Happy Classroom Management Monday! Let’s talk a little bit about Summer Regression.

Summer regression is one of those things I dread each year. I am faced with the same problem and worry: would all the hard work I put in with behavior management and academics carry over through the next year? Would my students really show off all of THEIR hard work and keep it all up next year??

The sad truth is no, probably not, BUT over the years I have come up with some tips that help the transition and give a better chance for success.

Have a chat with your students

For the last two weeks (at least) I take the time to really talk to my students every day about their amazing transformation. This about doing this with your students as well for any great accomplishments they have made.

Give them examples of their transformations
Let them know that they should continue to work on it even though you are not there
Review, review, REVIEW! Review anchor charts, old lessons, anything you can to drill it in a bit more.

Communicate with the parents

I always sent home most of my information at the end of the year. I would send home forms celebrating the fact that their child made leaps and bounds in their education. It was always mentioned that now it is up to them to take the reigns. Share some data with them! Kids lose a major chunk of what is learned during the summer. Now it is up to the parents to take over and make sure that they don’t feed into the statistics. That goes for behavior too!!!

Talk to next year’s teacher

Now is the time to give them as much info as you can. Let them know what you did that worked for your students. I am a huge advocate for spiraling behavior management through all grade levels. By talking to the next teacher, we are giving them the starting points to make this spiraling effect successful.

At my school each year we get a chunk of time where we can sit with next year’s teachers and basically “hand over” our students. We chat about some of our struggles and wins. This better prepares the teachers so they don’t have to start from square one. I always felt like this was so beneficial! I also think it would be a great suggestion to make to your admin for future years.

If this is something you think might be beneficial, then this week’s freebie will help you a lot when this chat happens. It is a Student Personality Sheet that you will be able to fill out and hand over to the following teacher. He/she will easily be able to use it as a tool to help out your students when they come to him/her.

Think about it this way: Say you had a student with autism and until January, you didn’t know that they way he responds really well is when classical music is playing in the background. When you play this music he is calm, focused, and ready to learn. Why wouldn’t you want to share that with your colleague? I think we too often have the mentality “well he/she is their problem now.” Not only does that teacher struggle trying to find what works, but more so, the student struggles. Don’t let your hard work fade away. KEEP IT GOING!

If you are signed up for my email list, you will be getting this sheet this week! If you are not signed up, you can do it RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE and get access to this freebie right away!

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