The First 10 Days: The Complete Back to School Toolkit

In a season with an overwhelming amount of "stuff", we'll connect the dots and make meaningful, impactful plans for your first two weeks in less than two hours.

In our course, I'll provide the WHY, the WHAT, the WHEN and the HOW for all of your back to school planning in the secondary classroom.

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I remember spilling coffee all over my students on the first day of school...

I mean, what kind of an idiot puts a styrofoam coffee cup on top of a cupholder made out of marshmallows and toothpicks?

It was me. Yeah. Me all the way.

It was all part of our Marshmallow Team Building Challenge: each group had a half a bag of marshmallows, a handfull of toothpicks, and a super strange item to construct. When I went over to this group to see if their creation could, in fact, hold a cup full of liquid, I placed my Dunkin cup right on top of the toothpicks. The cup stayed up, but the coffee was EVERYWHERE.

There was magic in that moment...

...and early on in my career I knew that the first ten days were the most powerful time to connect with students and build the kind of community that I knew my students needed from me. They needed me to:

Set boundaries
Be real
Be honest
Set the bar high

and most of all...
be myself.

For the last decade, I've been harnessing the power of the first ten days and it's finally time that I teach other teachers how I'm able to cultivate relationships, set high academic expectations, and establish the routines that make everything else possible. This toolkit will give you everything you need to make your first 10 days meaningful and to set the stage for the school year to come.

Take it from my former student and now dear friend, Tatyana. After spilling coffee on her, laughing hysterically, and bonding instantly, she not only graduated but is an incredible adult human doing amazing things.

I'm here to help you do all of this and MORE...

All photos used with permission.

I'm here to help you amplify the power of the First 10 Days

In this course, we will not only make a plan for the start of the year, but also learn how intentional decisions build the kind of community you want to last the whole school year long.

Find your WHY

We'll begin with some self-reflection and soul-searching. What kind of classroom do you want to have? What do you deeply believe about the possibilities for learning that can happen within your walls?

Learn the PILLARS

There are three critical pillars to designing the physical, emotional, and academic classroom: routines, rigor, and relationships. We'll learn about these three interconnected pillars and how they work together to build the classroom you want.

Create your PLAN

Using my exclusive First 10 Days calendar with color coded drop down menus, you'll learn dozens of strategies to use and select your personal favorites to add to your plan. All resources are included in the purchase of the course.

$97 or 2 monthly payments of $50

The First 10 Days: The Complete Back to School Toolkit

Course
17 Lessons

I'm here to help you lesson plan for the first ten days of school with the intention of practicing routines, setting expectations for rigor, and building relationships.

Buy now

What Teachers Have to Say:

Baylee B.

"I wanted to let you know they were amazing. This has been my best school year by far! I truly believe those lessons are a huge part of why. They really helped me focus on building a classroom where both my students and I enjoy spending time. It set an amazing foundation and I am so grateful! Thank you so much

Natalie Z.

"This workshop truly helped me cement the first 2 weeks of school so that I won’t freak out as we go back when there are bazillion things they want us to do on top of planning and getting our rooms ready. Thank you so much."

Alyssa H.

"Thank you SO much. You already know how thrilled I am with the purchase because I have been in contact, but again THANK YOU! You have exceeded my expectations and given me even more excited to be back in school this year!"

Taylor E.

"I can't express strongly enough how encouraged I feel. I was working through feelings of shame for needing this after 15 years, off and on, of teaching. But it was just so enjoyable and informative, that it was a TREAT for me to watch. Thanks for being real, vulnerable and for giving me hope. "

Use my calendar template to organize and strategize your 10-day plan. Then, pick and choose from resources to fill in each day!

Take the guess work out of planning back to school.

The stress of starting a new school year is hard enough as it is. Let's simplify and AMPLIFY the power of the first ten days through three core principles...

ROUTINES

Academic growth and positive relationships CANNOT thrive in a chaotic environment. We will start by building structure & routine.

RIGOR

High expectations are something that need to be built over time and with consistency. We'll start this early and often in our planning.

RELATIONSHIPS

Finally, we will sift through the clutter and design activities that will establish a classroom community built on trust.

The First 10 Days

When planned intentionally, the work of the first ten days will be felt in your classroom for the next nine months. In this workshop, we will not only plan the first 10 days together, but you will be coached about the reasons behind each decision, each plan. Your First 10 Day plan will:

Prioritize creating a space safe for hard conversations
Eliminate students' need to ever ask you "why are we doing this?"
Create structures that allow you to flexibly adapt to the ever changing demands on you as a teacher while still maintaining organization
Help you sift out the clutter from the power -- which activities will move you closer to your goals?

Welcome & Overview

In this course, teachers will be able to:

Define the routines that matter AND establish each of them within the first 10 days of school.
Establish a sense of urgency and rigor that sets high expectations within the first 10 days of school.
Begin the critical, foundational work of building relationships with students within the first 10 days of school.
Sift out the shiny objects and focus on the tasks that need to be done in order to accomplish strong routines, an appropriate level of rigor, and trust-based relationships within the first 10 days of school.

Welcome! Let's get started...

6 mins
82.8 MB

Preview

Resources to Get Started

What Matters to Me?

In this first part of the course, you will reflect on the systems, assignments, expectations, academics, and community-building aspects of your teaching that are most important to you. Throughout the course, I will share plenty of my own experiences and preferences, but it's important that you listen to my ideas as suggestions and are prepared to amend them to fit your priorities in the above-mentioned categories.

Finding Your Why: What Matters to You?

7 mins
79 MB

Reflection & Supply Recommendations

The First 10 Days: At a Glance

In this module, we will follow best practice and zoom out to backwards plan based on the information we gained during the "What Matters to Me?" survey and training. This will be the place where we sketch out strategic decisions that will help us get to our goals.

Overview and Resources

Looking at The Big Picture

9 mins
109 MB

Using Your Interactive Calendar

8 mins
88.5 MB

Days 1 - 3

The first three days are a tight balance between the three R's, and our goal is to establish the energy of our environment. This module will help you express in writing how you want your classroom to feel when a student walks in and how you want it to look to students that don’t yet know who you are or what you value. We’re going to work hard to intentionally select the kinds of lessons that send the exact message you want to send through the physical space you’ve set up, the types of activities you’ve chosen, and the ways in which you demonstrate and reinforce the expectations of that room.

Day 1: Breaking the Ice Without a Lame Icebreaker

13 mins
153 MB

Day 2: Meet the Teacher & the First Assignment

17 mins
226 MB

Day 3: Making Connections & Sharing the Digital Syllabus

8 mins
111 MB

Days 4-6

These days are the bridge between breaking the ice and getting down to business. They are flexible between the abundance of activity ideas you’ve been given in Module Four and potential extra days to prepare for seminar coming up in Module Six. These are also the days where you might need to spend an entire period practicing a classroom routine several times, the days when a random school assembly is scheduled out of nowhere, you need to go to the library to pick books for independent reading, or whatever else might be thrown your way.

Day 4: Let's Get That Bell Work Routine Goin'!

12 mins
147 MB

Days 5 & 6: Back to School Stations & Flex Time

12 mins
152 MB

Days 7-10

The Socratic seminar (or fishbowl if you prefer) is the core focus of these final three days. Day 7 is all about preparing for the seminar using the prep sheet, doing whip-around games to get the flow of conversation started, and trying to debunk any misconceptions. Days 8 and 9 are entirely dedicated to the seminar itself, and Day 10 is reserved for reflection. Students reflect on the Essential Question and the ways it was discussed during the seminar as well as their own strengths and struggles throughout the two days worth of conversation.

Days 7-10: Ending on a High Note with Socratic Seminar

22 mins
212 MB

Back to School with Canva

These are the "hacks" that can make the start of the school year even MORE amazing (when and if you're ready to tackle them). Enjoy!

Meet the Teacher Slide Deck

38 mins
226 MB

Back to School Stations: QR Codes & Templates

28 mins
117 MB

Create Your Canva Website

28 mins
191 MB

Thank You & Feedback Survey!

Thank You!

2 mins
99 MB

$97 or 2 monthly payments of $50

The First 10 Days: The Complete Back to School Toolkit

Course
17 Lessons

I'm here to help you lesson plan for the first ten days of school with the intention of practicing routines, setting expectations for rigor, and building relationships.

Buy now