Courses and Workshops
• Follow me on Instagram 
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group 
• Simply Ieva Youtube Channel

You may also be interested in: 

• Link to episode 46 - How to Set Intentional Goals with your EL Students
• Link to episode 4 - Choice Boards for ESL Students: How to Use Them in the Classroom

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