My Weekly Teaching Routine
#swaproutines
I love swapping weekly routines with teachers. It shows what we value and what we prioritize for each day of teaching. I talked about my planning process in my back-to-school bullet journal post in August, but this plan can be a candidate for change based on the group of students each year. I always like to review my weekly routine each year when I do my reading each summer. Reflecting on these practices is one of the ways that I like to feed my own creativity and keep my teaching practices fresh for students. I know teachers always like to have established routines “that work,” but I would argue that the new things we try to keep our student-minds working like new. I got into teaching because learning was something that appealed to me; the nature of the weekly routine is something that begs to be refined over and over.
Let’s #swaproutines. I would love to know how your classroom runs and is organized with different activities and lessons.
Past Routines
In the past, my routines have varied, but they contain similar fundamental elements. I have had no set routine besides a warmup in class. This warmup could be writing, reading, or even daily language review. Some people I know have no warmups, but students know to check a certain location when they enter class to prepare for the day ahead. I have had thematic days as well as a weekly routine. My established days looked like this:
Mindset Monday-Growth mindset prompts
Tough Choice Tuesday-Would you rather questions
Word Wednesday-Vocabulary work/Figurative language review
Library Day Thursday
Friday Free Write-Creative free writing time to start class
I liked this schedule when I had it at the time. It is not that a weekly routine was better or worse. I think weekly routines largely have to do with teacher style and what they feel is important. The two elements of a great teacher’s weekly routine are the non-negotiables set by the teacher and the teacher’s personal style.
My Current Weekly Routine
MONDAY
Independent Reading/Read-Aloud
Mentor Text Routine (Book Talk, Notice, Name, Write Like an Author)
Introduce Weekly Content
TUESDAY
Independent Reading/Read-Aloud
Class Read Aloud/Write Into the Day (Journals)
CONTENT ROTATION 1
WEDNESDAY
Independent Reading/Read-Aloud
CONTENT ROTATION 2
THURSDAY-LIBRARY (MY CLASS GOES ALMOST EVERY SINGLE WEEK TO THE LIBRARY ON THURSDAY. WE HAVE A LIBRARY FOCUS EACH MARKING PERIOD OR EVERY SIX WEEKS.)
Library Activity
Independent Reading/Read-Aloud
THURSDAY-NO LIBRARY
Independent Reading/Read-Aloud
CONTENT ROTATION 3
FRIDAY
Independent Reading/Read-Aloud
Friday Free Write
Weekly Wrap-Up of Content Rotation/Class Binder Organization
Why Independent Reading?
My warmup for a class is reading. This can take on many forms. Independent reading can be rotated with a read-aloud for a class or even poetry exploration. The first 15 minutes of class is dedicated to reading either by ourselves or together. I always rotate back to independent reading because it is the best gift I can give my students: Time to look at books on their own. My plan after this marking period is to rotate in a whole class read aloud. In my Michigan Council for Teachers of English speech, I reminded the audience that “With only 19% of Americans age 15 and older reading for pleasure on a given day, this single act is my highest priority.” We have to continue to fight for resources and time.
Ideas for Reading Warmups:
Independent Choice Reading
Whole-Class Read Aloud
Precepts or Quotations (I love Kwame Alexander’s The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life or R.J. Palacio’s 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Precepts)
Audiobooks, E-Books, or Read-to-me options
Picture Books
Poetry Exploration
Why Content Rotations?
Content rotations are when I do my curriculum. I like to mold my curriculum to my non-negotiables-not the other way around. As a middle school teacher, my students need routine, and I need to find balance in teaching the given curriculum. Content rotations are my time to work on unit work and assigned work from the pacing guide. Whatever we don’t get done is for Friday. Friday is essentially a clean-up day if needed. If we are working through a novel, the work is inserted into content rotations. If we are working on writing a paragraph, the work is done during content rotations. I try to fit reading and writing into a small amount of time I have, but I have to properly organize my time around my routine.
Why Library?
My classes visit the library each week at school. I am so lucky that I have a librarian in our building. Libraries matter, but they are not being seen as priorities in school buildings. Again, from my MCTE acceptance speech I stated: “Currently, 92% of buildings in the State of Michigan are not served by certified school librarians. Being 47th in the nation in staffing schools with media specialists is just embarrassing.” I will continue to shout the need for librarians and showing our students the value of rooms full of books. I have worked closely with my librarian to insist that time spent in libraries will convince my students that libraries are classrooms, too. We learn about genres, we learn how to browse for books, and we learn how to talk about books to build a book community.
Why Friday Free Write?
My students are given free writing time in class, and this is their favorite part of the week because I let them be free. I allow them to listen to the music of their choice while they write and only ask that they practice responsible music listening: set it and forget it. The idea remains simple: Write about what makes you happy. I find that most students may choose to write about their weekend or something that happened in the hallway that bothered them. This part of my week continues to be one of the best parts of my week and continues to be something that students year after year put on their exit surveys as something they loved about class.