7 New Teacher Tips After the First 10 Days of School

Your First 10 Days Are Over. Now What? 7 Things New Teachers Should Check

The first 10 days of school are over. You learned names, explained expectations, practiced classroom routines, taught lessons, answered a million questions, and probably changed a few plans along the way.

Now what?

This is the point when many new teachers and first-year teachers begin noticing something important. The classroom that looked great on Day 1 does not necessarily run smoothly on Day 10.

That does not mean your classroom management plan failed.

It means you have real students in the room now, and you finally have enough information to see which classroom routines and procedures are working and which ones need more attention.

After more than 30 years working as a teacher, instructional coach, mentor, and assistant principal, I can tell you this: The first weeks aren’t just about teaching lessons. You’re still teaching systems.

Before you rush ahead, stop and check these seven areas.

1. Look at the Classroom Routines That Are Already Slipping

Think about your first few days of school.

You probably spent a lot of time teaching students what to do.

How to enter the classroom.

Where to put their things.

How to turn in work.

When to sharpen a pencil.

How to ask for help.

What to do when they finish early.

And then the school day got busy.

This is where one of the biggest classroom management mistakes new teachers make begins.

Teachers stop practicing the routine and start correcting the behavior.

Those are not the same thing.

If students are repeatedly doing something incorrectly, ask yourself:

Have I actually taught and practiced this enough?

Choose two or three routines that are causing the most problems right now. Do not try to fix everything in one day.

Reteach them.

Model them.

Practice them.

Then expect students to do them correctly.

You can even say:

“We’re going to practice this again because I want this to become something you can do without me reminding you.”

That is not going backward.

That is teaching.

If you are still working on your beginning-of-year systems, go back to my New Teacher Back-to-School Checklist and compare what you planned with what is actually happening in your classroom.

2. Watch What Happens When Students Enter Your Classroom

Your classroom entrance tells you a lot.

Students walk in and immediately begin doing something every single day.

The question is whether they are doing what you intended.

Can students enter, get what they need, sit down, and begin without several reminders?

Or does the beginning of class sound more like this?

“Sit down.”

“Take out your notebook.”

“Stop talking.”

“Where is your pencil?”

“Please get started.”

“I said get started.”

If that sounds familiar, do not spend the rest of the year repeating those directions.

Fix the routine now.

Create a Simple Classroom Arrival Routine

Keep it simple enough that students can remember it.

For example:

1. Enter the classroom.
2. Put away your belongings.
3. Get your materials.
4. Check the board.
5. Begin the posted activity.

Your routine will look different depending on your grade level, but the goal is the same.

Students should know what to do without waiting for you to tell them.

That independence gives you time to take attendance, greet students, handle a quick issue, check in with a student, or prepare for the lesson.

It also sets the tone for the rest of the class period.

3. Stop Talking While Your Students Are Talking

This one is big.

And yes, I have watched teachers do it over and over.

The teacher is giving directions.

Students begin talking.

The teacher gets louder.

Students continue talking.

The teacher gets even louder.

Before long, everybody in the room is talking.

If you want students to understand that your directions matter, do not compete with their conversations.

Stop.

Use your attention signal.

Wait.

Then continue.

You do not need a long lecture.

You need consistency.

Your Attention Signal Needs Practice Too

Maybe you use:

• a call and response
• a countdown
• hand signals
• lights
• a bell or chime
• a phrase
• another school-approved signal

The actual signal matters less than what students understand it means.

When they hear or see it:

What should they do?

Stop talking?

Put materials down?

Look at you?

Raise a hand?

Face forward?

If students do not respond consistently, don’t immediately decide the signal doesn’t work.

Practice it again.

Your classroom management strategies are only useful when students know exactly how to respond to them.

4. Time Your Classroom Transitions

Here is a quick challenge.

Tomorrow, actually time one of your transitions.

You may be surprised.

A transition that feels like “a minute or two” can quietly turn into four or five minutes.

Multiply that across the school day, and you can lose a lot of instructional time.

Look closely at things like:

• moving into groups
• getting supplies
• coming back from lunch
• changing subjects
• moving from whole group to independent work
• cleaning up
• lining up
• dismissal

If a transition is taking too long, don’t just tell students:

“You need to move faster.”

Show them what a successful transition looks like.

Then practice it.

Ask These Three Questions

What are students supposed to do?

How long should it take?

What should the room look and sound like when they’re finished?

Be specific.

“Get ready for math” can mean ten different things to ten students.

“Take out your math notebook and pencil, put everything else inside your desk, and look at the board” leaves far less room for confusion.

That is the kind of clarity that quickly improves classroom management for new teachers.

5. Make a Positive Parent Contact Before You Need One

Do not wait until something goes wrong to introduce yourself to a family.

This is one of my strongest recommendations for new teachers.

Start making positive contacts now.

They do not need to be long.

You can send a short email, make a quick phone call, or use the approved communication system your school provides.

Tell the parent something specific.

“Jordan helped another student today.”

“Maria has been participating in our discussions.”

“Devin has such a great sense of humor.”

“I wanted you to know how hard Ava worked today.”

Imagine how different a difficult conversation feels later when your first contact with that family was something positive.

And please don’t only contact the parents of the students who make your day easy.

Look for something good in every student.

Be a student of your students.

Learn their strengths.

Learn what motivates them.

Notice growth.

You don’t need to contact every family tonight. Create a system.

Try two or three positive contacts a day until you have reached everyone.

Small and consistent beats waiting for the perfect time.

6. Pay Attention to How Much Your Students Depend on You

This one sneaks up on teachers.

“Where do I put this?”

“What page are we on?”

“Do I need a pencil?”

“What do I do next?”

“I’m finished. Now what?”

“Can I go sharpen my pencil?”

“What am I supposed to be doing?”

One question does not seem like much.

Twenty-five students asking you questions they could answer for themselves is exhausting.

Your goal is not to become the human answer key for your classroom.

Your goal is to build students who can use the systems around them.

Before Answering, Ask Yourself:

Could this student find the answer without me?

If yes, teach them where to find it.

Maybe the assignment is posted on the board.

Maybe absent work has a designated location.

Maybe early-finisher choices are displayed.

Maybe supplies have labels.

Maybe directions remain visible while students work.

Maybe students know exactly which classmate, resource, chart, or location to check before coming to you.

Every time you create a good classroom system, you remove another unnecessary decision from your day.

And students become more independent.

That is a win for everyone.

7. Decide What Needs to Be Retaught Instead of Repeatedly Corrected

This may be the most important check of all.

Think about the correction you have repeated the most during the last few days.

“Stop calling out.”

“Stay in your seat.”

“Raise your hand.”

“Clean up your area.”

“Use an inside voice.”

“Get started.”

“Stop talking during directions.”

If you have said the same thing 20 times, saying it 21 times probably isn’t the solution.

Ask:

Is this a behavior issue or a procedure issue?

Sometimes it is behavior.

Students know the expectation and make a choice not to follow it. That needs appropriate follow-through.

But sometimes the procedure simply isn’t clear enough yet.

That needs teaching.

This distinction will save you a lot of frustration.

Before you assume that students “just won’t listen,” ask whether you’ve clearly taught:

• what you expect
• what it looks like
• what it sounds like
• when students should do it
• what happens when they don’t

Then follow through consistently.

Students should not have to guess which version of you they are getting today.

Predictability matters.

You Do Not Need to Start Over After the First 10 Days

I want new teachers to hear this part.

You are not supposed to have everything figured out after ten days.

You couldn’t.

Before students arrived, you were creating systems based on what you thought your classroom would need.

Now you have evidence.

You know which transition takes forever.

You know which routine students forget.

You know where the bottleneck happens when everyone needs supplies.

You know whether your attention signal works.

You know which students need more structure.

You know which parts of your day actually run smoothly.

Use that information.

Good teachers adjust.

They do not throw everything away every time something isn’t working.

Do This 10-Minute New Teacher Classroom Check Today

Before you leave school, take ten minutes and answer these questions:

1. Which classroom routine is working best?
2. Which routine needs to be retaught?
3. Are students entering my classroom independently?
4. Does my attention signal work?
5. Which transition is taking too long?
6. Have I started making positive contacts with family?
7. What are students asking me that they could learn to do themselves?

Then choose one thing to improve tomorrow.

Not seven.

One.

Once that becomes stronger, move to the next.

Structure first. Engagement second.

You can build from there.

If Your First Days of Teaching Felt Nothing Like You Expected

Welcome to teaching!

If you are a first-year teacher, lateral-entry teacher, or beginning teacher and the reality of those first days surprised you, read What Nobody Tells You Before Your First Day of Teaching.

And if classroom management already feels harder than you expected, read The Classroom Management Mistakes I See New Teachers Make Every Single Year.

Both will help you figure out what needs your attention now, rather than trying to fix everything at once.

Grab the Free New Teacher’s First 10 Days Checklist

If you are still trying to remember everything that needs to happen during those first days and weeks, grab my free New Teacher’s First 10 Days Checklist.

Keep it nearby.

Use it to check your classroom routines, first parent contacts, behavior documentation, organization, and those little things that are surprisingly easy to forget when school gets busy.

[GRAB THE FREE FIRST 10 DAYS CHECKLIST HERE]

Need More Than a Checklist?

Sometimes you get through the first few days and realize:

“Okay. I need a little more help than I thought.”

That’s exactly why I created The New Teacher Survival Toolkit.

It gives new and lateral-entry teachers practical help with:

• parent communication
• difficult conversations
• behavior documentation
• classroom systems
• observation preparation
• routines and transitions
• the things administrators wish new teachers knew

No fluff.

Just practical systems you can actually use in your classroom.

[LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NEW TEACHER SURVIVAL TOOLKIT]

One Last Thing for New Teachers

You don’t have to be great at everything to be a great teacher.

The first few weeks are information.

Pay attention.

Adjust.

Reteach.

Stay consistent.

Build relationships.

And keep going.

Your first year isn’t a test of whether you already know how to do everything.

It’s training.

And right now, one of the best things you can do is make sure the systems underneath your teaching are strong.

The first weeks aren’t just about teaching lessons. You’re still teaching systems.

Coming Next

Your Students Know the Rules, So Why Aren’t They Following Them?

We’ll look at what happens when students know the classroom expectations but aren’t consistently following them, and how to determine whether you need to reteach, reinforce, or respond differently.