It’s countdown until the new school year begins and I am spending my last precious moments reading up on the latest and greatest teaching strategies, having stress dreams about the first day of school, or scrolling through the endless black hole of Classroom Decoration/Organization boards on Pinterest. I quickly become overwhelmed and overstimulated with all of the things.

How do I sort through all that rabble and focus my brain power on the things that truly matter in preparing for the next school year?

Will my students feel more safe or excited to learn if I spend 5 hours personally designing customized name plates or crafting the perfect ice breaker activity?

Do I have to pick between creating a beautiful aesthetic for my students and designing intentional and stimulating first week of school lessons and activities?

If I want to do it all, do I actually have the time? 

What should I prioritize when the image of my ideal classroom begins to get out of hand and the to-do list spirals out of control?

Is anyone else getting overwhelmed by all these questions??? 

Yes, the struggle is real teacher friend, but I am here to help! I often feel overwhelmed by the large amount of things to do before the beginning of the school year, especially when I have to start my classroom from scratch. If you’re anything like me, day 1 of classroom setup typically begins with staring at my empty classroom, overcome by the mental checklist wondering, Where do I even start?

But, it doesn’t have to be this way.  Spending a good portion of my mental energy stressing about having a (let’s face it) unrealistic, Pinterest-ready, perfectly clean and organized classroom isn’t going to be the best motivator.   Now, of course, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a beautiful classroom worthy of thousands of Instagram likes, and if you find joy in color coordinating your Flair pens in Rae Dunn pen holders, then more power to you!  However, focusing on that kind of perfection isn’t going to put me, and probably a lot of other teachers out there, in the right “head space.” 

I want to help you see this time leading up to each new school year as a gift and a joy. It is a gift and a privilege to be called to teach and to have a classroom space to steward.  It is a joy to get to pour time and energy into intentionally designing your classroom space so that when you finally meet all those sweet new faces on the first day of school you can watch with joy and anticipation as they begin to interact with these carefully crafted spaces in your classroom. 

But, we still have to address that all-important question: With so much to do, where do you start? Let’s get your priorities straight. One of the most important things you can do before setting out to decorate and arrange your classroom is to spend some time thinking about the classroom culture you want to create. Think beyond the furniture and aesthetics. You want to create a classroom culture, not just a classroom environment.

Here are some great questions to ask yourself as you begin forming your vision for classroom culture:

1. What are the core values I want to cultivate in my students throughout the year? 

2. What are some social/ emotional/ spiritual goals I have for my students this year, and for myself as a teacher? 

3. When people walk into my classroom, what do I want their first impression to be? 

4. How do I want my students to treat the members of our class (both their fellow students and myself, the teacher)?

5. How do we see each other in the classroom, are we simply peers or are we friends, colleagues, learners, scholars, students, or even family? It might seem trivial, but how we use language to label our students in the classroom has power to influence our classroom culture. 

Once you have gone through and answered those questions, create a vision statement of sorts for your classroom (be sure to share this and spend some time discussing it with your students on the first day of school). This vision for your classroom culture will help shape every decision you make about curating your classroom space and will help you narrow down that to-do list by making clear your priorities and values.

For example, one of my core values in my classroom is to foster an environment of collaboration and 21st century learning.  So when I am deciding on how my desks will be set up, I need to ensure my students are placed into teams and their desks are grouped together in a way that facilitates constant collaboration. I also want to ensure it is easy for my students to get out of their desks and move around the room to collaborate with each other as well. 

Now that you have a vision for your classroom culture, you can more readily begin designing the physical space of your classroom.

Here are some additional questions to get you started:

1. What expectations do I have for movement throughout the classroom, both for my students and myself?

2. How do I want my students to interact with each other throughout the school day? 

3. How do I (the teacher) want to interact with my students throughout the school day? 

4. What are the most important routines and procedures in my classroom? 

5. What are the primary tools I will be using to teach? 

6. What are visuals and resources I want my students to have daily ready access to? 

7. What technology do I need in place and how will I be using it every day? 

8. How do I communicate academic expectations to my students and how often do those change? 

9. What tools do my students need immediate access to throughout the day? (i.e. pencils, erasers, writing notebooks, folders, etc.)

This is a great place to get started in thinking about the purpose and placement of things in your classroom. Once you answer these questions, it will inevitably narrow down your classroom decor options and clarify your usage for classroom space. For example: the question regarding what visuals and resources you want readily available for you students will then lead to what will be on your walls or whiteboards, in constant visual reach for your students to use as resources throughout the day. It may also lead to having centers or shelving/ drawer units set up at different spots around the classroom where you want them to have clear access to math manipulatives, iPads, or task cards.

Use these questions as a launch pad for your priorities within your classroom space and then get to work. Now you can walk into the Dollar Store with a purpose and a small list of things to look for, rather than wandering the school supply aisle aimlessly, throwing all the things that catch your eye into your cart. Now you can take inventory of what you already have and place it strategically around your room with confidence. Now you can type in a carefully worded, specific phrase into that Pinterest search bar and know that you are looking for ideas for your Math facts wall, rather than scrolling through the endless bulletin board ideas. 

Does all this work answering questions on the front end seem daunting or even pointless? I promise you, it is so worthwhile and it will reduce the stress of being overwhelmed because you will have more clarity and be able to easily toss out projects or ideas that were consuming time that you now realize are not in line with your main priorities and vision for your classroom. So that when your students cross the threshold into your classroom, the first day and every day afterwards, they become partners in your vision and members of your team, working together towards the goals set before them. 

What are your favorite parts about designing your classroom space each year? 

What do you find takes up most of your time in preparing for each new school year and what do you wish you had more time to do?