How To Thrive During The Upcoming Covid-19 School Year

Ready or not, it looks like most of us will be teaching on campus next month.

What that will look like is still up in the air. There are many more questions to be answered and policies to be ironed out—and probably will be up until the first day of school.

But despite the unknowns, and the stress that comes with them, a few things hold true. A few things and their importance to happy and effective teaching never change.

And it is these things—three of which you’ll find below—you can count on to guide you through the coming storm.

They’ll even, if you stay beneath their wide umbrella, enable you to thrive.

1. Boundaries

We talk about it again and again here at SCM, but it’s that important. Sharply defined boundaries in the form of a proven classroom management plan protect learning, ensure fairness, and make managing behavior so much easier.

Especially in the midst of upheaval like a pandemic.

The many new protocols we’ll soon be following will make communication with students more difficult, heightening the need to manage your classroom with as few words as possible.

With a plan that every student understands inside and out, the teacher will have to do far less talking. In fact, enforcement can even be done silently, (which we’ll be sure to cover in a future article).

If you’ve been using a hodgepodge of classroom management methods in the past, or have only kinda-sorta followed a classroom management plan, this is the year to commit.

Otherwise, it may be the most difficult teaching experience you’ll ever have.

2. Organization

Covid-19 policies and procedures are only going to increase distractions for students, further threatening to undermine one of the biggest keys to effective teaching.

The happiest, most successful teachers are obsessed with organization and maintaining a pin-neat classroom. The reason, backed by science, is because fewer distractions equal better focus, listening, and behavior.

It’s a direct relationship few teachers take advantage of.

A clutter-free environment also sends the message that excellence is expected. It helps develop a culture of precision and careful work habits that envelops the classroom and transfers to everything you do.

Teachers who don’t have solid organizational habits and a strong sense of orderliness are going to struggle mightily this coming school year.

3. Preparation

The school year is going to test us all.

And one critical way to fight back is with preparation. I don’t mean just lesson preparation, which is important and likely to require several key adjustments. (Which, again, we’ll cover in the future.)

But also, and more urgently, your personal preparation.

Being at your best and most rested will be more important than ever before. Sleep, moderate exercise, leaving school at a decent hour . . . these things will give you the physical strength and mental heartiness to handle the inevitable frustrations and surprises to come.

Breathing, private quietude, and visualization, especially before your students arrive each day, are going to be big factors in staying calm, healthy, and energetic for your students.

You must get to a place above the fray and craziness, so you can be the rock your students are going to need.

Determination

When I was a new teacher thrown unprepared and unsupported into a difficult teaching situation, I was determined to love my job anyway. In fact, I didn’t allow myself another choice.

I wasn’t going to give it time and see how things went. I wasn’t going to just try and hope for the best. I wasn’t going to give in or accept defeat. I was going to make it happen.

I was going to rack my brain and make a thousand adjustments if I had to to bring peace and joy to my classroom. I was going to create an experience my students and I both loved, and that’s all there was to it.

I’ve since learned that this same attitude has helped scores of other teachers overcome their own challenging situations. It’s an attitude we’re all going to need to carry with us this fall.

The truth is, I can’t wait for next month.

I can’t wait to get back to doing what I love, to making connections with students and putting SCM principles to work once again. Given all the new policies, whatever they may be, I know it will be a challenge.

But I have the same fight and determination as I had my first year of teaching.

I hope you’ll join me throughout this journey.

I plan on sharing the same strategies I’ll be using week after week to turn what may be a maze of mandates, procedures, and guidelines—and the many hurdles that will come with them—into something extraordinary.

If you haven’t done so already, please join us. It’s free! Click here and begin receiving classroom management articles like this one in your email box every week.

42 thoughts on “How To Thrive During The Upcoming Covid-19 School Year”

    • I am curious to know if your salaries are secure. Do you still receive your pay check on time? I suspect it does according to your union contracts. It is one thing to be concern about safety when your pay check is secure, when in fact many parents are going through severe financial distress. This in itself is enough to cause great danger to our students, especially if they end up on the streets as an exteme possibilty. Many parents are not receiving their pay checks. 30 million Americans have lost their jobs. Those children, relatives, and spouses who they support could easily be another 30 million, at least. Many teachers may actually find their jobs have disappeared due to shrinking tax revenues. The Federal government is in debt now at 26 Trillion dollars. And you all sit there afraid of the dangers of this virus. The vast majority of people, 94% by some estimates will have little to no symptoms. My own experience since April 18th were very mild. Disturbing, yes, lufe threatening, no. And I am 63. Children are very rarely going to be effected by this virus. Those people who have high risk health issue should and must take every precaution by all means possible. Closing the entire world for endless months is not an option however. Wear your masks, wash your hands, and keep your physical distances from others is the basics we can all do. Of course, I will agree that health is a high priority but not the only priority. The financial health of our student families, our nation, and the world has equal weight and priority. Famine and disease will increase around the world if economies fail. The sooner schools reopen regularly, the sooner parents go back to work and the sooner our students will be safe in their own homes.

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      • I do understand the financial impact that this virus has had financially an students and their families. But to downplay the effects of this virus is so unfair it may have affected you and others you know only minimal but I lost 3 cousin’s, a uncle in law, a host of friends and was called by the doctors from the VA hospital that my dad who has prostate cancer has contracted COVID and was doing poorly and they suggested intubation. Yes I am a fifth grade paraprofessional and I love my teachers and our students and YES I am afraid…This Virus Kills

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  1. Michael, I so appreciate your enthusiasm and love of teaching. It is infectious! 😃I have been having anxiety about this coming fall and what it will look like. I’m a science teacher, and so I’m wondering how labs are going to look. But I trust that God will provide!

    Keep fighting the good fight! Thank you so much for imparting your wisdom to all of us, especially during this crazy time of life.

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    • I agree with you, Marci. Michael’s determination to be excellent AND to thrive in his life inspire me. Many unknowns await us, as they always have, but his three key approaches go far to help calm the anxiety and refocus on our profession.

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    • I agree with you that it is very important to trust in God first of all, dear Marci. I’m an English teacher from Romania! Warm greetings from Romania!

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    • I love your articles and always agree with them. Until now. Teachers should be advocating for the safe return to school. Considering the state of most areas of the country, the only safe return is to remote learning, at least until we have adequately controlled the spread of the virus and have a better understanding of HOW to provide a safe and healthy environment for students and teachers. Our rushed and haphazard return to school is being driven by the economic crises and our governments desire to return to “normal”. Teachers are not first responders. Teachers should be in close contact with their unions and should be speaking out about the responsibility of our school administrators to do what is right for kids and adults rather than bucking to pressure to reopen. When and if a safe reopening can be managed, I, too, look forward to being with my students, face to face doing what I do best.

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  2. We are not going back. The announcements are starting fast and furious. Regardless his advice is going to hold true. We need to be ready and prepared. We need to bring our best selves and we need boundaries.

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    • We totally need lots of ideas of managing distance learning, rewarding students and engagement. I still think it is too early to go back considering what my community looks like.

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    • Create a welcome video outlining class expectations and rules for live lessons. Your classroom management issues should go down tremendously while students are apart. What types of issues are you expecting and how are you preparing to combat those?

      I suspect the biggest issue will be attendance! To that end, make it mandatory to have video “ON” during Zoom lessons so that you know your students are present. Good luck and stay safe!

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  3. Great advice as always! I am curious as to your thoughts about time out. If I have room, I can probably have 1 or 2 time out desks but would have to sanitize them when students are not in the classroom. (Which would reliably only be at lunch). Do you have any ideas on how to modify the time out consequence?

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    • My thought is to have time out as a time when the student puts his/her head down on the desk. My plan is for a verbal warning, then a 5 minutes time out, then a 10 minute time out with writing about the choices and, if needed, parent contact. This will be my 1st year to try to do without the clip chart.

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    • Update: Just set up my classroom so kids would be 6 feet apart and I would have no room for a time-out desk…so I am hoping for some options….I love this approach.

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  4. I’m a loyal follower and this is the first time I’ve taken issue with you, Michael Linsin. Your opening sentence, “Ready or not, it looks like most of us will be teaching on campus next month,” suggests that schools will be reopening and that teachers should just go back, ready or not. I trust you when it comes to classroom management and working smarter to be a happy and effective teacher. But when it comes to empowering teachers to make a smart, courageous, and difficult decision like whether or not they should return to their classroom during the COVID pandemic, I will not look to you. You never wrote about our unions or the strikes all over the country in 2018-2019. And doing so aligns with your ideology about staying focused, not talking too much, being pleasant. That’s fine. But so many teachers, new and veteran, read your articles and trust you. I am one of them. It troubles me that you wrote “ready or not” and I hope that when you write about schools reopening, you take a position that encourages teachers to make an informed decision, regardless of what politicians are saying.

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    • Hi Jan,

      You’re reading far more into that first sentence than was intended. It wasn’t meant to suggest anything other than where the current winds are blowing, which could very well change tomorrow and back again next week. 🙂

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  5. I am starting back in person for my 27th year of teaching middle school on Aug. 6. I’m in favor of going back, excited as well as you. However, with so many unknowns as far as schedule, class size, and protocols for when staff and students get sick, I find my anxiety creeping up along with the rise in Covid. I know how to teach my curriculum and have a good grasp on classroom management, but I can’t help but wonder if the same ideologies will work. Your advice and specific ideas are greatly appreciated!

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  6. This will be my 30th year, and I have to admit that I’m quite anxious. I live in Ontario, Canada, and our provincial government seems more concerned with new curriculum than ensuring the safety of the schools. I miss my students, my school and my colleagues; but I’m not sure how safe I feel about going back. Distance learning isn’t a viable solution – it simply doesn’t work for everyone, not to mention the pressure it puts on families. The way I see it, a lot of money needs to be put into the system, no matter what the country, to create more spaces, hire more teachers and to ensure that everyone is safe. Will that happen? Kinda doubt it.

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  7. Here in Australia, the COVID cases have been far less numerous than in the US and elsewhere (although we still had cases in our school and community). Our schools shut down in Week 8 of the new school year, and we didn’t see most of our students for 10 weeks, twice as long as our usual summer break (we also had to continue teaching a small number of students whose parents are essential workers, while the majority learnt online). When we all returned to school, we found it took about a month for our students to get used to being at school again and for behaviour to settle down. We had to act as if the year was beginning all over again, in terms of teaching routines and expectations. We just got students settled, in time for them to be unsettled again with the excitement of the approaching 2-week winter break (which we are currently enjoying).

    I feel for my northern hemisphere colleagues who missed finishing the year with their classes, but am glad you can start fresh with new cohorts, albeit in a season of unknowns.

    While returning to school has been exhausting and stressful, there were some pluses. Due to COVID restrictions we have not been able to run any of our extra-curricular activities at all, so teachers were able to concentrate on many of the things you outline above with the extra time and energy usually spent on those activities (most of those are expected to recommence when we return next week after our winter break). I have really felt the difference not having these extra pressures, and my advice to all teachers would be to not take on anything extra (at school or elsewhere), but to keep things very simple and focus on keeping yourself well and peaceful, and on your teaching and students’ wellbeing. I’ve been reorganising my house a little this week to calm my surroundings at home in preparation for this coming term (loved your point about organization in the classroom). I think focusing on ‘peace and joy’ as you said above is a wonderful way for anyone to approach this hard season.

    I wish all US (and northern hemisphere) teachers the best as they plan and start the new year after this long break. You can do it!
    Thanks Michael for your continual wise advice.

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    • Thank you for sharing your return experience about re-teaching expectations. I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense.

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  8. Thank you for your article Michael. It was a breath of clean, fresh air which encouraged me. This is what our students are looking for and needing from us when they return to school. Your article was a break from all the sad news which is frightening us all. Keep up the great work.

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  9. I would like to know your deepest insights on how art teachers with severely limited space are supposed to provide a pin-neat environment for students in an art room that is supposed to provide lots of visuals and reference materials when we have access to only 3 dysfunctional laptops. There are times when it is impossible not to create messes, and things have to be out….drying, or available for the next class.

    I asked my students which art environment (ms) they preferred (a room with almost nothing in it, or an art room full of visuals and inspiration). Most preferred to have visuals and said it would be impossible to have a perfect looking room because of the materials we use; clean up time etc. In my estimation if all we used were dry materials, this might be possible — but not with wet materials or when functioning in a TAB environment where everyone has chosen their own art mediums and plans. So, Michael — you think kids are better off in an art room with a clinical atmosphere? Or are you thinking mainly of core type classes that are different from creative arts environments? Thank you for clarifying.

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  10. To the fellow educators unsure about things being safe, I totally get where you’re coming from. There’s a likelihood that going back to school will result in extra sickness, above and beyond the typical back-to-school colds many teachers get, just from being around new germs. That said, consider that there is also no such thing as “safe”. There can be “safer” and “cleaner” and “better”, but reality says that “safe” is unattainable in this world and life. I’m disappointed with the media messages about things being safe or not safe, because these statements are somewhat delusional. Yet they are repeated so often, it’s very easy/tempting to believe them. On another note, I really dislike getting sick myself. I really, really dislike the idea of having to be totally prepared all the time for a sub, in case I get sick. I do, however, intend to jump in and give my school district everything I’ve got, whatever they decide about this fall. I don’t consider myself put in a position where I’m being asked to do too much, or to take on too much risk. Nothing is ever completely safe. I’m not convinced that online schooling is actually a safer option, healthwise (Soooo glad I’m not in charge of the decision! Gut wrenching, really). I trust my district and colleagues (and myself and my students!) to come up with great plans for “safer”. I’m okay with that. Michael, thanks for the pep talk. Just what I needed to day. Best health to you all. Davina

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  11. Thank you for this article, Michael. There has been so much information bombarding teachers on how we should think and what we should be doing that it has created a very stressful situation within our own minds. Would you write another article that addresses this? So many teachers have little guidance on what the beginning of the school year is going to look like. Even if we know we are remote, many don’t know what that will look like with the school year rapidly approaching. This creates a great deal of anxiety which definitely gets in the way of feeling prepared for teaching. I believe this is a very real phenomenon with teachers that is not being well addressed by school officials. Thank you for all that you do!

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  12. I love your passion and knowledge. You have given me the tools to be a great teacher. I was hoping you would be sending teachers advice on how to join in solidarity to demand safety measures. My district announced their plans to reopen the schools without many measures that could make it safer for the teachers. My co-teachers and I want to be spending our summer supporting the parents to acquire WIFI, creating pods for support at home, and teacher training to be the best distance learning teachers. I am thankful that I have co-workers that want to support each other because we don’t have a union. The majority of the teachers at my school are prepared to work online and get fired for not showing up at school.

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    • “The financial health of our student families, our nation, and the world has equal weight and priority.” Not true. Health and safety is above all else.

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  13. Hi Michael,

    I have been following your articles and books for several years now since coming across your website. Like you, I truly believe in the importance of classroom management and have protected it often when it has come into question. I teach PE and use time outs after 1 warning (I basically follow your book for PE teachers). I am very consistent and the students are very aware of the expectations. My concern is that there might be a greater deal of push-back when teaching online. I was wondering if you could share online management plans. Anything would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you for all you do,

    J

    Reply
    • Hi Jenelle,

      The Zoom plan at right is what we have out so far, but may include other platforms in the future (if need be).

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