7 Steps For A Great Start To The School Year

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7 Steps for a Great Start to the School Year

Copyright © 2016 by Tyler Hester. All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof, may not be
reproduced or used in any manner without written permission from the author.
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to each of you who made the choice to teach. I thank God for you.
Table of Contents
● Introduction
● Step 1. Set up your classroom
● Step 2. Create lesson plans for your first two days
● Step 3. Create a high-level plan for the first two weeks
● Step 4. Create your classroom management plan
● Step 5. Practice your teacher magic
● Step 6. Draft your vision and goals
● Step 7. Prioritize
● Appendix
Before we get going...

1. Resources. As you can see in this resources document, I’ve put together a set of files aligned to
the seven steps. I’d love to add more! If you have resources that you think could be helpful,
please email them to me at tyler@newteachersthriving.org. Together, we can construct an
outstanding set of supports for soon-to-be teachers!
2. Pay what you want. I’m offering this book to the world using a “Pay what you want” system. If
you’re able and willing to pay for the content of this book, wonderful! Your funds will go
towards the upkeep of the websites I’ve created or to support for my efforts to help educators
across the world. If not, no worries at all. My hope is that the content of the book provides you
with encouragement and support for the work that you’re doing.
3. Updates. I may update this book from time to time. Be sure to check back at www.7steps.org
for the latest version.
4. Making it better. If you have ideas about ways the book could be improved, I’d love to hear
them! You can share thoughts by dropping me an email at tyler@newteachersthriving.org.
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Introduction
A deer in the headlights.
That’s what I felt like in the days leading up to my first day as a teacher.
The opening bell of the school year was a car careening towards me, a terrifying ding-ding that would
tell students to walk into my classroom.
But I wasn’t ready for them.
Each second that ticked by represented the car moving that much closer to my freaked out, miserable,
overwhelmed self.
Before my first day as a teacher, I existed in a paradoxical state of frantic mental activity and inaction.
My mind was a whirl of questions: What should I do with my students on the first day? How much do I
need to set up my classroom? How should I prepare for classroom management? What will my students
be like? How will they act? Am I going to be a disastrous failure?
I knew that I should be taking steps to answer at least some of those questions and preparing for the
first day of school, but I felt overwhelmed and lost. I ignored advice that people were giving me. I
prioritized grocery shopping over lesson planning because, well, I was good at grocery shopping. I was
confident in my ability to find the best kind of peanut butter on aisle six. I was not confident, however,
in my ability to create a great lesson plan for the first day. So I avoided creating that lesson plan. And I
bought peanut butter.
In hindsight, I can see that many of the actions I did take to start the school year were misguided. For
instance, I spent most of the weekend before school started reading a book that helped me to plan an
elaborate incentive system that I wouldn’t be able to implement until November. And even then, I never
implemented it. My lesson plan for day one was a blank page, but I was consoling myself with fantasies
about the perfect classroom at some point down the road.
Miserable. Freaked out. Overwhelmed. The headlights of the first day drew closer. All the while, my
anxiety was mounting.
It reached a crescendo the night before school started when I found myself in my classroom as the clock
struck midnight. I was desperately making posters and copies for the next day.
And then, I remember that first day making full, powerful impact. Not the good kind.
* * *
Does any of this resonate with how you’re feeling? Are you unsure about how to prepare for a great first
day? Are you avoiding things you know you should be doing?
If so, it’s time for you to buckle down.
I wish that someone had thrown a glass of cold water in my face a few weeks before I started teaching.
That would have gotten my attention. And then I wish they would have had handed me the book that
you’re reading right now.
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While I won’t be throwing any cold water, I am inviting you to spend significant time leading up to the
start of the school year reading through these seven steps that will help you start the school year strong.
If you’re able to, I’d advise setting aside a total of 14 days before the school year begins. This will enable
you to move through one step every two days. I hope that, by steadily moving through each of the
steps, you’ll avoid the mistakes I made and have a much stronger start than I did.
For those of you who are feeling the way I felt – like a deer in the headlights – I hope the seven steps will
provide you with a jolt of clarity. I hope that you’ll stop staring wide-eyed at the clock as it ticks towards
the first bell and, instead, get going with productive, consistent action. I hope this book gets you to roll
up your sleeves and get to work ensuring your classroom will be a harmonious and energizing space for
your students, the type of space you had in mind when you made the choice to join this profession. At
the very least, I hope this book helps make sure you’re not feeling miserable and making posters in your
classroom at midnight before the first day of school.
Here’s what we’ll cover together:

Step 1. Set up your classroom
Step 2. Create lesson plans for your first two days
Step 3. Create a high-level plan for the first two weeks
Step 4. Create your classroom management plan
Step 5. Practice your teacher magic
Step 6. Draft your vision and goals
Step 7. Prioritize
For today, my hope is that you’ll feel a little bit less alone. I hope you know you aren’t the only person
who has felt the way you’re feeling. And I hope you feel ready to channel your unproductive anxiety into
purposeful action.
To start this journey…

● Clear your schedule. Find or make the time to read and implement these seven steps in the
coming weeks.
● Create an accountability system. Create a system to make sure you’re making progress. Tell a
friend, a family member, or a colleague about what you’re doing and ask them to check in on
you each day. Or hold yourself accountable. I find it satisfying to check boxes, so if it were me,
I’d use something like the table at the end of this introduction (also here).
● Get ready. Come back for Step 1 with your sleeves rolled up!
Tyler Hester
Richmond, California
August, 2016
P.S. I can imagine some folks wondering, for instance, why I took the time to write this book. I’ve shared
my thoughts in response to some of those questions below. I’ve also shared answers to a few other
questions in Appendix A.
Why did you write this?

I felt isolated and scared in the days and weeks leading up to my first day as a teacher. I desperately
wanted to be great for my students, but I didn’t know what I should be doing to prepare. I craved
practical support and guidance, but I didn’t know where to find it.
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Sadly, there are still teachers out there who feel the way I felt. There are still teachers who see the start
of the school year approaching and who don’t know what to do. That sucks. If you’re one of those
people, I wrote this book for you.
Soon-to-be teachers deserve something that lays it all out for them: clear guidance on what to do before
school starts and tangible resources they can use to start the year strong.
Got it! Any other reasons you took the time to write this?
1. I screwed up my first days as a teacher
I’m independent to a fault. I didn’t take advantage of the supports that my teacher-training program
offered. As a result, my plans were weak and the systems and structures in my classroom weren’t
strong.
Once the school year started, things went downhill pretty quick. The culture in many of my classes
became negative. On numerous occasions, students cussed me out and told me they hated me and my
class. On some occasions, I tried to get the attention of the class and, no matter what I did, I couldn’t.
Once, the dean of discipline needed to come into my class just to get students to pay attention.
The ripple effects of my weak start extended throughout the year. Months later, I was still trying to turn
culture around. I was working overtime to repair relationships I had harmed during the first days and
weeks of the year.
Now, it’s possible to have a rough start to the year and still finish strong. But it’s so much harder after a
weak start.
Here’s why: In the first minutes of the school year, a world is born. A society is created. What the
teacher says, how the teacher acts and reacts have a profound and formative effect on how students
think about the teacher and her or his class.
So, I’m writing this in the hope that some folks out there will steer clear of the mistakes I made. I don’t
believe it’s possible for a teacher’s first year to be easy, and the day won’t come when people do it
perfectly, but I do believe that it’s possible to start the year stronger than I did. I hope that this book
helps folks to do just that.
2. There’s not enough practical guidance for the start of the school year
Do a quick Google search and you’ll find a million resources teachers can use with their students once
the school year is underway. But there isn’t as much out there to get the year started. Given how
important it is to get things off on the right foot, that’s a problem.
Additionally, I’ve found that the resources that are out there are often too theoretical. Soon-to-be
teachers need good ideas, yet, but they also need practical, easy-to-implement guidance and resources.
I hope this book provides just that.
3. I think we dramatically underestimate the importance of teacher happiness

The wellbeing of our teachers is directly tied to the wellbeing of our children. If our teachers are
miserable, they’ll transmit that misery to their students.
I wrote this book so that freaked-out, soon-to-be teachers would be less freaked. I wrote this book to
help soon-to-be teachers stop spiraling into the anxiety-induced misery that I experienced and instead
move productively toward a strong first day. In short, I wrote this book so that soon-to-be-teachers
could be – dare I say it? – happy.
4. My life’s dream
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My dream is that, as a result of the short time I’ve got on this earth, more people would act from a
recognition of the infinite worth and potential that exists within each of us.
I believe that each of us is made in the image of God. And I believe that each of us has far more
potential than we realize. I took the time to write this book because I think that teachers are uniquely
positioned to remind people of their infinite worth and inspire them to rise to their full potential.
What will this book be? What won’t it be?

Will be Won’t be
Exhaustive. This book does not include

Practical. A practical guide for anxious, soon-to-
everything you need to know about teaching. It’s
be teachers about how to prepare for the school
not intended to be a replacement for a teacher-
year.
training program!
Any tips on pacing my effort over the coming weeks?

Here’s a sample progress tracker: After each day that you complete, I’d invite you to write a big,
satisfying X in the box.
Set up your classroom Create lesson plans for your first two days
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
Create a high-level plan for the first two weeks Create your classroom management plans
Practice your teacher magic Draft your vision and goals
Prioritize
Day 13 Day 14 The first day of school
Any last words of advice before I dive in?

Do whatever it takes to complete the steps. It’s a lot of work to be ready to start the school year strong,
so roll up your sleeves and get after it.
And don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good. For instance, if you get obsessed with setting
up your classroom perfectly, then you won’t get to the other steps, and it’s essential that you do. So
notice any perfectionist tendencies that arise and then keep charging forward. That first day will be here
before you know it!
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Step 1: Set up your classroom

The school year is about to start. Your classroom is in shambles.
This is a miserable situation. I know from personal experience.
In fact, at three o’clock the afternoon before my first day of teaching, my classroom was in such a sorry
state that, if a student had walked in, she would have assumed a mistake had been made. Surely no
learning could take place in that pig sty.
So I spent the afternoon before day one setting up my classroom. At midnight, after a frantic break for
lesson planning, I found myself making posters and setting up supplies in my classroom. It was the
middle of the night, and I was still just doing the basics. I felt like a scared, cornered animal.
Do not make the same mistake I did!
Let’s visualize your first day of the school year:

You walk onto your school campus after a surprisingly good night of sleep. You’re nervous as heck, but
your nerves subside as you open the door to your classroom and see that it’s well set up. It’s not yet a
sight of beauty, but you are more than ready. All the copies for the first day were made last week and
are they’re ready for students to pick up as they walk through the door. The posters you’ve made are
clear, warm, and welcoming. You chuckle to yourself as you see the extra desks that you somehow
managed to cram into your room, grateful that you planned for more students to be in your classes than
you had initially been told. As it happens, your principal had run up to you frantically that morning to let
you know that four extra students would be added to your fifth-period class, which was already your
largest. You remember feeling thankful that you could keep calm in the face of his anxiety, knowing that
you had planned for the unexpected. As the opening bell rings, your heart skips a beat and the nerves
come back. You calm down again, however, as you remember that you have done everything in your
power to be ready for this moment. You know today won’t be perfect, but you’re looking forward to the
joys and challenges of working alongside your students.
Give yourself the gift of feeling this way. And give your students the gift of walking into an organized,
warm, and welcoming classroom.
Before we talk about how to bring that vision to life, here are two reasons I’ve made classroom setup
our first step:
1. Moving desks is easy. When soon-to-be teachers are nervous about the start of the school year,
I’m not sure that it’s always wise to ask them to engage in high-level thinking. While that might
work for some people, my sense is that the best thing is just to get folks moving. Literally. Move
desks around. Go through cabinets and throw away the junk.
2. This could take a while. Getting your room ready for your students might actually take awhile.
While I hope that classroom setup is something you can knock out over the course of today and
tomorrow, I’m conscious that it can take a village to set up a classroom. For instance, getting the
keys to your classroom might require connecting with your principal, the custodial staff at your
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school, or the office manager. But they might be on vacation! If that’s the case, you’ll need to
use these days to get the ball rolling for when those folks are back in action.
And now, it’s time for action! Here are five steps to make sure your classroom is ready to rock.
1. Draft a “stuff-you-need power map”

Consider this profound truth: It’s helpful to have stuff in your classroom when you’re trying to teach. ☺
Very often, when new teachers inherit their classrooms, they’re missing essential supplies. Given that,
the first step is to get clear on what you need and who can help you get it.
One way to do this would be to create a “stuff-you-need power map.” This document would list the
essential things you’ll need, the names of people who might be able to provide you with that stuff, and
the next steps you’ll need to take. In community organizing, “power maps” are used to identify who
holds influence. In this instance, you’ll be creating a “power map” for classroom necessities.
Go ahead and use the table below for that purpose. Alternatively, you can find a digital copy here.
What’s my
Will my school What next steps do I need to take?
relationship
Stuff that you need provide this? (Head to the district office? Find the
with this
If yes, who? custodian? Call my principal? etc.)
person?
Keys to my school and

classroom
Desks and chairs (ideally

a few more than you
think you’ll need)
Stuff for me and my

students to write with:
Pencils/pens, chalk/dry-
erase markers, markers,
etc.
Stuff to write on:

- A chalkboard or a dry
erase board
- Paper
- Poster paper
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Technology
2. Get keys
The next step is to get keys to your school and classroom. If the people who have your keys aren’t
around, skip to Step 2 for now.
3. Assess what you’ve got

Once you gain access to your school and classroom, survey the scene. Of the things you’ll need, what do
you have? What don’t you have?
4. Picture the class as you’ll want it + list the stuff you’ll need
Some of you lucky ducks will walk into a classroom and have everything you need. Others, however, will
walk into classrooms that have practically nothing. Or you might find yourself in a situation like I was in:
inheriting a classroom that is a complete mess and without practically any supplies.
At this point, you might be asking, “What is all the stuff I’ll actually need?”
Of course, there isn’t one right answer to that question. But here are a few different ways that you can
go about clarifying what you’ll need.
• Find an outstanding educator at your school who can open up her classroom and show you her
systems. Figure out how her system works and, if you’re down with it, just copy what she does.
• Find a book or a website that outlines a clear system for classroom setup that resonates with
you.
While it’s true that you need to get a really good system up and running, you also need to make
decisions, and you need to make ‘em quickly. If you can make those decisions while also building
relationships with colleagues at your school, that is a wonderful bonus!
Now, some of you might be thinking, “I’m in my classroom reading this, and there’s no one else here to
guide me. And I don’t want to start down the wormhole of the internet’s suggestions about classroom
setup. Can you just tell me what to do?”
If that’s where you’re at, yes!
In the last few days of my fourth year as a teacher, knowing that I would soon be taking a job training
teachers, I recorded myself giving a classroom tour. While the recording wasn’t created for this book,
my hope is that it’ll be helpful to you. Feel free to give it a watch by heading to this link:
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Two questions to consider as you watch the video:

1. Do you disagree with some of the decisions I made setting up my classroom? Great! That means
you have a clear picture of what you don’t want your classroom to look like. And that’ll be useful
in helping you to understand what you do want your classroom to look like.
2. Do you like some of the stuff that you saw? Cool! Feel free to copy it. Or modify it and make it
your own.
The table below provides some additional guidance on classroom setup. One note: I’ll elaborate on
some of the suggestions in future steps, so don't worry if some of the language is unfamiliar.
What Why
Number the desks. Put a number on the Clearly numbering the desks in an intuitive order will make it easier to create
top corner of each desk. Create these seating charts and direct students to their seats. You can see an example of
numbers with 3x5 index cards and put how I numbered desks in this image below.
clear tape over them. Alternatively, use
a sharpie to write numbers on masking
tape.
Set up a teacher supply station. Set You’re going to need supplies, and you’re going to need to find them easily.
aside a portion of the room for your
supplies.
- Paper of all varieties: lined,
blank, construction, poster, etc.
- Writing utensils: pencils, pens,
dry-erase markers and/or chalk,
markers to create posters
(these are my fav)
- Scissors and possibly a paper
trimmer
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Set up a student supply station. You It’s helpful to have a specific place where students can get supplies on their
may want to create a space where own so that you don’t have to spend time shuttling back and forth between
students can get supplies themselves. the supplies area and students’ desks.
Specifically, you could have a spot
where you keep... A note about pencils: I always made sure to have some of these golf pencils at
- Paper the ready. They were stubby and not something that students would want to
- Kleenex rely on every day, but they did the trick when a student came unprepared.
- A pencil sharpener
- Extra pencils
- Highlighters
Set up your board. Create clear sections Dividing up your board into various sections helps share key information with
on your board. I found colored students: learning objectives, the plan for the day, homework assignments,
electrical tape helpful for this. etc. To see exactly how I did this, head here.
Set up a projection system. You’ll want I found it helpful to have a document camera because I could model what
some kind of system to project stuff. students should be doing on the exact same page they had in front of them.
The system I liked best used both a This minimized prep - all I had to do was grab a copy of the paper and toss it
projector and a document camera. under the document camera. No PowerPoint needed!
Make a “Pick up Here” table. This is a By making sure students pick up any necessary pieces of paper on their way in,
table where students can pick up you’ll be eliminating the need to spend time on this during class.
handouts for the day on their way into
the classroom.
Save space for posters of key policies + It’s helpful to post the key policies and rules of your classroom in a location
classroom expectations. Save space on where they are clearly visible.
your walls to call students’ attention to
important policies and classroom
expectations.
Save space for posters of your class Save space in a prominent location in the classroom to promote the goals that
goal(s). you and your students will be aspiring to reach together. Lots more info about
which goals to select in Step 6.
Create a classroom library. Maybe it’s It’s important to always have a plan for what students can be doing if they
just the English teacher in me, but I finish their work early. For me, the ideal was reading! One way to facilitate this
think it’s great for every classroom to is to have bookshelves prepared with a great set of books.
have a library of interesting books that
students can choose from if they finish
their work early.
Academic language sentence strips. For students learning academic English, sentence strips can be a helpful
These sentence strips outline the type scaffold. You can see an example from my own classroom here.
of academic language that you want to
encourage.
A big timer. I had a big timer that During assessments or longer chunks of work time, students would have a
students would be able to see from clear sense of how much time they had left.
anywhere in the room.
Trackers. Trackers enable you to track It is incredibly powerful to have systems in your classroom that allow you and
your students’ progress towards goals. your students to visually track progress.
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You can see examples of different kinds

of trackers here. Most commonly, I see
folks using trackers like these.
Tennis balls on the base of the legs of To minimize the amount of noise that desks and chairs make as they move
chairs. This is a good idea if you’ve got around, you might want to consider putting tennis balls at the bottom of desks
hard floors. and chairs.
Here’s an image of the layout of my classroom. If you’d like to download it and tweak it for your own
purposes, you can find it here.
5. Get the stuff you need

Once you’ve figured out what you’ve got and what you need, get the stuff you need! Of course, this will
mean something different to each of you. Three quick tips:
1. If you’re getting stuff from your school, make sure you’re also focused on building strong
relationships with the folks you meet.
2. If you’re on your own and don’t have the money to buy the supplies yourself and/or want others
to chipping in, try using a public Wish List on Amazon.com. With a Wish List, you’re able to
identify the items that you want for your classroom and then share that link with others who
might be interested in contributing. Because so many people are comfortable buying stuff on
Amazon, they’re more likely to help. You can see an example of an appeal for support here.
3. If you’re able to buy stuff on your own, wonderful! Find a teacher supply store close to you (or
online). I made an annual pilgrimage to Lakeshore Learning, a store that has so much great stuff
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and where I inevitably spent more than I planned. The Dollar Store is also a great spot for
supplies. One final note: As you shop, make sure to save receipts for taxes and possible
reimbursement in the future.
Alright team, there you have it! Come on back once your room is in a solid spot and we’ll put our heads
together around the next task: creating your lesson plans for the first two days.
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Step 2: Create lesson plans for the first two

days
Now that your classroom is better prepared for your first day with students, I hope you feel less like a
deer in the headlights. I hope you’re feeling some positive momentum towards a great first day.
To be clear, though, you’re still in danger of getting slammed.
It’s true that your students walking into a disorganized classroom would be bad. But it would also be bad
for your students to walk into a classroom without a good lesson plan. That’s the stuff nightmares are
made of: Your class is immaculate and your students are impressed and then they look to you for
directions about what to do and you’ve got… nothing. Makes me shiver to think about it!
By the time you’re finished with this chapter, you should have relatively thorough lesson plans for the
first two days of the school year.
Before we get to work, let’s envision the future benefits of creating your lesson plans now.
The bell rings to mark the end of your first day as a teacher. As students file out of your classroom, the
door closes with a thud. Suddenly, you’re alone in your classroom. Your first full day is complete.
“Oh my goodness. That was hard.” You find yourself in near shock about how long the day felt. You are
in awe when you consider the number of human beings who came in and out of your classroom over the
course of the day. Your mind can’t fathom how many different situations you handled (and mishandled)
over the course of the day. Amidst the swirl of emotions, you feel a sense of gratitude that you had an
exceptionally thorough lesson plan.
You’re also aware of how much work it took to get your lesson plan into a good place. And while you got
enough sleep last night, you’re tired. As your mind starts thinking ahead to the next day, your survival
instincts kick in: “Wait, am I seriously going to need to do this all again tomorrow? Do I even have a plan
for tomorrow?”
As the adrenaline starts to flow, you feel relief: You’ve already got a lesson for the next day. And it is as
thorough as the plan was today. You’ll need to tweak the plan based on how things went today -
particularly for that second-period class! - but you take comfort in the knowledge that you can actually
take a few hours now to head to the gym and eat a calm, non-frantic dinner. You feel a sense of peace
when you realize that you won’t need to stay up all night creating a lesson from scratch. “This is going to
be hard,” you think to yourself, “but I can do it.”
That is going to feel good!

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Also, I did not feel that way at the end of my first day of teaching. As you know, I had been in my
classroom until past midnight the previous evening, so I was feeling the sleep deprivation in a big way.
Additionally, I realized with some amount of terror that I didn’t have anything planned for the next day.
My mind was frazzled, but I was going to need to coax hours of creative work out of it. I knew it would
be like getting water from a rock. As this reality set in, my anxiety grew. “Am I going to be in this
classroom until midnight for the second night in a row?” A new wave of misery and fear washed over
me.
Friends - work like heck to give yourself the gift of not feeling that way. Give yourself the gift of arriving
at the end of your first day knowing you’re in a good spot for day two. Your future self will thank you!
With that, let’s get started. Here are the five questions that’ll guide our work on Step 2:
1. What should be true of my lesson plans in general?
2. What should my objectives be for the first few days of the school year?
3. What are examples of lesson plans I could tweak and modify for my own purposes so I don’t
need to start from scratch?
4. I’ve seen the examples. What now?!
5. I’ve got my plans! Now what?
What should be true of my lesson plans in general?

An in-depth description of lesson planning falls outside the scope of this book. That said, for each of
your plans, you’ll want to create the following three things in this order:
1. Objectives. Each lesson plan should have clear objectives about what you expect students to
feel, know, or be able to do by the end of class. If start by picking activities rather than
objectives, you won’t use your precious class time as purposefully as you should.
2. Assessment. No, each lesson plan doesn’t need a formal, pen-and-paper test. What it does
need, though, is some way for you to understand whether y’all met your learning objectives.
You should be able to answer this question: “How will I know, by the end of class, whether and
to what degree we met our objectives?” Having an assessment will enable you to learn from
your lessons each day and adjust future lessons as needed. To take one, small example, one of
your objectives for the first day might be, “Students will be able to pass in their papers using the
expected procedure.” If you can see that your students haven’t mastered that skill by the end of
the first day, you know you’ll need to return to that objective another time.
3. A plan. Once your objectives and assessment are clear, create a plan for how you and your
students will spend your time together. This part of the planning process answers the questions,
“What are we going to do and how are we going to do it?”
What should my objectives be for the first few days of the school year?
I’ve laid out three different “pathways” that could be helpful for you to identify your objectives for days
one and two.
Description Audience
Pathway
If you choose this pathway... This pathway could be good for you if...
Pathway A ...watch an example of a teacher during …you find it helpful to see examples of
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Watch an the first day (or days) of class. As you ideas in action.
example watch, think about what the teacher is
doing, why, and what objectives you
might want to set for your own first days.
Pathway B ...read higher-level ideas about what you

…you like understanding the rationale
Understand might want to prioritize during the first
behind decisions.
the ideas few days of school.
Pathway C ...read through example lesson plans for

…you want to see specific, tangible
Read the first few days of the year to get a clear
examples of lesson plans and their
example picture about what other teachers
objectives.
plans prioritized.
Which of the pathways seems most appealing? I’d suggest you go with at least two of the pathways. And
I could see it being beneficial for some folks to go with all three. That said, the choice is yours!
Each of the three pathways is laid out in Appendix B below.
What are examples of lesson plans I could steal, tweak, or modify?

First, follow me on a quick trip down memory lane. Destination: the night before my first day as a
teacher.
Most of that evening is now a blur, but I remember one moment with particular clarity. It was around 8
or 9 p.m., and I was already dog-tired. I remember opening a blank Microsoft Word document with the
purpose of creating my lesson plan for the next day.
It was late in the evening. Tomorrow was my first day as a teacher. And I just stared at the blinking
cursor on the computer screen in front of me. I was miserable.
At that moment, I remember two thoughts going through my head. The first was one of guilt and regret.
Why hadn’t I paid more attention when they were teaching us about lesson planning? I desperately
racked my brain, pleading with it to give me ideas about what I should do the next day. Nothing.
The second thing that I remember thinking to myself went something like this: “This whole situation is
really stupid. Why am I creating a lesson plan from scratch when I’m basically the billionth person in the
history of the world to do this thing? Why do I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who is creating
a lesson plan for the first day of school right now?” I was miserable, freaked out, and overwhelmed. And
I was mad about it.
In retrospect, it was my fault. As the folks at my teacher training program had told me, strong educators
build relationships with mentors they can call on in moments such as these. Whether it’s because I
disregarded those wise words or because I have an over-reliance on self-reliance, I hadn’t built those
mentoring relationships. And so I spent the next few hours putting things down on paper and worrying
that the things I was planning weren’t the “right” things to do.
17
While I hope I was abnormally boneheaded, my guess is that I won’t be the last teacher who arrives at
to the evening before their first day of school only to realize that he doesn’t have a strong lesson plan.
So, if you are that poor soul who is in the same boat I was in, hear this: I’m glad that we’re connecting in
your hour of need! Your job, at this point, is to read through some of the lesson plans at the link you can
find here, pick the one that makes the most sense to you, and then just go with that puppy. Don’t
overthink it. You’ve gotten yourself into a hole by saving things for the last minute, so peruse the plans
and then steal away!
I’ve seen the examples. What now?!

Your task is simple: make sure you have lesson plans for the first two days of school.
For some readers, this will mean taking one of the examples and slapping their name on it. Others will
go through more of an extensive creative process to personalize or create their own plans. Whatever
you choose, it’s all good!
Three more thoughts before you charge ahead:

1. Plan for placeholders. A significant piece of your lessons for the first days of school will involve
making sure your students understand the systems and procedures that will guide how y’all will
roll together. But we haven’t yet clarified those systems and procedures - that’s coming in Step
4 below. So, the lessons you create for now will likely have blank sections you’ll come back to.
2. Make sure your plans are exceptionally clear and thorough. All the lesson plans you ever create
should be clear and thorough. But clear plans are particularly important during the first days of
school.
3. Make sure your plans build student investment. What I mean by “student investment” is the
degree to which students love your class and want to be there. Here’s a helpful formula: Student
investment = “I can” x “I want.” Students will be invested if they believe they can achieve
success in your classroom, and want to achieve success. To read more about student
investment, head to this extra section on investment.
I’ve got my plans! Now what?

Awesome. Think about how good it’s going to feel when, the night before school starts, you aren’t a
miserable wreck!
Now, internalize your plans. Literally rehearse your lessons. Practice the way you’ll greet students at the
door, the way you’ll give instructions, etc. Ask your friends to be “students” in your class. Practice in
front of a mirror. Videotape yourself.
It isn’t enough to have plans; you’ve also got to know those plans like the back of your hand. Why? You
will get curveballs thrown your way on the first days of the school year. Students will walk in late,
another will have a meltdown, a student will let out a fart that causes an uproar, etc. Make sure that, as
curveballs come your way, you’re not spending a ton of mental energy just remembering your lesson.
And with that, Step 3!

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Step 3: Create high-level plans for the first

two weeks
The momentum is real! Your physical classroom is in a good place (or you have a plan to get it there),
and you have a plan for the first two days. Up next: creating your plan for the first two weeks.
Let me tell you from experience: having this plan matters.
I did not have a two-week plan during my first year of teaching and, as a result, my students and I
suffered. Rather than building off a proactive set of ideas about what to do each day, here’s what my
typical afternoon looked like during those first weeks:
- 3 - 3:30. Sit in my classroom feeling dazed after an intense day of teaching. Talk to the few
students who came by.
- 3:30 - 4:30. Clean up the classroom. Feel amazed at how much mess can be generated in one
day of teaching.
- 4:30 - 5:30. Call parents and/or talk with other teachers at my school for advice.
- 5:30 - 6:15. Drive off campus to get food from a nearby burger joint. Head back to my classroom
to eat. Regret how much I’ve eaten. Feel scared about how sleepy the food has made me feel.
Worry about falling asleep in my classroom.
- 6:15 - 6:45. Think about the fact that I need to exercise and sleep more tonight. Waste time on
internet news sites.
- 6:45 - 8. Realize with horror that I don’t know what I’m going to be doing with students
tomorrow. Try to come up with ideas about what I should do. Come up with half-baked, not
great ideas.
- 8 - 8:30. Drive home. Feel scared about what I’ll be doing with students the next day.
- 8:30 - 10:30. Continue feeling scared in my apartment. Try desperately to generate better ideas
for the next day. Come up short. Do Google searches for good lesson plan ideas. Freak out.
Finally put a plan together. Tell myself that I suck. Set my alarm to go off miserably early the
next day.
It was not a pleasant time.
Here’s the beautiful thing, though: By working hard now to create a clear roadmap for the first two
weeks, you can avoid the agony I felt. Envision this:
The bell rings to signal the end of your second day as a teacher. As the students file out of your
classroom, the door closes with a thud. All of sudden, you’re alone in your classroom. “Whoa,” you think
to yourself, “today was just as hard as yesterday. Maybe harder” And, just like yesterday, a surge of fear
comes over you: “Wait. What am I going to do with my students tomorrow?” But like the day before,
you feel a sense of relief as you remember that you’ve already outlined a clear, high-level plan for what
you’re going to be doing with your students. It’ll require a few hours of work to iron out all the details,
sure, but you feel a sense of comfort knowing that you’re headed in a clear direction. As you tidy your
classroom and prepare to head home, you’re nervous for the next day, but you’re confident that you
can do it.
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Work hard to give yourself the gift of feeling this way!
By the end of this step, you should have clarity on the outcomes for your first two weeks and a high-
level plan to bring those outcomes to life. You should be able to have something like the table below
filled out.
First two weeks
At a high level, what will be true of your classroom community by the end of these two weeks?
What students will feel, know, and be able to do by the end of this two-week period?
Feel Know Be able to do
What is the plan to get there?
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives

- - - - -
High-level plan High-level plan High-level plan High-level plan High-level plan
- - - - -
Week 1
Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment
- - - - -
Homework Homework Homework Homework Homework

- - - - -

- - - - -
- - - - -
Week 2
- - - - -

- - - - -
1. Outcomes
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The first step in this process is to consider what you want to be true by the end of the first two weeks of
the year:
First two weeks
What will students feel, know, and be able to do by the end of this two week period?
Students will feel... Students will know... Students will be able to...
- - -
Here’s an example of what you might aim for:
First two weeks
Inspired. By the end of our first two weeks together, students will feel inspired by being part of
something important and bigger than themselves. Students will feel inspired to be in a class that
proves that new heights of achievement and student leadership are possible. We are going to prove
the haters wrong, and students will be inspired by the opportunity to show what we’re capable of.
Connected. Students will feel connected to one another and to Mr. Hester. Each student will be able
to identify at least one point of human connection and similarity between themselves and Mr. Hester
as well as with a number of the other folks in the classroom. They will know that their story matters
and that they matter. They will know that each of us has hopes and fears and sadness in our lives and
that, in spite of any and all of our challenges, each of us is an infinitely precious person bursting with
potential.
Clear and safe. Students will understand what this class is all about and our vision for what we’re
trying to achieve together. Additionally, students will understand how we’ll operate together as a
classroom community in order to bring our vision to life. There will be clarity about the expectations in
the classroom, why those expectations are in place, and the consequences for meeting or not meeting
those expectations. As a result, students will feel safe in this classroom. Students will know that this is
a predictable environment, one in which the choices they make have predictable consequences, both
positive and negative. Finally, students will know that I believe that they are always better than the
worst thing they’ve done.
Pride + Progress. Students will take pride in the work they’re doing together and in the ways they can
quantify the progress their class is making. Students will be so proud to be a part of their class period
that some of them will even spend part of their lunch debating which period is best. Students will
know that Mr. Hester sees and celebrates the rapid progress that we are already making together.
What will students feel, know, and be able to do by the end of this two week period?
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Students will feel... Students will know... Students will be able to...
- Inspired by the - The expectations and procedures - Meet the expectations

vision and that we’ll use together in our for how we roll together
goals of the class in this classroom
class - Who Mr. Hester is, why he does - Brainstorm, draft, and
- Connected to this work, where he is from, and possibly share an “I am
the class some of the challenges that he from…” poem
community has encountered in his life - Share positive,
and valued for - The vision and goals for this class encouraging, academic
who they are - The difference between a fixed feedback with their
- Calm and safe and a growth mindset peers
- Pride in the - That their intelligence is - Draw personal
progress that malleable connections between
we’re already - What they already know in their lives and the lives
seeing relation to the content we will of the other folks in the
together as a study room with them
class - What their individual goals are - Reflect on their
for the year in this class and how performance on the
those connect to their long-term diagnostic assessment
goals as well as our class-wide - Set goals tied to both
vision and goals their own long-term
- The definitions of the words hopes and dreams as
“audacious” and “malleable” well as our class-wide
vision and goals
Here are a few thoughts behind the outcomes above:

1. An emphasis on relationships. Building trusting relationships is an essential ingredient for a
classroom to achieve big things, so it’s a big priority in the plan.
2. Vision and goals. Something inside each of us wants to be part of something bigger than
ourselves. We want to be a part of efforts that aspire to achieve big outcomes. Leverage this
with your students during your first days together.
3. Safety and consistency. Students won’t flourish if their environment feels unstable or unsafe.
For that reason, students should know that their behaviors will be met with predictable,
consistent, and fair responses.
4. Progress is like magic. Throughout the first few weeks, I deliberately cultivated a sense of
positive momentum, celebrating successes I was seeing. Why? Because progress sparks more
progress. When students know that they are part of a class that is on a roll, positivity grows.
5. Investment matters. As I write about a lot more in Appendix C below, student investment = “I
can” x “I want.” When students feel that they can and want to achieve in your class, then the
sky is the limit! Each of the outcomes above seeks to build up student investment.
2. Plans
After clarifying outcomes, create your high-level plans. If outcomes are the what, plans are the how. To
clarify your plans, fill out a table like the following:
What is the plan to get there?
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Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

- - - - -
- - - - -
Week 1
- - - - -

- - - - -

- - - - -
- - - - -
Week 2
- - - - -

- - - - -
You can find an example of a plan I created at this link. As you’ll see, the plan is a roadmap, but it
doesn’t go into all the details.
Two pieces of advice as you go about creating your plan:

● Beware rabbit holes. If you get a great idea for something you want to do with your students,
you might be tempted to start creating that homework assignment and spend hours making it
just right. For now, resist that urge. Remain focused on creating high-level clarity on what you’ll
be doing with your students.
● Steal stuff. Take ideas from more experienced teachers. Of course, you’ll want to tweak plans to
make them authentic to you, but remember that there is no shame in building off what other
folks have already created.
3. Resources
Your next step is to explore the additional set of resources that you can find here.
As you’ll see, the plans at the link above are quite different from one another. In each one, take note of
what you love and what you don’t. And resist the temptation to go with the first plan you read. By
engaging with multiple plans, you’ll expose yourself to a broader set of ideas.
4. Your plan!
Now make your plan. Or steal and personalize one of the plans you found above. Good luck!
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Step 4: Create a classroom management

plan culture of achievement plan1
My face was hot with rage.
I don’t remember what led up to the moment, but I do remember that Rodrigo2, one of my eighth-grade
students, had been disrupting class for the entire period. At one point, after he did something
particularly egregious, anger started coursing through me. “Okay, that’s it,” I decided. “He’s outta here.”
Shaking with anger, I grabbed for the referral form and filled it out. I walked up to Rodrigo with the
form, holding it out between us. “Go to the office,” I told him. “You’re done.”
While I can’t remember exactly what was going through my mind, I imagine that I felt good knowing that
I had the power to expel this young man from my classroom merely by handing him a piece of paper.
Rodrigo was as angry as I was. I watched him look down at the referral form in front of his chest. Before
I knew it, he slapped the piece of paper out of my hand. The form drifted quickly to the floor, and I
sensed rage in his eyes as he looked up at me. While I don’t remember the exact words that I used, I
remember him saying that he wasn’t going anywhere.
By now, the whole class was looking at us.
“What the hell do I do now?” I asked myself.
I was ashamed. Getting into a conflict like this was not why I had become a teacher. In fact, I had joined
this profession to make sure that interactions like this one did not occur! I felt like a fraud. A failure.
And, dear reader, there were more moments like this one.
On another day, Kaitlin yelled, for all third period to hear, “Fuck you, Hester. This class sucks.”
In fact, that scene played out on multiple occasions over the course of the first months of the school
year. And while Kaitlin was the only person in third period to express this sentiment in such
unambiguous language, I know she wasn’t the only one thinking it.
It wasn’t all terrible: The culture in my sixth-period class was smooth and positive. But the rest of my
classes were often brutally hard.
1 As you can see, I changed the title of this chapter. A “culture of achievement” plan is similar to a “classroom
management” plan, but it’s different in important ways. I’ve written up thoughts in Appendix D about the
difference and why I think that it’s so important that we strive for one over the other.
2
All student names in this book have been changed.
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I want to help you avoid this.
Now, to be clear, you will almost certainly experience significant challenges in learning how to create a
strong culture in your classroom. I’ve yet to meet a teacher who hasn’t. But if you enter the year with a
stronger plan than I had, you’ll be far less likely to endure challenges as deep as those that my students
experienced.
Here’s more good news: having a better year than I did is completely within your locus of control. The
challenges I experienced weren’t because of my students. They were because I hadn’t yet developed the
knowledge, skills, and mindsets to create a classroom that was conducive to learning.
To avoid my fate, we’ll spend time working on plans to create a culture of achievement. But first, let’s
envision how you might feel having a strong culture of achievement plan in place:
Imagine that it’s the third day of school.
Imagine that the number of off-task behaviors increased significantly today compared to what you saw
on days one and two. And remember: those days weren’t exactly smooth sailing.
And yet, imagine that, each time you address a student’s choice not to meet the expectations, you feel
more confident in your ability to do so with love, conviction, and a clear rationale.
Imagine that, while some students are pushing back on the systems that you have in place, you’re seeing
many students settle into those systems and routines in productive ways. Students know what to do
when they need to, say, sharpen their pencil. At the end of class, students are clear on how to leave the
classroom to have a positive transition to the next one. Some students are already coming up to you
after class with requests for positive phone calls home, elements of the positive incentive system that
you’ve put in place.
Imagine thinking to yourself, “This is crazy hard, but the systems that I’ve put in place are actually, for
the most part, working!”
That is going to feel really good. Give yourself the gift of feeling this way on the third day of school by
working hard these next few days.
Before we dive in, one caveat: This chapter will be inadequate. Our goal is not complete mastery of this
topic. Instead, we’re aiming to create and internalize a strong plan in a hurry. This chapter should
complement, not replace, more robust teacher-preparation coursework.
1. What is a culture of achievement?

Simply put, a culture of achievement is a classroom culture that helps students make progress towards
their goals.
For more, read through the following page. The table that you can see is a slightly modified version of a
document that folks have used at Teach For America (2014), the organization that brought me into this
beautiful profession.
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Culture of Achievement
To what degree does my classroom have a Culture of Achievement?
Important Note: These overviews represent particular points along a continuum in the work of building a Culture of Achievement. This is not a set
path (i.e. one where classrooms must begin at “destructive” & work towards “passion/urgency/joy”). Most classrooms will fall somewhere in
between these descriptions or may have groups of students that span each of these overviews.
This classroom is a serious concern because a lack of safety and the negative culture are causing harm to students.
Students are disregarding the teacher’s directions and are putting in no effort towards daily academic tasks. We see active
Destructive disrespect towards the teacher and/or peers. Students may be in danger of physical harm due to the presence of fighting,
hitting, and/or throwing objects or emotional harm due to the presence of bullying and/or name calling. Students do not
want to be in the classroom and may be intentionally truant as a result. This destructive culture is holding students back
from achieving their potential as very little to no academic learning or positive personal growth can happen in this setting.
The following types of student actions, behaviors, & mindsets are observable for the majority (more than half) of the class:
This classroom does not yet have a Culture of Achievement because the student actions (bored, apathetic, or even
disorderly) that are common in this classroom’s culture are holding students back from achieving meaningful academic
progress.
Apathetic or
Unruly Students are often not following the teacher’s directions or appear to be following directions, but with closer inspection
we see that students are putting forth little effort towards daily learning activities (e.g. the same 2 hands always go up,
work is incomplete). Students are either unclear about the class vision and goals or are disinvested in the vision and goals
as things worth working towards. Students feel disconnected or not cared for by the teacher and generally don’t see the
classroom as a welcoming or comfortable place that they enjoy.
The following types of student actions, behaviors, & mindsets are observable for most (two-thirds or more) of the class:
This classroom has a solid Culture of Achievement because the students are “with” the teacher.
Students are on task, following the teacher's directions, and putting in solid effort towards daily academic activity (e.g. a
On-task variety of hands go up during class discussion, students are attempting to complete assignments within the time allotted).
Students know the class vision and goals and are putting in effort toward them either because they want to achieve them,
more generically want to achieve academic success, or are invested in the teacher. Most students feel cared for by the
teacher and show respect in return. Students feel safe and comfortable enough to participate in most classroom activities,
seem to enjoy the class, and experience at least occasional moments of genuine joy.
The following types of student actions, behaviors, & mindsets are observable for almost all (more than three-quarters) of
the class: This classroom has a strong Culture of Achievement because we see students who are consistently excited to be
in class and working hard.
Students are fired up about the destination, understand their path to reaching the vision and goals, and can connect daily
Interested and
objectives to either short-term goals (i.e. end-of-course goals) or their long-term aspirations. Students are highly engaged
hard- working
throughout the lesson (e.g. almost all hands go up during discussions and students seem excited to share) and consistently
work with focused urgency to produce the type of quality work that makes them proud. Students are experiencing
authentic success and building confidence that can transcend this school year. In conversations with students, they feel
certain that the teacher deeply cares about them as an individual. Students operate as a team, showing care and respect
for one another. They feel comfortable, safe, and welcomed. We frequently see outward signs of joy and confidence.
The following types of student actions, behaviors, & mindsets are observable for all (100%) students in the class: This
classroom has an exemplary Culture of Achievement because the incredibly high expectations, effort, and motivation are
truly owned by the students.
Students are passionate, urgent, joyful, caring, and “on a mission” towards a destination that matters to them individually
Passionate, and collectively. They have a deep conviction in the importance of the destination for the year, understand the role that
urgent, and reaching that destination will play in their future aspirations, and can make authentic connections to the importance of
joyful daily objectives in reaching both short- and long-term goals. This conviction drives an incredibly high level of urgency,
where students are the drivers of high expectations and high levels of engagement. Students know and trust their teacher
and peers because they feel safe, cared for, and valued in the learning environment. They are excited to come to class and
genuinely don’t want to miss a moment of class time because they feel the joy of learning in a positive classroom
community. Students are actively building the intrinsic motivation, confidence, and character that will enable them to
achieve enduring success.
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2. How do I create a strong culture of achievement?

“That’s some good stuff right there,” you might be thinking. “But how do I create a passionate, urgent,
and joyful culture?”
Here are six essential ingredients.
1. Love. Love is at the center of classrooms with an exceptional culture of achievement. For that reason,
it should come as no surprise that, for classrooms to be great, teachers must love their students. All
their students.
It’s a simple concept. And it can be hard as heck in practice.
2. See greatness and potential. When you look at a student who has been making a series of poor
behavioral choices, do you see a young person bursting with potential? Or do you see an annoying little
shit?
If you see a young person bursting with potential, that’s what you’ll get. If you see an annoying little shit,
that’s what you’ll get.
We humans have a remarkable ability to believe things into being. When we train our eyes on the
greatness that exists within our students, we bring that greatness out. The reverse is also true.
So it’s critical that we focus on our students’ inherent greatness. This is particularly true because so
many of our students have internalized a sense of their own worthlessness.
We live in a world shot through with racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, ablism, etc. Oppression has
wreaked havoc within students’ hearts and minds, leading them to believe the messages about their
inferiority. One way we can begin to counteract the destructive impact of oppression is to remain
fixated on the infinite beauty, worth, and potential that exists within each of our students.
That’s hard, though. It’s hard because we live in the same oppressive society our students do. And, as
Beverly Tatum writes, “the assumed superiority of Whites and the assumed inferiority of people of color
… is like smog in the air. Sometimes it is so thick it is visible, other times it is less apparent, but always,
day in and day out, we are breathing it in.” (1997, 6). We must become conscious that smog. We must
become conscious of the way this smog smears our mind, eyes, and hearts with biases. And then we
must seek to clarify our vision, to see our students anew. We must heed Lisa Delpit’s exhortation to see
“become convinced of … children’s inherent intellectual capability, humanity, physical ability, and
spiritual character.” (2012, 30) For every child. Always.
If you can nail these first two ingredients, you are well on your way.
3. Be willing to be in charge. During the first minutes of the school year, students are assembling a
mental model about what your classroom will be like. They’re asking themselves, “Will this guy make
27
our classroom safe and productive? Will he care about me? Does he mean what he says?” It’s hard to
undo the answers students come to. First impressions matter.
What complicates this is that many new teachers - not all, but many – are uncomfortable being an
authority figure. As a result, they let stuff slide. Little stuff at first. Then bigger stuff. Once they’re fed up,
many grasp for authority. But it’s gone. Too often, teachers in this position morph from a pushover into
a jerk.
Don’t do that. Instead, establish yourself as in charge from the get go.
Now, I want to be clear: Being in charge doesn’t mean being dictatorial or oppressive. It means
establishing yourself as the person in the room who has the final authority to, among other things, put
an end to behaviors that harm other students or hinder their learning. In too many classrooms, teachers
lack this ability.
Moreover, being in charge doesn’t necessitate teacher-centered lesson plans. It’s not synonymous with
a fixation on control. In fact, once it’s clear that you’re in charge, you have the ability (and the
responsibility, in my opinion) to release more and more of your authority to your students, moving your
classroom towards one that is student-led.
Some of you, however, might be anxious just thinking about establishing yourself as the authority figure
in the classroom. “If I’m nervous now, how am I going to be ‘in charge’ during those first few minutes of
the school year when I’m freaking out inside?”
My answer: fake it ‘til you make it.
Even during my fourth year of teaching, I was nervous as heck during the first days of school. I was
terrified that I would screw up and that everything would go to hell. And yet, a minute and a half into
the first day of the school year, after instructing students to find their seats silently, I gave a student a
verbal warning for whispering to another student.
When I looked inside the classroom and saw the student whispering, a huge part of me wanted to let
the behavior slide. I didn’t want to confront it. Instead, I wanted to ignore it and avoid the risk of getting
into a conflict during the first moments of the year. But, having seen the damage that can be done
through low expectations during the first days of the school year, I made the decision to call that young
man over to me. I made sure he knew that I assumed he was trying to do the right thing, but I also made
sure to let him know that he had failed to meet the expectations.
In so doing, that wonderful young man realized that I took my instructions seriously. Moreover, any of
the other students who might have inferred what was happening would have taken a cue from the
interaction. In an instant, I sent the message that I meant what I said and that I would follow up my
words with loving and consistent action.
4. Sweat the small stuff. This builds off the previous point, but it’s worth pulling out separately: Notice
even the little things that don’t meet expectations.
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Why? Our classrooms need to be spaces that keep or put our students firmly on a path to a life full of
opportunity. Behaviors that detract from that should be nipped in the bud. By sweating the small stuff,
especially during the first minutes and days of the school year, we implicitly communicate a number of
beneficial things:
● What we do here matters.
● I see what’s happening in this classroom!
● I mean business.
● If I care so much about these little behaviors, then bigger misbehaviors are out of the question.
5. Celebrate the positive. You can’t create a positive classroom culture without positivity. As Dr. King
said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love
can do that.” (2010, 47). If you want to create a positive classroom culture, you need to continually
orient your mind and heart around the good that is happening in the classroom. More than that, you
need to build systems and structures to celebrate all the good that already exists. By celebrating the
good that is already present, you create the conditions for more of it in the future.
5. Accept personal responsibility. You can’t create an exceptional culture of achievement unless you
know that creating such a culture is, fundamentally, your responsibility.
The moment you blame students, parents, administrators, or society for the poor culture in your
classroom, you cut yourself off from the potential to create a strong culture. If you blame others, you’ll
bring less energy and ingenuity to the search for new strategies to create the culture your students
deserve.
Haim Ginott (1975) communicates this truth well:

“I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis
will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.”
6. Have a clear plan. Strong cultures don’t happen by accident. If you want an outstanding culture of
achievement, you must create a clear and thorough plan to bring that culture to life.
3. What goes into a culture of achievement plan?

Your culture of achievement plan should include the following:
1. Rules3/Classroom Expectations
2. Policies
3
While I used the term “Classroom expectations” with my students as opposed to rules, it’s more
common for people to use the word “rules”, so we’ll go with that.
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3. Positive consequences
4. Corrective behavior systems
5. A relationship building plan
6. Procedures
Rules/Classroom Expectations
You should have a clear, basic set of rules that you establish for your classroom. These should provide
general guidelines about what will and won’t fly.
Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind as you’re choosing your rules:
1. Don’t make your rules fuzzy or subjective. In my first year in the classroom, I had one rule:
Respect. It was stupid. Why? Because it was completely subjective. Two people could look at the
same action and have completely different opinions as to whether that action is “respectful.” By
making this my “One Class Rule,” I set myself up for a whole bunch of arguments about what
was and wasn’t respectful. Worse, I problematically imposed my own cultural understanding of
“respect” onto my students as the “right” understanding. Avoid all this. Instead, make sure your
rules relate to behavior you can see or to words you can hear.
A non-example from my first year of teaching!
2. Have between three and five of rules. Having only one rule probably means that you’re being
overly simplistic. Establishing more than five means you’re probably veering into the territory of
classroom policies and procedures.
3. Use the magic rule: “Follow directions the first time that they are given.” What this rule
establishes is that, when you give directions, it’s an expectation that students will follow those
directions. In other words, whatever expectation you set is now a class “rule.” Like I said, magic.
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By my third year of teaching, my rules were as these:

1. Follow directions the first time they are given.
2. Be in the classroom and seated when the bell rings.
3. Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself.
4. Use appropriate language; no put-downs, teasing, or other inappropriate words.
Now, I recognize that the word “inappropriate” is subjective. But you’ll be able to communicate what
you mean through addressing any breaches that arise.
One word of warning: Don’t overthink your rules. I’ve seen soon-to-be teachers obsess about them.
What folks often fail to realize is that the way you follow through on your rules matters much more than
perfecting the language. The way you talk with a student who just threw something at another student
matters more than having a rule against throwing things.
Policies
Beyond those rules, what is and isn’t acceptable in your classroom? More specific answers to that
question will constitute your policies. Here are a few examples:
● No electronic devices (cell phones, headphones, etc.) are allowed in the classroom. If I see an
electronic device, I will take it. There will be no warnings given. Each time I take an electronic
item from a student, it will be left in the office.
● Students must sit where they are placed on the seating chart.
● No food or drink besides water in a clear bottle is allowed inside of the classroom.
Be conscious that your school administration may have policies that they’ll expect you to use.
Positive consequences
To create a joyful classroom culture, create class-wide systems to recognize and celebrate the type of
behavior you want to see.
Too many teachers, particularly folks who are new to the profession, become obsessed with the things
that are going wrong in their classroom. As a result, fail to see and replicate the things that are going
right. To avoid this, create systems to celebrate and reinforce students’ positive and productive choices.
In case it’s helpful, here is a screenshot from my own culture of achievement plan that outlines a few of
the systems that I used to recognize and reinforce positive behavior.
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A few words of explanation about the systems above:

The joy of learning. I wanted students to consider the opportunity to learn a reward because, well, it is!
Learning is awesome.
Verbal praise. Giving praise to another person is simple and powerful. And free! So when students go
above and beyond, recognize them. By naming the positive things you see, you create the conditions for
them to happen more often.
Be precise in your praise: What exactly did they do that was so good? Also, be sure your praise facilitates
a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset: “I love how hard you worked on that essay to make it
stronger” versus “You’re brilliant at essay writing!”
Merit points. This was a school-wide system at my school. Students could receive rewards and
recognition based on the number of merit points earned. Teachers and administrators awarded merit
points through a school-wide Google Form.
BHAG tickets. Giving BHAG (pronounced “bee-hag”) tickets4 to students was the primary system that I
used to celebrate and reinforce the behavior that I wanted to see.
Here are some of the logistics behind my use of BHAG tickets:

● Each year I went online and buy a big roll of tickets similar to what you can see pictured above.
● I kept the roll of tickets on my desk and then, whenever a student did something that earned a
ticket, I broke one off and handed it to them.
● In addition to the syllabus, I made a small poster on the wall of my classroom that explained
what students could buy with various quantities of BHAG tickets.
4
As a reminder, BHAG is short for Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal.
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● I allowed students to redeem their tickets after class, during lunch, or after school. I didn’t allow
students to hand me tickets during class because it would have taken away from our precious
learning time.
Here are some reasons why I gave BHAG tickets to students. I gave them out when...
● Students went above and beyond to show kindness or care to another student in the class.
● Students found a mistake I had made. Rewarding students who found mistakes incentivized
students to pay close attention to what I was doing. It also normalized the fact that we all make
mistakes and that we should embrace them as opportunities for growth and learning.
● Students said or wrote something in class that was particularly insightful. For example, I might
have given a student a BHAG ticket if, during a class discussion, they made a comment that tied
together ideas from multiple texts in a particularly thoughtful way.
● Note: at the beginning of the year, to get positive momentum flowing and to reinforce the
behavior I wanted to see, I gave BHAG tickets away to students for simply meeting rather than
exceeding the expectations. You can see an example of this about 42 minutes into my third day
of the school year here. In this portion of the class, one of the first of the year in which students
were engaging in work together in pairs, I wanted to make sure that I was celebrating and
recognizing pairs of students who were on task. I wanted students to know that I saw and valued
when they worked together productively.
Here are three reasons why I liked BHAG tickets as compared to other reward systems:
1. Choice. Students could choose what they wanted. For instance, some students craved positive
phone calls home and would ask for them on a regular basis. Others were hooked on a series of
books and wanted me to buy the next one for them. By letting students choose their rewards,
their sense of agency increased alongside their investment in BHAG tickets. This, by the way, is
why I think class raffles are stupid. In a raffle, students have almost no agency. They may well
end up with a prize they don’t really care about. With BHAG tickets, however, students know
exactly what the options are can plan to get what they want.
2. Timing. Students could decide when to redeem their tickets. If they wanted to hold onto tickets
until the holidays to buy books for a family member, great! If they wanted to save their tickets
for a positive call home the day before asking their parents for a new phone, all good! Along
with choice, this form of flexibility increased student investment in BHAG tickets.
3. Goal reinforcement. One final reason I liked using BHAG tickets was simply because of the title:
BHAG tickets. The name of the tickets pointed us back towards our Big, Hairy, and Audacious
class goals, keeping them front and center in our collective consciousness.
Glitter pounds
One of the more absurd prizes that I made available to students was the glitter pound. You can see my
official introduction of glitter pounds during the second day of school at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/showmetheglitter
If you can’t see the video or refuse to click on a TinyURL with such an absurd title, here’s the idea: for
one BHAG ticket, a student had the opportunity to give me a fist pound in which, after we pounded, our
hands turned to glitter (in other words, we wiggled our fingers in the air as our hands moved apart).
Yep. That was it.

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I was deadly serious about glitter pounds. Students would come up to me before class with a fist and
say, “Hey give me a free glitter pound!” I wouldn’t.
By being stingy with glitter pounds, they became a precious resource. And I got to be my absurd self
with students.
The caveat with glitter pounds, of course, is that getting really serious about a totally silly prize is
authentic to me and my sense of humor. If that’s not your style, all good.
Positive notes/calls home

I loved this reward. For two BHAG tickets, students could request a positive note home or a positive call
home. In the case of notes, which students requested less often than calls, students came to me after
class with two BHAG tickets and I wrote the note home then and there. In the case of phone calls home,
students came with two BHAG tickets and a positive call request slip, and I made the call later that
afternoon or evening.
I loved writing those notes and making those phone calls home because, each time I did, I had the
opportunity to affirm something beautiful and good about one of my students. The notes and calls
helped students to see what I saw within each of them, which strengthened our relationship.
Another virtue of the positive notes and calls home was that they enabled me to build stronger
relationships with the parents or guardians of my students (in what follows, for simplicity’s sake, I’ll just
use the word “parent”). Through the notes and calls, parents realized that I saw wonderful things in
their child, which facilitated stronger bonds of trust and collaboration.
Finally, I loved this reward because it trained my brain to see even more good in my students. In the
same way that a daily practice of writing down what we’re grateful for builds up our capacity for
gratitude, consistent reflection on what is good about our students strengthens our ability to see the
good within them.
One caveat: On certain occasions, students asked for a positive note or call home after a bad day in
class. In many instances, I still made the call home. I thought that doing so was a powerful way to
communicate to the student that, even after having seen them on a bad day, I still saw goodness within
them. In certain instances, however, I told a student that I wouldn’t write a note or make a call that
same day because their behavioral choices were egregious, but I told them that I would be more than
happy to write a note or make a call on the following day if they demonstrated progress.
Lastly, in case it’s helpful, here is a video clip that shows how I displayed the positive call request slip in
my classroom:
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Scholar prize bin

For a long time, I had a cardboard box in my classroom that I filled with school supplies from the dollar
store: pencils, highlighters, rulers, etc. If students brought me three BHAG tickets, they could take any
item that they wanted from the scholar prize bin.
Ultimately, however, I ditched this as a positive consequence. For one thing, students weren’t too fired
up by getting school supplies as rewards. And I got tired of going to the dollar store to stock up on
prizes. The main reason I ditched the prize, though, was because I learned about research
demonstrating that extrinsic rewards just don’t work. 5
Mr. Hester buys you a book of your choosing

A central element of the vision for my classroom was that students would fall in love with reading and,
as a result, dramatically increase their reading levels. So for four BHAG tickets, I bought students a book
of their choosing. All a student needed to do was fill out a book request slip and hand over four BHAG
tickets. After the school day, I would go on Amazon, buy the books, and they’d show up two days later.
Seeing students’ eyes light up as I handed them a book that they were dying to read never failed to
make my day. During my third and fourth years of teaching, I bought over 300 books for students each
year.
Here’s why I made this a positive consequence in my classroom:

1. Vision alignment. As I mention above, cultivating a love of reading was central to my vision, so I
wanted to make sure that my positive consequences were aligned with that vision.
2. Cultivating the love of reading. Many of my students came into the school year proclaiming that
they hated reading. But I didn’t believe them. They didn’t hate reading; they just hadn’t yet
found the books they loved. Once students did find books that aligned with their interests
(basketball, graffiti art, teenage romance, etc.) they became ravenous readers. I lost count of
the number of times I heard, “I can’t believe how much I love reading now!”
5 Check out the great book Drive by Daniel Pink if you’re interested in learning more about this idea.
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3. Choice and empowerment. Related to the point above, when students knew that they could go
onto Amazon and buy (pretty much) any book that they wanted, their worlds opened up. Some
of my students couldn’t afford to buy books, so being able to buy any book they wanted
empowered students to own their education in exciting ways.
You might be wondering how I paid for all of this. The answer: I hustled. I asked friends and family to
donate money to the BHAG Book Fund. I appealed to local civic organizations to contribute. I spent a fair
amount of my own money, but I was able to cover the bulk of the costs through donations.
If you’re interested in doing something similar, you can read a sample of my fundraising emails here.
With some moxie, you can bring a program like this one to fruition in your classroom as well.
Also, I recognize that I just ragged on extrinsic rewards and that I am now extolling the virtues of one of
them. Here’s why I still believe in this as a positive consequence: As students discover books they love,
their own internal drive to read and learn grows. Books are spark plugs for intrinsic motivation.
Two final thoughts on reward systems in general:

1. Be mindful of the message your positive consequences send
Every positive consequence sends a message to students about what you think is good and important.
For instance, in my own practice…
● Positive notes and phone calls home reinforced the idea that I wanted to have a positive
connection between me and my students’ families. The notes and calls also reinforced the idea
that there are good things to be said about each and every student.
● The glitter pound reinforced the idea that it’s fun to have silly and positive moments of
connection.
● Students having the opportunity to get books of their choosing sent the message: “Reading is a
reward!” And it suggested, implicitly, that students will be able to find a book they love if they
look hard enough. Moreover, having books as a positive consequence reinforced the idea that
our goals mattered and that we were taking them seriously.
On the flip side, I often see teachers using positive consequences that send some problematic messages.
Here are few examples:
● Junk food. Some teachers give candy, chips, or other forms of junk food to students as rewards.
During my first year as a teacher, I did it too. This is, in my opinion, irresponsible. We have a
massive obesity epidemic in our country, and too many of us eat food that is damaging to our
health. When we celebrate students by giving them junk food, we strengthen their association
between good feelings and bad foods. We need to cut that out.
● Bathroom passes, homework passes, etc. Prizes that excuse students from being in class or
doing their homework don’t send a good message. For instance, a homework pass
communicates something like, “Doing the homework for this class kind of sucks, so it’s good to
have an excuse not to do it.” The message throws our own class under the bus. If you’re inclined
to have a prize like this, check your mindset: Deep down, do you think that your class kind of
sucks? If so, beware! Even if you never say it out loud, your class will sense that belief and may
come to adopt it as their own.
● Class parties. I’m sure some people will disagree with me on this one, but I’ve gotta say it: I think
that class parties - in which students just play music and goof off - are generally stupid.
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Squandering class time implicitly communicates to students that engaging in the regular work of
the class is a drag and that it would be better to just goof off. And if this is what we feel, then
class will in fact be a drag! For instance, I’ve seen teachers who refer incessantly to the points
that students are (or are not) earning to win a class party. What if those same teachers, instead
of subtly denigrating their classes in the here and now, found ways to make “regular” class more
enjoyable? Now, I’m not saying there isn’t ever a time for celebrations, but I think that we
should be more conscious of the message that we send when we promote celebrations and free
time as the thing to which we should aspire.
2. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good

As you move forward to create your own class-wide systems to reinforce certain behaviors, you may
find yourself looking for the perfect system. But there isn’t one. Instead, there’s a diversity of ideas
about how to reinforce positive behavior. I’ve outlined my own system in case it’s helpful to see one
example in depth, but I would never claim that my way is the “right” way. As you move forward to
create your own plan, you’ll find your own way. Consult experts, check you plan against research, and
then go for it!
Corrective behavior systems

In the same way that it’s critical to create systems to reinforce positive behavioral choices, it’s also
critical to create class-wide systems to address behavioral choices that fail to meet your expectations
and that hinder progress for a student or the class as a whole.
In what follows, I’ll share my own system of consequences and the rationale behind my choices. Before
that, however, I want to call out three elements that will be essential for whatever plan you put in place:
1. Relational restoration. Your corrective behavior system should place a primary emphasis on the
restoration of relationships when and where that is necessary. This doesn’t mean that you
should avoid holding students accountable for their behavioral choices - you must! But your
system should be built on a recognition of the central importance of relationships.
2. No shaming. The approach that you ultimately adopt must honor the dignity and worth of your
students. Shaming is wrong, doesn’t work, and shouldn’t be used. Ever.
3. Belief, learning, and growth. Everything about the system you construct should be geared
around a belief in the potential of your students. Additionally, every aspect of your system
should facilitate learning and growth. A punitive system, or one and that doesn’t enable
students to productively reflect on their choices, will fail to support students’ long-term
flourishing.
With these points in mind, let’s dive into an example for you to consider. Here’s a screenshot from my
culture of achievement plan:
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In what follows, I’ll share thoughts about each of the four consequences and how I used them.
1. Verbal or visual warning

In any given class period, the first time a student failed to meet the expectations6, he was given a verbal
or a visual warning. I’d deliver this warning either by saying, “Jason, that is your verbal warning” or by
looking at him, making eye contact, and holding up my index finger to indicate “one.”
And just as it’s important for students to know where they are with respect to the consequence ladder,
it’s even more important for you to know. In the hustle and bustle of the class period, it is all too easy to
forget. To help me remember, I had a clipboard with me that, at some point in the day, might have
looked like this7:
6
Each day, every student started with a blank slate.
7
A note about keeping track of poor behavioral choices: I’ve seen many novice teachers track behavior
consequences on the board at the front of the classroom. Essentially, these teachers are creating a
public, visible-to-all version of what you can see on the clipboard. During my first year of teaching, I did
the same thing. By my second year, however, I realized that this is a bad approach. Why? Because many
students will fixate on their name, becoming increasingly frustrated as time passes. Students will
become particularly frustrated if they feel the consequence was undeserved. For that reason, I’d
recommend against publicly tracking corrective consequences. Positive consequences? By all means!
Corrective? Go with a clipboard instead.
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Jason, Maria, Tony, and the other students without a check mark next to their name had received a
verbal or visual warning. If they met the expectations for the rest of class, they left with everyone else
and I took no further action.
2. After-class, during-lunch, or after-school meeting with Mr. Hester

If a student failed to meet the expectations on two separate occasions, I would put a checkmark next to
her name. In the image above, this applies to both Brian and Michelle.
At the end of class, I would scan the behavior tracker and ask any students with one or two check marks
to stay behind to talk. I made sure to do a few things during these after-class conversations:
● Check in with students as human beings. I started by checking in with the student as a person.
Was she okay? Anything I should know about? In so many instances, the reason a young person
was failing to meet class expectations was rooted in some challenge they were experiencing -
either inside or outside of class. Even if I had been deeply frustrated with a student during class,
I tried to speak with her from a recognition of her infinite worth. By doing this, my questions
more easily came from a place of genuine care and curiosity.
● Clarify why they were asked to stay behind. I wanted the student I was speaking with to have a
crystal-clear understanding of why she was talking with me. It was important to align with the
student on the reasons that she had earned the consequences. To check her understanding
during our conversation, I might have kicked off this portion of the conversation by asking, “Do
you know why I asked you to stay behind?”
● Clarify expectations + rationale. I ensured that the student understood the expectation that I
was holding her to as well as the purpose of those expectations. For instance, a student might
answer my question about why she was asked to stay by saying, “You asked me to stay behind
because I was talking to other people during the test when we were supposed to be silent.”
Upon hearing this, I would have replied with something like, “Yep. You got it. And do you know
why it’s so important for us to be silent when we’re taking a test?” We owe our students a clear
understanding of the purpose behind our expectations.
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● Communicate belief in the student and/or link to future greatness/our class vision and goals.
During these conversations, I often expressed incredulity about my student’s poor behavioral
choice and belief in the greatness they had within them. For instance, I might have said
something to the effect of, “Michelle, you are an exceptional person. I believe so deeply in your
ability to be great and to achieve your goal of insert-Michelle’s-life-goal-here, and so I was just
confused when I had to talk with you today about talking during the test. That isn’t like you.
What’s the deal?”
Here are some of the other practical considerations for these conversations:
● Multiple students. On some days, no students earned any consequences. On others, two, three,
or more students would have earned a second consequence and would be expected to stay
behind. In instances such as these, improvisation was required. It wasn’t possible for me to have
the conversation outlined above with more than two students in a five-minute passing period
between classes, so if I needed to talk to three students, I might tell one of the students to come
back during lunch or after school. I made it clear that, if he didn’t, I would need to call home that
evening to ensure that we had the opportunity to connect. On other days, if two students had
been engaging in the same behavior and had earned consequences for the same reason, I might
have the conversation with both at the same time. Of course, this was a less desirable option
because of the decreased likelihood of the student opening up to share vulnerably, but
sometimes it just had to do.
● The length. Typically, I found that these conversations lasted between one and two minutes.
● Debate. It wasn’t uncommon, particularly during my first two years in the classroom, for a
student to debate the fairness of the consequence that I had given. If a student felt that the
consequence was unfair, it was critical for me to genuinely listen to the student. She needed and
deserved the opportunity to share her perspective, to be heard. Without that, bitterness and
resentment often remained. In instances in which it became clear that I had made a mistake, I
apologized sincerely to the student and took back the consequence. In instances in which I
hadn’t made a mistake, I held the line with love.
● My heart during these conversations. Feelings can make the execution of these conversations
challenging. For instance, there were times when I was just mad as heck at the student for what
he had done during class. There were other times when I entered the conversation calm but
found that the student’s rage would trigger anger within me. No matter the circumstances,
however, I knew it was critical for me to avoid speaking with students from a place of anger. The
primary tool that I used in moments like this was to pray, to ask for the capacity to see the
infinite worth of the child in front of me. On good days, my ability to refocus on their infinite
worth eclipsed my frustration, and I could speak from a place of peace. Another strategy I used
if I could tell that I was coming into the conversation too hot was to remember this piece of
wisdom: Hurt people hurt people. I remembered that, if this child had done something to hurt
me or another student, it’s because he was hurt himself.
3. Meeting with Mr. Hester and a call home

If a student failed to meet the expectations on three separate occasions over the course of the class
period, the student would have two check marks next to her name. When this happened, as with the
case above, I would ask the student to stay after class to have a conversation about her behavior. In
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addition, I would tell her that, because she had not met the expectations on three separate occasions, I
would be calling home that night to speak with her parent.
The purpose of these calls was not to punish. Instead, the purpose of these calls was to bring in parents
as partners. The calls were intended to elevate the fact that we had a challenge on our hands: The
student was not meeting the expectations of the classroom and, as a result, was almost certainly not
gaining as much as she might from the class. On these calls, I sought to engage the parent in dialogue
about what might be the causes of the behaviors. The spirit of these conversations was intended to be
one of collaboration.
At or near the beginning of these conversations, I made a point to share something that I appreciated or
admired about this parent’s son or daughter. For instance, I might have said something to the effect of,
“I’d love to chat with you about how class went today. But, first, I just want to say how much I believe in
John. He has outstanding leadership skills, and the rest of the class genuinely looks to him for cues about
how to act and what to do. When he engages actively in a class discussion, our conversations are so
much stronger! I feel fortunate to be his teacher.” Parents want what is best for their kids, so by starting
the conversation with positive things that I saw in their child, I was positioning myself alongside the
parent as someone working towards a shared goal: the flourishing of that young person.
Once that sense of partnership is established, I shared about how things went in class that day. I sought
to engage in dialogue with the parent regarding the possible reasons for the behavior and solutions we
could pursue. Many positive developments came from these conversations.
Too often, however, parents are approached with a spirit of judgment and unproductive exasperation.
Too often, our calls home subtly communicate to parents that we think they are the problem. Be
mindful of this and guard against it.
A few last points about this third consequence:

● Tell students you’re going to call. During the after-class conversation, I made sure to tell
students that, as a result of their behavioral choices that day, I would be calling home. One
reason I told students was avoid the anger that sometimes resulted from students not knowing
a call was coming and then spending their evening and morning stewing in anger. Additionally,
upon telling students that I would be calling home, students sometimes made strong appeals for
me not to call home. In rare instances (for example, if I knew that there was a history of abuse in
the household), I held off from making the call, but I always made sure to work with the student
to get to the root of the challenge and line up the necessary supports.
● Follow through. It’s essential that you make every single call you say you’ll make. Set aside the
time on your calendar and make every last one. Don’t flake.
● Doing whatever it takes to connect. It was often the case that the phone number in the system
was no longer correct or got disconnected. But that’s not an excuse to give up! Ask the student,
other teachers, or office staff for the number. Coordinate a home visit. Don’t let yourself off the
hook from bringing in parents as partners. The same principle applies if there’s a language
barrier.
4. Meeting with Mr. Hester, a call home, and referral to dean

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If a student failed to meet the expectations on four separate occasions, each of the preceding
consequences would take place and the student would be asked to leave the classroom for the day and
head to the office. This was the most severe consequence a student could receive.
Fortunately, this was a consequence I handed out much less often than any of the others. On the other
hand, it was a consequence that I gave out when necessary. Here again, follow through matters.
Whenever I asked students to leave the classroom for the day, relational restoration became even more
important. If I sent a student out of class, it was critical that I find time to connect with her and her
parent before class the next day to make sure that we were addressing the root cause of the challenge
and working through any interpersonal tensions.
If I asked a student to leave my classroom more than once within the span of a few weeks, it was clear
that something deeper was going on. In instances such as these, I knew I needed to adjust my practice;
asking a student to leave class never addresses the root cause of a challenge.
If you choose to have this consequence as an element of your corrective behavior system, be mindful of
these two pitfalls:
First, I’ve seen teachers who make this one of their consequences, but they don’t follow through on it. A
student will disrupt the lesson time and again, and the teacher simply offers continual “warnings.” One
of the most common reasons for this is that the teacher doesn’t want the student to miss out on
valuable learning time. He reasons that he would be doing his students a disservice by sending them to
the office. What this teacher often doesn’t understand is that, by failing to act with integrity to the
consequences he has laid out for his class, he is thereby creating an environment that lacks consistency
and in which anything goes.
On the other end of the spectrum, some teachers rely on this consequence with far too much regularity.
In fact, some teachers go so far as to try to have certain students transferred to new classes altogether.
Teachers who engage in these behaviors are frequently trying to exclude their way to a “well-behaved”
classroom. The logic behind this approach goes something like this: “I need John to leave for the sake of
the rest of the class. If he just wants to disrupt things and doesn’t want to learn, then he needs to go.”
Frequently, if these teachers are honest, they’ll acknowledge that they have hardened their hearts
towards these students. They’ll acknowledge that they’ve constructed a mental model of these students
as lost causes. And they’ll acknowledge that they have ceased pursuing new ways to build a positive
relationship. I know all of this because I’ve heard other teachers say it. I also know this, I’m ashamed to
admit, because I’ve had similar thoughts go through my own head and heart - more about this in Step 5.
One solution for this problematic approach is described by Jeff Duncan-Andrade in his outstanding
article, Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete: “We rationalize the
exclusion by telling ourselves that we have pulled a weed from the garden, allowing for a healthier
environment for the other children to grow. This ignores the fact that every student in our classroom is
part of a delicate balance built on interdependency… ‘[T]here are no weeds in my classroom.’” (2009,
190) Duncan-Andrade goes on to say that, “At the end of the day, effective teaching depends most
heavily on one thing: deep and caring relationships… The adage ‘students don’t care what you know
until they know that you care,’” is true. (2009, 191)
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We must refuse to give in to that pernicious lie that our students are the problem. We must go above
and beyond to build deep relationships with each of our students - particularly those who are struggling
most in our classrooms. Love looks like holding our students to an exceptionally high bar and then
adjusting our approach when things aren’t working.
A relationship-building plan
The culture of your classroom will only be as strong as the relationships that you forge with and among
your students. For that reason, it’s a must for you to have a deliberate plan to build trusting
relationships.
I write about trust in this section of Appendix B. Here’s a quick refresher on two key points:
1. You, dear-soon-to-be-teacher, are responsible for creating strong, trusting relationships with
and among your students. It may be challenging, but it’s within your locus of control to create
those bonds of trust. And it’s crucial that you do so.
2. If you want to build trust, it’s helpful to think about what trust actually is. One definition that
I’ve found particularly helpful is the definition from the folks at The Trusted Advisor. They broke
down trust into the following four components:
a. Credibility: The skills and knowledge to deliver what we’re supposed to deliver.
Credibility relates to the words we speak and our skill level.
b. Reliability: How much people can depend on us to follow through and be consistent
over time. Reliability relates to our actions.
c. Intimacy: How safe people feel to say stuff to us without judgment. Intimacy is about
how folks feel.
d. Self-orientation: This is about whether people think we are focused on ourselves and
our own interests or on them and theirs. As you can see here, trust is higher when self-
orientation is low.
e. You can see a depiction of “the trust equation” at this page from The Trusted Advisor.
Keep each of these elements of trust in mind as you consider how you’ll build trusting relationships in
your classroom.
Now, the relationship-building plan that I used was not formally codified in writing, but building strong
relationships was my North Star over the first months of the year. For instance, if I had to decide
between making sure that my classroom was spotless or making one more positive parent phone call, I
chose the latter.
If I had listed out the things I did to build trusting relationships at the beginning of the school year, it
would look like the following:
Relevant piece
When What of the trust
equation
Sharing about myself and my motivations. In sharing candidly about my background and Others-
During
motivation to do this work, I made sure students knew that my motivation was grounded orientation
class
first and foremost in their success and in their ability to have access to the opportunities
43
they deserve.
100% follow through on expectations. If a student failed to meet an expectation, they were Reliability
given a consequence every time. You don’t need to be a jerk about it, but you do need to be
consistent.
Managing my emotions. If something was making me frustrated, I made a conscious effort Reliability,
to manage it internally. Besides one or two low moments during my first year, I never intimacy
yelled. Instead, I worked to create an environment of emotional equanimity so students
knew they could trust me to react consistently irrespective of what was happening.
“I am from” poems. During the first weeks of the school year, students created “I am from” Intimacy,
poems in which they shared about where they’re from, their experiences, their hopes, etc. I others-
shared my own “I am from” poem with the class in which I talked about my father passing orientation
away when I was young and about my commitment to my students. After students created
their own poems, I held a day or two of class time for students to share their poems with
one another. In hearing one another’s poems and greeting them with connection and
affirmation, we created an environment in which students knew it was safe for them to be
their authentic selves.
Creating “My personal BHAG” posters. Students created half-page posters on which they Others-
wrote their Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals for the year. I made sure to affirm to students how orientation
much I loved their goals, how much I believed they could achieve them, and how committed
I was to making sure they did.
Autobiographical essays. During our first academic unit, students wrote autobiographical Intimacy,
essays about a moment in their life that was particularly pivotal or challenging. While others-
modelling how to write these essays, I wrote my own and shared about challenging and orientation
meaningful moments in my own life. This increased the sense of collective intimacy in the
classroom. Moreover, by affirming students’ life experiences in my comments on their
papers, I was able to communicate to students that I held them in unconditional positive
regard and that I believed in their potential.
Positive phone calls home. During the first month of the year, I made sure to save at least Others-
30 minutes each day after school to make positive phone calls home to parents. Once I got a orientation,
parent on the phone, I shared about the things that impressed me about their daughter or credibility,
son. I communicated my belief in the potential of their child, and shared how excited I was intimacy
to be their teacher. I let the parent know how eager I was to partner with the parent to
Outside support their child. Finally, I made sure to ask the parent if there was anything I should
of class /
know in order to be the best teacher possible.
after
school
I tried to connect with the vast majority – if not all – of my students’ parents over the course
of the first month or so of the school year.
In practical terms, here’s how this looked: I printed out a roster of my students, and, at the
end of each day, I would scan the list of students and think about which had done
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something particularly impressive that day. Once I found a student, I would look up the
phone number of the parent and dial their number. Once the call was complete, I put a
checkmark next to the name of that student.
One last point on how I engaged in these calls: It’s a sad reality that, in our educational
system, certain students develop a reputation for disruptive behavior and for being “bad
students” (a phrase that should be banished from schools!). If I ever heard something like
this about one of my students, I made sure to be especially attentive to the things he was
doing well over the course of the first weeks of the school year, and I made an extra effort
to celebrate and reinforce the positive choices he was making. I wanted students who had a
negative history with school to come to see my classroom as distinct from those of the past,
one in which they could achieve the success they yearned for.
Moreover, I made sure to prioritize these students as my first parent phone calls of the
year. After introducing myself on the initial phone call, it wasn’t uncommon for a mom to
say, “Is he already in trouble?” or “Oh goodness. What happened?” It was such a joy to be
able to report that I wasn’t calling to discuss anything negative and that, instead, I was
calling to tell her about the positive choices her son had made. By establishing this positive
connection from the outset, I found that parents were much more willing to problem solve
productively in the future if that were ever necessary.
Sharing the class expectations + a survey with parents/guardians. As you can see on the Credibility,
syllabus that I handed students, I made sure to have parents read through the expectations, reliability,
procedures, policies, etc. for my class. others-
orientation
Additionally, the syllabus had space for parents to share information with me about their
hopes and dreams for their child and any other information they wanted to share. In asking
these questions, I was inviting parents in as partners. In reading through and acting on their
answers, I deepened my partnership with these all-important people in the lives of my
students.
Opening my class up before school and after school. I tried to make sure that, for at least 20 Reliability,
minutes before school started and for 30 or so minutes after school was over, the door to intimacy
my classroom was open and I was available to talk with any students who might need to
connect. I made sure that students knew they could come to talk about anything they might
need. For instance, if a student didn’t have the financial resources to buy a binder for my
class, they knew they could come and talk to me and get the supplies that they needed
without judgment.
Procedures
We’ve arrived at the final element of your culture of achievement plan: procedures!
To get us going, take a second to consider how you’d answer the questions below:
● When students are done with an assignment, how will they pass their papers in?
● What should a student do if she needs a pencil because she forgot to bring one?
● What should a student do if he needs an extra piece of paper?
● What should a student do if she needs to use the bathroom?
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● How will you get the attention of the class if students are talking together in groups?
How clear are your answers? Can you visualize what should happen in each of the instances above? For
instance, if a student needs a pencil, can you visualize exactly what she should do to get one? Can you
visualize where she would find it, how she would get it, and who, if anyone, would help? Moreover, do
you have clarity about how you are going to teach that procedure to each of your students?
Now, my guess is that some people might be thinking that this level of clarity is overkill. There are
probably some folks reading this and thinking, “I’m going to be teaching 11th graders. They’re practically
adults! It would be unnecessary for me to spend any time actually teaching an expectation around, say,
pencils.”
I understand that sentiment. And there are lots of teachers out there who don’t feel that they should
need to create detailed clarity about classroom procedures. The sad truth, however, is that, in many of
those classrooms, a massive amount of learning time is lost. Learning that could have happened does
not due to small becoming big things.
For instance, if you’ve got a clear procedure for students to get extra pencils, it might be possible for a
student to get an extra pencil without you spending even one second thinking about it. If there’s a lack
of clarity about the procedure, however, you might spend significant time over the course of the school
year shuttling pencils to students around the classroom, looking in nooks and crannies of the class for
extra pencils, or getting frustrated when you can’t find one and then giving long, boring speeches to
students about personal responsibility.
Here’s the key point: having clarity about the procedures in your classroom is really important. In fact,
aside from building to trusting relationships, having clear procedures for your classroom is just about the
most important thing that you can do at the beginning of the school year to create a strong and focused
culture of achievement with your students.
Before diving into the particulars, let’s first consider some of the guiding principles that should be true
of your classroom procedures. They should…
● Provide clarity. Your procedures should make it clear “how we do things in here.” For instance, if
a student needs a pencil and there’s not a clear procedure for getting one, the student will
improvise. He might shout that he needs a pencil, wander around the room asking people for
one, or ask a friend to throw one to him (a situation it’d be best to avoid for obvious reasons).
And this is just what might happen if your pencil procedure isn’t clear.
● Create a sense of safety, security, and consistency. Walking into your classroom should feel
soothing because it functions predictably and reliably. This frees up mental bandwidth for the
work that actually matters.
● Maximize student learning time. Your procedures should maximize the amount of time that
students engage with content that enables them to rise to their potential. Consider this: If you
save 5 minutes of class time per day by introducing more efficient procedures, you’ll save about
15 hours of class time over the year. For a typical secondary teacher, this amounts to about
three extra weeks of class time. This also amounts to 15 hours of your life that you don’t need to
spend handing out pencils or passing back papers.
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● Enable you, the teacher, to focus on the most important stuff. Your procedures should enable
you to focus your time on the thing that matters most: student learning. We all know that a
minute of a teacher’s time is better spent answering a student’s question than passing out
papers or spare pencils. So create procedures that will free you from spending time on mindless
tasks.
● Maximize student leadership. Classrooms with an exceptional culture of achievement are
classrooms in which students have real agency. They are classrooms in which students know
that they matter and that they have an important role to play. So craft your procedures with this
in mind. Of course, handing out highlighters does not represent the heights of student
leadership to which we should aspire, but it’s something, and it’s worth pursuing.
Now that you’re clear on some of the principles that should guide the formation of your procedures,
let’s consider the procedures themselves.
One resource you might want to consider is the document that you can find here. The document, which
someone emailed to me after my first year of teaching, was created by folks at The KIPP Charter School
network and lays out a whole lot of questions that I found particularly productive to consider. Reading
the document highlighted aspects of my class period for which I would need clarity and for which I was
completely unaware that clarity would be needed. It might feel like overkill to answer each of the
questions in the document, but you’ll be thankful when you’ve forged that level of clarity.
Additionally, here are some of the procedures that I used in my own classroom:
Procedure How? Why?
Entrance I stood at the doorway and shook the ● Shaking hands at the door: I wanted to make a personal
routine hand of each student as she or he connection with every student, every day. Shaking hands
walked in. After students crossed the gave me a moment to be present with each student and
threshold into the classroom, I
to sense how things were going. If I sensed that any
expected them to start the opening
activity silently. student might not be doing too well, I paused the line of
students, ever so briefly, to check in with them. Or I
made a mental note to touch base with them once class
was underway.
● Silent start: There are a few reasons for making it the
expectation that students would get to work silently on
their opening activity:
○ To maximize learning time. By making silence
the expectation, students could start doing
focused work right away and we could make the
most of our learning time.
○ To create peace and calm. When students knew
that they would be getting right to work upon
entering the classroom, it allowed them to leave
outside stuff outside.
Checking I checked homework for completion This enabled me to get a sense of who had completed the
homework at the door as I was shaking students’ homework without taking too much instructional time.
47
hands.
Making sure A “Pick Up Here” desk right next to This system ensured that no one needed to spend precious class
students get the front door of the classroom time walking around the classroom, passing out papers.
the papers contained any papers that students
they’ll need would need that day. The expectation Of course, I had a different system for passing back graded
was that students would pick them up assignments. When specific papers needed to be returned, two
on the way to their desk. You can see students - for whom it was their assigned classroom job -
the desk where I put the papers here. handed work back. You can find more info about this and other
classroom jobs here.
Taking During the first days of the school By creating a seating chart as well as a visual depiction of the
attendance year, I took attendance by calling out classroom, I could take attendance in about 15 seconds just by
students’ names and waiting to hear if scanning the classroom. Using this system each day saved
they were present. Once I knew all considerable learning time when compared to taking attendance
their names, however, I would merely orally.
look for any empty desks, look at the
classroom seating chart, and mark the
attendance while students were
silently completing their opening work
activity.
Passing in Students passed papers to their left. The main reason I used this procedure was efficiency. Students
papers Once all papers were with students on only needed to pass papers to another student one time, and all
the left-most row, those students I needed to do was take the papers from that one student’s
would pass the papers forward to the desk.
student in the front corner of the
classroom.
You can see an example of me

teaching this procedure here.
Writing down At a specific point in the class period, I I carved out a recurring time and space for writing down the
the homework had every student take out their homework to ensure that students wouldn’t forget to write it
homework planner and write down down and, as a result, forget to complete their homework.
their homework. I quickly scanned the Making time each day for doing this, even just 30 seconds,
classroom to ensure that students had ensured that students left class clear on what was going to be
done this. expected of them by the next day and it reinforced a helpful
organizational habit.
Getting the Here are a few of the methods I used Different methods were used for different reasons and at
attention of to get the attention of the class: different times. Here are a few of them:
the class ● Clap it quiet: I would clap a ● Clap it quiet: I used this much more at the beginning of
rhythm and expect students the year than I did throughout the rest of the year. I
to repeat that rhythm. You used this technique at the beginning of the school year
can see an example of me because a) it’s just fun to clap a beat, and b) when the
teaching this here. whole class was in rhythm together, it made the class
● Countdown from 5: On other feel more connected to one another. It made students
occasions, I would instruct feel part of something bigger than themselves. When we
students that I needed their clap or stomp out a beat together, it evokes some primal
silent attention and then I form of connection and collective identity, something
held up my hand and counted that I wanted to cultivate during those critical first days.
48
down verbally from five. ● Countdown from 5: This technique gave students clarity
● Saying, “Give me your silent that they had a few seconds to wrap up their
attention”: Sometimes, I conversation and provided both verbal and visual cues
would just tell the class that I as to when they should bring their attention back to me.
needed their attention. ● Saying, “Give me your silent attention”: Later on in the
● Hitting a metal triangle: When school year, all that I often needed to do was to say to
students were engaging in students, “Give me your silent attention,” and then
group work and when the point out the behavior of the students who were giving
volume of voices in the me that attention. I liked this more than that countdown
classroom was higher than from five because, well, it’s kind of weird to count down
usual, I rang a metal triangle from five, and I don’t always love it when people do that
that looked like this. to me.
● Hitting a metal triangle: I used the metal triangle when
there was already a good deal of talking because the
sound was distinct, and so it was clear what I was asking
for.
Sharpening a Students were expected to raise their This procedure meant that I could give students permission to
pencil pencil in the air to indicate that they sharpen their pencil with a simple nod.
needed to sharpen their pencil. When
I saw that, I nodded at the student
and he would walk over to the pencil
sharpener.
Getting an If students needed an extra pencil, I I used those obnoxiously short golf pencils for a few reasons:
extra pencil made sure to have a handful of golf ● They make sure students have something to write with.
pencils in a box in a consistent place in ● They’re somewhat annoying to use, which gave students
the classroom. an incentive to bring their own pencils.
● They’re relatively cheap at office supply stores.
Blowing their When students needed to blow their The hand-on-nose signal made it immediately apparent what the
nose nose and didn’t have their own student needed. I’d be able to just nod and the student would
tissues, I expected them to raise their be able to handle their business.
hand and touch their nose.
Going to the At the school where I last taught, The reason for setting a limit on bathroom passes over the
bathroom students were given a limited number course of a semester was to ensure that students had an
of bathroom passes each semester. incentive to use the bathroom during the passing periods
Additionally, if students were heading between classes rather than missing out on learning time.
to the bathroom, they needed a hall
pass. Only one student was allowed to
use the bathroom at a time.
Handing out One of my classroom jobs was Supply By having students oversee the passing out and collection of
supplies Manager. Students in the Supply supplies, we didn’t need to go through the whole, “Who wants
(highlighters, Manager role passed out and to pass out the highlighters today?” routine every time
dry-erase collected supplies when needed. something needed to get passed out.
boards, etc.)
Dismissal To begin the dismissal process, I One of the main reasons I loved this procedure was that my final
routine would say, “Time to clean up.” At that words each day were positive: “Have a great day!”
point, students would be expected to
49
silently clean up the area around their This two-part dismissal procedure – first “Time to clean up” and
chair and stand up next to their desk. then “Have a great day” – also ensured that, as students were
As this process was taking place, I cleaning up and getting ready to go, I had the opportunity to
would scan my behavior tracker for remind myself of who I needed to speak with after the class
the day to identify which students, if period was over.
any, needed to stay behind, and I
would ask them to stay behind. After Another reason I went with this dismissal process is that it was
that, I’d say, “Have a great day!” This calm. Allowing the bell to dismiss students would have led to
signaled to students that our time frantic dismissals because I couldn’t always time things just right.
together that day was done and that With this method, we were able to clean up calmly, get
they could be on their way. everything squared away, and end on a positive note.
Running stuff One of my classroom jobs was Errand While it wasn’t a particularly common experience, there were
to the office Manager. When pieces of paper times when I would need to have a piece of paper or a message
needed to be dropped off at the main delivered to the office or another teacher during class. Having a
office or if something needed to be designated Errand Manager made it clear who would be
run to another teacher in the middle handling the task without needing to spend time soliciting and
of the class period, this student would selecting a volunteer.
handle the job.
Checking If a student wanted to check out a Using this system provided a degree of accountability to ensure
books out of book from my class library, she would students brought their books back. Inevitably, some books went
the classroom pick a book and then check the book missing, but honestly, I didn’t sweat it. The way I saw it, that’s
library out with the classroom librarian. The part of the deal if you have a class library.
classroom librarian had a binder to
track who took what books and when. The job of classroom librarian was super fun for students who
Classroom librarians were then relished the opportunity to keep the library spick and span and
responsible for following up with ensure that books were going out and coming back in an orderly
students who hadn’t returned the way.
book after a few weeks.
Greeting Another of my classroom jobs was This was an entirely unnecessary job, but it was also super fun.
visitors Classroom Ambassador. The student Students loved being the ambassador and it was always a
in this role would greet visitors to the pleasant surprise for visitors to be greeted so warmly. It also
classroom with a handshake and an meant that I could keep rocking and rolling on the important
explanation of what we were doing stuff that my students and I were learning together when folks
together that day. came by to visit.
The purpose of sharing those procedures with you is to provide you with food for thought as you
consider your own. If you like the procedures I’ve outlined above, use them! If you don’t, great! Now
you’ve got more clarity about what you don’t want to do.
4. What are some examples of culture of achievement plans I can consider?

At this point, you’re clear on what should be included in your culture of achievement plan:
1. Rules/Classroom Expectations
2. Policies
3. Positive consequences
4. Corrective behavior systems
5. A relationship building plan
6. Procedures
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Moreover, you’ve read through a bunch of my thoughts on how you might consider each of these
elements of a culture of achievement plan.
But, you’ve only read through my thoughts. And the problem with this is that my perspective is limited!
The truth is that there are tons of other ways of constructing a culture of achievement plan that are
surely stronger than my own. For that, feel free to head to this document to explore culture of
achievement plans that other people have put together and shared.
Lastly, if you come across any great resources that you’re willing to share with others, please consider
emailing them to me at tyler@newteachersthriving.org.
5. Now what?
Create your own culture of achievement plan!
And, to the extent possible, get clear on the expectations that your school or district will have for how
you go about this stuff. If you can’t find that information, however, then just go ahead and create your
plan. You’ll always be able to adjust it down the road, and the process of creating a plan that you believe
in will be invaluable as you clarify a vision for your classroom.
Good luck and enjoy!

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Step 5: Practice your teacher magic

I thought I was going to throw up.
I sat in my apartment, trying to force down some breakfast. But I was worried that it would come right
back up.
The first day of school was about to begin, and my mind was racing.
“What will the day be like?” I thought to myself. “Will I have the courage to hold my students to high
expectations? Will I lose my temper and ruin a relationship with one of them? If I handle a situation
poorly, will I lose my credibility in front of the whole class? And if I lose all my credibility in the first week
of school, am I in for 9 months of misery? Am I about to ruin the next 9 months of my life? And am I
about to ruin the lives of my students?”
Just some pleasant mental chatter over a bowl of oatmeal. :-)
As the beginning of the school year approaches, you may find similar questions going through your head
as well.
The truth, however, is that some things matter way more than others. And the thing that matters most
of all is this: teacher magic.
You can have the strongest classroom systems and procedures in the world, but if you aren’t using
teacher magic, none of that is going to amount to a hill of beans in the long run. You might be a “good
teacher,” but without teacher magic, the impact of your work will be fundamentally limited.
“Excuse me Tyler but are you off your rocker? What are you talking about?”
Teachers, I believe, have magical abilities. Their work is infused with supernatural power.
I recognize that this is not the typical way of thinking about strong instructional practice. And I recognize
that this idea might make some folks uncomfortable. But I believe it, so I’m offering this perspective for
your consideration.
Here’s the essence of teacher magic: teachers can believe things into being. Teachers can call energy
that had been lying dormant into active existence. They can call upon forces in the universe that awaken
new realities.
For instance, if a teacher believes that one of her students has massive potential for greatness - and if
that teacher speaks with and acts towards that young person based on her belief - then forces in the
universe will do something inside of that young person to open up new worlds and future realities.
When teachers use their magic for good, they harness their ability to believe good things into being, and
they have the potential to make a magnificent impact.
52
If, on the other hand, a teacher believes that one of his students is a little shit, then even if he never
utters a word based on that belief, something in the universe will change, and energy will be sent to that
young person that reflects the teacher’s view.
Of course, you don’t need to buy the idea that there are supernatural forces at work when you teach.
But what I’d invite you to consider is that your inner beliefs do in fact possess significant power.
Here’s the practical application: always, always, always, notice, call attention to, and act from a
recognition of the infinite potential that exists within each of your students.
That, my friends, is the key. If this is the touchstone to which we return every minute of every day, then
we will be able to reach the heights of our own potential as educators.
I don’t fully understand how all this stuff works. And I don’t know exactly why it works. But I do know
that it works. When we focus on the expansiveness of a person’s potential, their potential expands.
When we see greatness in others, their greatness proliferates.
And while it might still seem like I’ve gone off the deep end, there’s actually research that substantiates
what I’m saying (albeit not the “magic” part). Ample evidence shows that the expectations, beliefs, and
mindsets teachers hold about their students are among the most significant factors in determining
whether students will flourish with that teacher. For those of you who are interested, I’ve outlined some
of that research in Appendix E. For now, however, here’s the point: what teachers believe comes into
existence with shocking regularity.
Almost all of us understand this intuitively. We know that teachers can believe things into being because
we’ve experienced the impact of our own teachers’ beliefs. We can recall at least one adult who noticed
potential within us and who acted on their belief in our potential. Our lives were transformed as a
result. New realities and possibilities came into existence because of the way that teacher wielded her
or his teacher magic.
So, how can we be that type of teacher for our own students?
I screwed this up
At a certain point in the school year, Justin no longer seemed like a person to me.
Instead, he had become a walking, talking threat to my lesson plan. He wasn’t a young man; he was a
behavior problem. When Justin walked into my classroom, I remember the way that my scalp tensed up
and my face got hot. I didn’t see a precious young adult. I saw a nuisance.
Upon entering, Justin would almost immediately make some outlandish noise or provoke another
student. Rage boiled inside of me.
I remember how quick I was to give him consequences. I remember the anger that laced my voice when
I spoke to Justin, the way my words came out like physical jabs. I remember feeling a sense of
53
satisfaction from flexing my power, punishing him with trips to the office. I remember the smug sense of
self-righteousness that pervaded my heart and my head as I did this. I remember rationalizing my anger
towards Justin by telling myself how good it was to remove this impediment to the class’ learning.
The fact of the matter is that Justin’s behavior was a significant problem. He did derail class daily, often
making it impossible for us to focus on the content of the lesson for that day.
What I didn’t see at the time, however, was that I was fundamentally complicit in things being as bad as
they were. With Justin, I practiced a twisted and destructive form of teacher magic. I saw his worst
impulses, and I then made up additional stories about why he was problematic as a person. Those
distorted beliefs shaped the way I spoke to him, and my actions flowed from that same poisonous
spring.
If Justin is flourishing today, it’s in spite of me. If he’s thriving, it’s because he was able to overcome the
negative impact I had on him.
Sadly, I’m not the only one

I’ll always be ashamed of the way I looked at Justin as he walked into my classroom. I’ll always live with
the reality that I posed a threat to his flourishing.
The depressing truth, however, is that the way I acted towards Justin is not out of the ordinary in
schools. My guess is that there are millions of teachers across the world who are wrestling with a very
similar set of feelings that I wrestled with in my own work with Justin. We came to this profession to do
good work with students. And yet, in the hustle and bustle of the school year, so many of us find
ourselves thinking thoughts and acting in ways that we would have never imagined.
These rotten, limiting beliefs we develop about certain young people are so commonplace, in fact, that
when another teacher makes comments in the staff room that denigrate the potential of a student, we
very often don’t speak up. Too often, we write off “bad kids,” wishing them good riddance. We do this
with special regularity for our young people who are black and Latino.
Moreover, these damaging thoughts are not limited to the way that we look at our students. In
education, we have become exceptionally skilled at demonizing other people who are in the work. We
hold suspicion and judgment in our eyes not only with certain students but also with certain colleagues
as well. At a systemic level, we hold suspicion and judgment in our minds and hearts when we talk about
charter schools, teacher’s unions, traditional schools of education, Teach For America, school districts,
and so many other institutions and organizations that are doing the work. We spend a staggering
amount of time tearing people down and sowing seeds of division.
So, in light of all that, what can we do?
Teacher magic
As I mentioned above, we must work to believe beautiful things into existence through noticing, calling
attention to, and acting from a recognition of the infinite potential that exists within our students.
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“Okay, but how?”
Notice
Teacher magic begins with the ability to see. More specifically, teacher magic begins with our ability to
see what we see. To illustrate, I’ll share an example from my own experience.
I grew up in an affluent, predominantly white community. Before my first year of teaching, I mostly lived
alongside people who were exceptionally privileged. My first year as a teacher was the first time in my
life in which I was spending the majority of my day working primarily with people who faced the
challenges of poverty and who were experiencing some of our society’s most virulent forms of
oppression.
I wasn’t conscious of it at the time, but I realize now that, during my first months as a teacher, my eyes
were focused on deficits I perceived in my students and their lives. I remember fixating on students’
dirty shirts. I saw my students through the lens of what they lacked.
One night, a colleague mentioned that he was having a particularly tough time with his fifth period class.
But one of his students had tried to buck him up: “Mister,” this seventh-grade girl said, “just remember
that whatever you think about, you bring about.”
Whatever you think about, you bring about.
We chuckled at her words. But they struck me. Silly and clichéd as they may be, her words cut straight to
the heart of what had been holding me back. For the first time, I saw what I was seeing. I noticed the
way my eye was drawn to the dirty shirts of one of my students rather than to the precious person
inside the shirt. For the first time, I saw that I was more focused on the obstacles my students faced
than their tenacity to overcome those obstacles. And I saw that my focus on deprivation was quietly
robbing me of the ability to see possibility and strength within my students.
In Tupac Shakur’s poem, “The Rose That Grew from Concrete,” he asks the reader, “Did u hear about the
rose that grew from a crack in the concrete”? (1999, 3) Tupac’s poem speaks reverentially about those
young people who manage to grow up and blossom in the face of a world ravaged by the forces of
racism, poverty, etc.
Building off of this, in his song “Mama’s Just A Little Girl,” Tupac writes:
You wouldn’t ask why the rose that grew from the concrete had damaged petals.
On the contrary, we would all celebrate its tenacity.
We would all love its will to reach the sun.
Well, we are the roses.
This is the concrete.
And these are my damaged petals.
Don’t ask me why.
Thank God.
Ask me how. (Shakur, 2002)
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I had been fixating on my students’ damaged petals. My gaze went continually to the narrowness of the
crack in the concrete in which students were expected to blossom. Or to the messiness of their petals. I
failed to fully comprehend that, standing in front of me, were roses.
Once I realized this, I was able to refocus my vision on the beauty and strength within my students. And
things got a lot better.
* * *
Of course, I’m not saying that dirty shirts don’t matter. We must focus attention on poverty, on
institutionalized racism, and on other forms of oppression. We must focus on the transformation of the
inhospitable concrete into a fertile garden. As we do so, though, we must remain equally enthralled by
the beauty and potential within each student.
Now, I wish I could say my students and I worked happily ever after. But that didn’t happen. My
epiphany didn’t stick as well as I had hoped.
Teaching Justin, what I noticed over and over again were the behavioral problems (his, not mine). My
vision of Justin was fixed on what he was doing to disrupt “my class.” In retrospect, I see that his
behavior was likely coming from a place of deep hurt or fear. But the way I was seeing him didn’t allow
me to perceive any of that. My focus wasn’t detecting his rose-ness.
The nasty thing about coming to see someone the way I saw Justin is that it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We believe things into being - negative things as well as positive things. We can conspire with darkness
to bring more darkness into the world.
Do you understand why it’s so important for us to see what we see?
Teacher magic, in its most majestic manifestation, looks like a teacher who has cultivated an ability to
see greatness and potential in all students always and no matter what.
And that is really hard.
How hard? Think of a person in your life who you think is, on some level, a self-centered, annoying, brat.
Think of someone in your family or at work or in school you’d be just fine never seeing again.
Now, in your mind’s eye, call attention to the goodness this person has within them. Notice their
potential for greatness. Ground yourself in their infinite worth. And then call your attention to the hurt
and fear that surely serves as the source of their negative behaviors.
How’d that go? If you’re like me, you might not have been able to do it. Even after years of working to
see potential and infinite worth in all people, it can still be excruciatingly difficult.
Even if you found it impossible to see the greatness that lies within that other person, take solace in this
fact: The ability to see what we see and then choose what to see is a learnable skill. Over time, with hard
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work, we can build the capacity of our mind’s eye to see in this way. We can grow our awareness
muscle; it really does function like a muscle.
Here’s an example: During my fourth year of teaching, Kyle consistently did things that triggered anger
within me. He frequently called out to the whole class, distracting us and derailing my carefully planned
lessons. When this happened, I remember walking towards Kyle in anger. I remember wanting to speak
with Kyle the way I used to speak with Justin: as if he were a behavior problem and nothing more. As I
noticed that desire coming up within me, however, I found myself thinking, “I’ve seen this movie before.
And it doesn’t end well.” I remembered the impact of speaking to students from a place of anger. So
before I arrived at Kyle’s desk, I literally paused - just for a second - to ask for assistance from on high. I
remember asking for the ability to see Kyle as a child of God in possession of infinite worth and
potential.
Whereas with Justin my words came out sharp, stinging, and businesslike, I was able to speak with Kyle
differently. I said something like, “Kyle, you’re great, and I believe in you. Right now, the expectation is
that people work silently on their essays. So you have a verbal warning. Now get back to silent work on
your essay.” And, when I uttered those words, I did believe in Kyle. I did believe he had greatness within
him - even if I hadn’t just a few seconds earlier. And so the impact of my words was dramatically more
positive. Over time, seeing and speaking to Kyle with this different filter made all the difference.
Three final thoughts on noticing:

1. As you read above, my own approach involved prayer. If that’s not your jam, all good! The key is
to notice what you’re noticing and then to make a conscious choice to see your students anew.
2. There’s a difference between seeing a person’s inner worth and declaring their actions to be
right and good. Teacher magic, properly practiced, does not excuse harm or sweep things under
the rug. Rather, it stands firmly against behavior that fails to reflect a person’s potential. But it
does so in a way that calls people to a deeper recognition of that potential.
3. If you find it hard to do all of this, consider whether it’s because you haven’t yet cultivated the
ability to see your own potential. Very often, our limiting beliefs about others stem directly from
the limiting beliefs we hold about ourselves.
Call attention
The next step is to communicate, to call attention to what we see.
Now, there are about a million different ways to communicate to someone that you see potential within
them. So don’t worry too much about the particular way in which you do this. Just make sure you do it.
And make sure that, when you do it, you mean it.
Here are a few of the ways I called attention to the potential I saw in my students:
Comments during class: If a student failed to meet an expectation that I had established for the class, I
might say something like: “Kyle, I love you and I believe in you so much. The expectation now is that
we’re working in our own groups and not talking with the other groups. You have a verbal warning.”
Notes: If there is a student who has been doing outstanding work and who, for whatever reason, could
use some encouragement, I might write a note like the following:
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An after-class, one-on-one conversation with a student: I might say something like: “Melissa, you are an
incredible person, and I know that you’re going to do great things in the world. And I know that this class
will help you to become (share whatever her future dream might be). So I’m confused by the fact that
you were talking at multiple points during class today when the expectation was that the class should be
working silently. What’s up?”
A phone call home: I might call a student’s home and say something like, “Is this Mrs. Anderson? Hi
there! This is Mr. Hester, Taylor’s teacher. I wanted to call to let you know how much I believe in your
son. I know that he was struggling a few weeks ago to stay on task during class, but he has made
outstanding improvement and is now meeting each of the expectations I’ve laid out for the class, serving
as a model for others. I just wanted to call to tell you that! I hope you feel proud of the progress that
he’s been making towards his potential as a leader in the classroom!”
Once you cultivate the ability to see the greatness in your students, you’ll see opportunities to
communicate that greatness everywhere around you. Take them! Build habits around the
communication of belief in your students. For instance, consider making it a habit to make two positive
phone calls home each day. The cumulative impact of habits such as these are profound.
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Act
The final step towards the full flourishing of teacher magic involves acting in alignment with the
potential that we see within our students.
For many of our students, noticing and calling attention to their potential will not suffice. In addition to
noticing and communicating, relentless action will be necessary for them to come to see their own
potential and for them to see us as people who genuinely believe in that potential.
An important dynamic to consider is that many students you meet on the first day of school may already
be suspicious of you and your intentions. And many will be completely justified in that suspicion! After
all, we adults have so often and so systematically failed to support our students that it makes perfect
sense that many of them would regard us with a skeptical eye. This is especially true when teaching
students who have experienced profound oppression and who have been forced to attend dysfunctional
schools year after year. In the face of students’ justifiable doubts, you’ll need to take relentless action
that complements your noticing and communicating.
In fact, if you stop at the second element of teacher magic, if you see and communicate your belief in
students but fail to act, you may end up doing more harm than good. You may end up confirming the
lurking suspicion so many of our students harbor: that we adults are basically peddling lies. As Cornel
West writes, our students “want to see a sermon, not hear one.” (2004, 296)
Educator Jeff Duncan-Andrade speaks directly to the necessity of moving beyond mere communication
of our beliefs. He writes that the most fruitful connections between teachers and students
“…did not happen because of the demands [teachers] made of students. It happened
because of the level of self-sacrifice, love, and support that accompanied those raised
expectations. Sometimes it was simple encouragement, but many times it meant amplifying
the material hope [that teachers] were giving to students. This support took many forms:
afterschool and weekend tutoring; countless meals and rides home;
phone/text/email/instant messaging sessions; and endless prodding, cajoling, and all-
around positive harassment. These additional investments of time and money clarified for
students the idea that with raised expectations came the teacher’s willingness to sacrifice in
order to help students along the way.” (2009, 189)
Of course, living a sermon is much more challenging than preaching one. While it comes with deep joy,
practicing teacher magic is also painful. Teaching in such a way that we enable our students to rise to
their full potential requires that we be willing to make sacrifices. Duncan-Andrade challenges us:
“Do we make the self-sacrifices in our own lives that we are asking [students] to make? …
Do we have the capacity and commitment to support students when they struggle…?
Teachers who meet these challenges are beloved by students. The sacrifices [these
teachers] make and the solidarity it produces earn them the right to demand levels of
commitment that often defy even the students’ own notion of their capabilities.” (2009,
189)
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Dramatic action, accompanied with significant sacrifice, is the price of admission if we wish to enter the
ranks of educators who practice teacher magic in its most profound forms.
It’s worth calling out one additional aspect of the actions we take: In certain instances, it may be
necessary for us to act in a way that doesn’t make sense to our students. That is, it may be necessary for
us to take a set of actions so far outside of what our students would expect of us that it causes our
students to revise the story they might have written about us. For instance, with a student who feels a
lurking suspicion that your words of belief and encouragement are hooey, it might take showing up to
his football game and sticking around afterward to congratulate him on his performance for him to do a
double take, to see that you may be sincere after all.
In Exodus, before Moses was a big deal, God caught Moses’ attention by doing something that didn’t
make sense. Moses was walking along as a shepherd, just doing his thing, when out of the corner of his
eye he saw a bush that was on fire. What caused Moses to do a double take, however, was the fact that
the bush wasn’t burning up. “He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’” (Exodus 3:2-3)
This bush didn’t compute with Moses’ mental model of how the world worked. So he walked towards it
to find out more. From there, and for the first time, God and Moses started talking. They went on to
develop a relationship that, well, changed the world.
At certain times - and particularly when a relationship is strained – we’ll need to be burning bushes.
We’ll need to act in ways that don’t make sense. We’ll need to prompt students to walk towards us to
see if we do in fact represent something different from what they’ve experienced in the past.
Imagine you have a student who hates you. You probably will at some point. And imagine that, after
persistent action in alignment with the principles of teacher magic, your student finds herself thinking,
“Wait, why does my teacher keep coming to my house and telling my family that I can be an incredible
student? Why does she keep working with me to make connections between class and what I want to
do in my life? Why does she keep writing me encouraging notes when I do well in class? Why does she
keep holding me to high expectations when every other teacher would have given up by now? Is it
possible that my teacher isn’t full of shit?”
Sadly, many of our students have come to develop mental models of themselves as worthless or as
incapable of greatness. In light of those beliefs, it’s critical that our words and our actions don’t make
sense. It’s critical that our words and actions cause students to reconsider the limiting stories they may
have developed about themselves.
We must persist in our burning-bush-style actions even (and especially) when things are challenging.
With certain students, you’ll get eye rolls, teeth suckings, and “yeah right”s. You will get middle fingers,
“whatever”s, “I don’t care”s, and “You say that everyone.” And sometimes you’ll get worse than that.
You’ll get those reactions because, when our students feel that they are worthless, words and actions
that contradict this belief can feel dangerously disruptive. To a young person who has developed a sense
of shame and worthlessness as a result of living in our racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, and generally
oppressive world, it can be terrifying to open himself up to the idea that he might actually be as full of
potential as he once hoped himself to be.
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For that reason, it may take a long time for students to change their stories. This means we’ll need to be
relentless in noticing, communicating, and acting in the face of eye-roll after eye-roll, cussing-out after
cussing-out. As we persist, we’ll do well to remember what a scary thing it is we’re asking of some of our
students: opening up their heart once more to the possibility that they do in fact have greatness within
them, that there is in fact someone who believes they can rise to incredible heights. And it’s from the
students for whom our actions are most important that we are likely to get the most significant
resistance.
“Fuck you, Hester.”
Dulce, my student at the time, wasn’t happy with me. And our after-school conversation wasn’t off to a
great start.
“Dulce, take your head up off your desk.”
“Why? Can I just go?”
“Not yet. I believe in you, I know that you can be great, and I was not impressed with your behavior
today in class. It didn’t reflect your potential. What’s up? Are you okay?”
“Fuck this.” Dulce stood up, then walked out of the room.
Thirty minutes later, as I was walking towards the door to Dulce’s house, “What the hell are you doing
here??!!” erupted from behind the kitchen window.
The first weeks after Dulce came into my class were, to put it mildly, challenging. In the middle of the
year, Dulce had transferred into my class from a nearby high school that was also one of the lowest-
performing high schools in the state. She said that she had been allowed to spend the vast majority of
her class periods at her previous school texting and messing around on her phone. That was no longer
an option in my class, and Dulce was not thrilled about the change.
Over the course of the coming weeks, she put up a spectacular show of resistance to the new
expectations. Along the way, I experienced significant doubts: “What’s happening here? What am I
doing wrong? Will I be fighting this fight all year long? Will she be like this forever?”
In the face of those doubts, I somehow persisted in believing in Dulce. I persisted in believing her to be a
precious and infinitely important child of God. And every time I witnessed her anger in response to my
words and actions, I reminded myself of the truth that hurt people hurt people. I reminded myself that I
was standing alongside someone who seemed to have been deeply hurt. As time passed, I resolved to
stand firm in my belief in her potential no matter what.
After countless calls home, home visits, meetings at school, after-class conversations, and during-class
conversations, Dulce and I started to make progress. And then, she blossomed. She had come into my
class professing a visceral hatred for reading. But by the end of the year, she was reading books with a
voracity I have rarely seen.
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In the years since, Dulce has told me many times about the loathing she felt for me during her first
weeks in my class. And she has thanked me for seeing something in her that, at the time, she wasn’t
able to see herself. As of this writing, she is happy as a clam. She has a job she likes, she’s in college, and
she is boldly pursuing her dreams.
Teacher magic works. It’s messy. It’s brutally challenging for our selfish and entitled hearts. But it works.
And from what I can see, it’s the most important thing that we do as educators.
Of course, we’ll never fully get there. The day will never come when we always notice, call attention to,
and act from a recognition of the infinite potential that exists within each of our students. But if we
want to be educators who rise to the full heights of our own potential, we must continue to try. We
must continually strengthen our teacher magic muscles. Along the way, a brokenness within us will
tempt us to fixate on the limitations of others and to treat some of our students as if they were less
valuable than others. But with daily practice, by seeking to transcend our own feverish attachment to
judgment and condemnation, we can help bring about true flourishing in both our students and
ourselves.
How should I prepare to practice teacher magic in my

classroom?
As you might suspect, there’s no clean and clear How-To Guide for teacher magic.
That said, there are a number of things you can do to prepare:

● Practice it. Think of someone in your life with whom you are frustrated. Once you’ve got that
person in mind, move through each of the steps of teacher magic with that person. Notice the
infinite potential that they have within them. Then, call attention to the greatness that they
have within them. As in, literally call them. Or write them a letter. Or walk up to them. Or invite
them out to dinner. Then, act towards that person from a recognition of the greatness that they
have within them. And If you hear a voice inside of you that objects to this, that generates a
thousand reasons why you don’t want to act in this way towards this particular person, notice
that. And then communicate and act anyways.
● Consider its source. Where does teacher magic come from? What is its source? How is it even
possible for a teacher to practice teacher magic with a student after weeks of minimal progress?
These are important questions to consider. If you’d like, you can read my thoughts about the
source of teacher magic in Appendix E.
● Look for bright spots. In what instances have you been able to practice teacher magic in the
past? What can you learn from those moments of success? How might you replicate those
bright spots in the future with your students?
● Rehearse it. Pick one part of your lesson plans for your first two days of teaching and rehearse it.
As you are rehearsing it, pretend that one of your students does something that you find to be
infuriating. Better yet, ask one of your friends to pretend to be a student in your classroom, and
ask them to disrupt your lesson in all of the ways you hope that your students won’t. And then,
practice seeing the student who has interrupted for who she is: someone with massive potential
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for greatness. By practicing with some of the curveballs you might receive during your first days
in the classroom, you’ll be better at handling them if and when they arise.
● Set reminders. If this teacher magic thing is resonating with you, keep in mind that it’ll be easy
to toss it all out the window once the school year starts. It’ll be easy to become frustrated with
one of your students and then simply dismiss this whole idea as fluffy nonsense. To avoid this,
set reminders for yourself. Consider setting calendar alerts for yourself at a particular time. Or
send a few emails to yourself via https://www.futureme.org/ saying something to the effect of,
“Who are you frustrated with right now? Are you seeing the infinite potential that exists within
that person? Are you calling attention to their greatness? Are you acting from a recognition of
the greatness that they have within them?”
● Establish a teacher-magic habit. Form a habit that will strengthen your teacher magic. For
instance, make time for at least two positive phone calls each day. Or make a plan to write two
notes of encouragement to students each morning before school starts, and then hand those
notes to students as they walk through the door to your class. In the busyness of the year, it’s
easy to lose focus on teacher magic, so create a small, daily habit to ensure that your teacher-
magic muscles remain strong.
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Step 6: Draft your vision and goals

You’re doing great! You’ve set up your classroom, created lesson plans for the first few days, mapped
out your first two weeks, and created a culture of achievement plan. On top of all that, you’ve practiced
your teacher magic. That is outstanding!
And yet, even with all that you’ve done thus far, there’s still a chance that, not too long from now, you’ll
find yourself showing up to work each day uninspired, just going through the motions. There’s still a
chance you’ll find yourself arriving home each day feeling drained and depleted.
That would suck.
Here’s the good news: You can avoid this fate. The solution lies in creating an audacious and personally
compelling vision and goals for your classroom. In creating a vision and goals, you can transform your
classroom from a space in which you are “covering the material” into one fueled by joy, passion, and
conviction.
Let’s take a minute to consider what this might look like in concrete terms:
Imagine that you’ve powered through the entire month of October and you’re heading into November,
typically one of the most challenging months for a new teacher. Imagine that, in the staff lounge one
morning before school, one of your veteran colleagues asks you, with a worried look on her face, “How
are you doing?” When you look back quizzically, she goes on: “You’re a first-year teacher in November.
Are you miserable yet? Are you just crawling your way to Thanksgiving break?”
You’re not sure what she’s getting at. Have the first months of the school year been hard? Absolutely.
Are you looking forward to the time off? Yes! But you’re also feeling grateful for the opportunity to do
this work. Rather than counting down the days to the vacation, you’ve been arriving at school each day
energized by the opportunity to be with your students and to teach content that matters.
As you stand in that staff lounge, you overhear another colleague complaining about the boring
curriculum that the district has provided. He whines about how much he’s dreading teaching his lesson
that day. As you hear his words, you feel grateful that you took the time to customize your curriculum,
tailoring it so it fits with your own personal passions as well as those of your students.
As you walk towards your classroom, you don’t feel like a cog in the educational system machine.
Instead, you’re genuinely excited about the day ahead and what you and your students are going to do
together. You thank your lucky stars that, each day, you’re moving in the direction of goals that matter
deeply both to you and your students.
This is a lofty aspiration. But it’s attainable.
As a teacher, don’t settle for just “covering the material.” Instead, craft a vision and goals for the school
year that will ensure you feel great come November and beyond.
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In this chapter, you’ll learn how to draft a vision and goals for the end of the school year. They won’t be
perfect, and they’ll almost certainly change over time, but they’ll serve as an important foundation. And
over time, the pursuit of your vision and goals has the potential to energize every aspect of your work.
First, what is a vision? And what do you mean by goals?

Vision
A vision is a depiction in words of a future state of reality. For instance, Martin Luther King’s “I have a
dream” speech includes a vision of a world in which, “my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” (1986,
219) The vision that you create for your classroom should illustrate with words that which you hope to
be true by the end of the school year.
In their wonderful book Switch, Chip and Dan Heath describe a vision this way: it is “a destination
postcard - a vivid picture … that shows what could be possible.” (76, emphasis in original)
For a few different examples of a teacher’s vision, head here.
Goals
Goals are simply another way of articulating what will be true by the end of the school year. For the
purposes of this chapter, I’m going to talk about goals as being, essentially, the quantitative complement
to your vision.
Here are some examples of goals:

● Our AP US History class will score an average of 4 on the AP exam
● Our class will increase our reading levels by an average of 1.6 years
● We will average 80% mastery on all unit exams over the course of the year
● 100% of my seniors will be admitted to at least one college
● Our class will average 2 columns of growth on our personal leadership rubric
When you say “vision” and “goals,” are you referring to the ideas? The written
documents?
Both.
In one sense, visions and goals are the ideas themselves. For that reason, it is not necessary to write
them down for them to exist.
That said, visions and goals are much more likely to come to life if they are in print. Writing them down
stirs something in the universe and transforms their likelihood of becoming real. So put ‘em in writing.
Why should I take the time to write out a vision and goals?
For a long time, I asked the same question. I thought visions and goals were nonsense and that writing
them down would be a monumental waste of time. “Why,” I thought to myself, “would I ever waste an
hour creating a vision? Especially when I’m not even ready for school tomorrow?! How can I justify pie-
in-the-sky thinking when I have stacks of grading and copies to make?”
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At the time, I thought that people encouraging me to create a vision and goals were out of touch. They
seemed maddeningly unaware of the thousands of things I needed to do so that the next day wouldn’t
be a complete mess. I resented them for pushing me to work on documents that seemed to have no
practical value. “What I really need is to fix the jam in that damn copy machine! No vision? No problem.”
I say all of this because you might be feeling the same way. “Draft a vision and goals for my classroom?
When my lesson plan for my first day of school is still only half-baked? Are you crazy?!”
I hear you.
My journey to understanding the importance of a bold, personally compelling vision and goals was a
long one. To this day, there are moments when I find it excruciating to spend time working on a vision
and goals. Yet, after reflecting on my own teaching and having seen hundreds of teachers move through
their teaching journey, I have come to believe that crafting a vision and goals is one of a teacher’s most
high-impact acts of leadership. I’ve come to believe that it’s impossible for a teacher to achieve true
greatness alongside her students without clarity of vision. And, trust me, I came to this realization
kicking and screaming.
Here are three reasons why I’ve come to believe it’s so important for teachers to craft personally
meaningful visions and goals:
1. Compliance is seductive. Your school will have lots of expectations for you: teach the curriculum,
make sure students are paying attention, turn in report cards, host parent conferences, etc.
And, inside almost all of us, there’s a desire to do what we’re told. We want to fit in, to meet the
expectations. Practically speaking, it’s deceptively easy for compliance with our school’s
expectations to become our primary goal. But none of us got into this work merely to meet
expectations. If you’ve read this far, you have a desire to make a significant impact, to go above
and beyond the status quo, and to ensure that your students will genuinely thrive. For that to
happen, you must create a vision and goals that will pull you out of compliance mode and help
to remind you of what you’re truly aiming to achieve.
2. Striving brings out our best. When human beings set visions and goals, they move towards them
almost instinctively. There is a reason, after all, why successful organizations create visions and
goals. There is a reason why people achieve personal fitness milestones – say, running a
marathon – when they make it a clear goal. We should do the same in our teaching practice.
3. Humans want to know where they’re headed. Without a vision and goals, it’s much harder to
lead others. Why? Because people want to know where they’re being led.
Got it. In that case, what should my vision and goals be?
Each person’s vision and goals will be different for two reasons: First, because our contexts are different
and second because each of us does this work for different reasons.
That said, I would encourage you to establish a vision and goals that meet the following six criteria:
1. Audacious
2. Personally meaningful to you
3. Personally meaningful to your students and their families
4. Both quantitative and qualitative
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5. Beyond academics
6. Dynamic over time
1. Your vision and goals should be audacious

Small goals are lame. And uninspiring. So make yours are audacious.
We humans long to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We want to be part of efforts to
achieve the impossible. By setting an audacious goal, we activate that longing that exists in each of our
hearts.
Additionally, people generally achieve what they’re aiming for. If you set a goal to achieve a year of
reading growth with your students and you then revisit progress continually and tweak your approach
along the way, it’s pretty darn likely you’ll get there. And if you aspire for two years of reading growth
and go through the same, rigorous process of revisiting progress, there’s a good chance you’ll get there
as well. But the likelihood of achieving two years of growth while aiming for one is low. So dream bigger.
We also need to set audacious goals because our educational

system is not what it needs to be. Students - particularly poor
students and students of color - routinely graduate years behind
grade level. If you’re teaching students who are behind, they’re
counting on you to strive for more than just one year of growth.
Students who have been educationally marginalized are counting
on you to teach in such a way that you disrupt inequitable
outcomes.
In my own classroom, I established a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal

for what my students and I would achieve each year. We called
this our BHAG, a concept I borrowed from the book Built to Last
by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. “A true BHAG,” Collins and Porras
write, “is clear and compelling and serves as a unifying focal
point of effort - often creating immense team spirit. It has a clear
finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the
goal.” (94) While my classroom goals varied over the years, I
always made sure to set a goal that represented a clear break
from the status quo.
Moreover, I went to absurd lengths to promote our BHAG. For

instance, during my second year of teaching, I went to
www.zazzle.com and got a tie made with “BHAG” written on it. As you can see in the picture above, I
wore that tie on test days to pump students up about the opportunity we had to demonstrate our
academic growth. It was ridiculous, and it was totally fun. In expressing as much enthusiasm as I did
about our BHAG and our capacity to reach it, I called students back to the fact that we were on a journey
together to achieve something extraordinary.
At this point, some of you might be thinking, “I love the idea of creating a BHAG, but I don’t know what
mine would be.”
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Here’s some guidance:

Probably not a BHAG Could be a BHAG
We will average one year of reading growth. This We will average 2 years of reading growth as a
is what we would expect of a typical classroom, class. This could be a BHAG because the goal
so a goal like this wouldn’t meet the “audacious” represents growth that is dramatically higher
bar. than what is typical in most classrooms.
We will love reading. By itself, this goal is too Each of us will read 36 books this year. This goal
vague. It’s a wonderful aspiration, but you’d is clear, you can track it, and you can rally
likely want to supplement it with some clear students around progress. An alternative would
measure of students’ enthusiasm such as… → be: “We will read an average of 36 books per
student this year.” This alternative could take
pressure off slower readers and encourage
others to read even more to pull up the average.
We will average a 72% increase in our numeracy In a 7th-grade math class: We will be high-school
skills on the basis of the MAP-NWEA assessment. ready. You would couple this goal with clarity
Now, this might be able to be a BHAG for a math about what it means to be “high-school ready” in
class, but I think that you’ll agree that the goal to quantitative terms. A 7th-grade numeracy class
the right would be more emotionally compelling. might set the goal of students being ready not
only for 8th-grade math but for high school math
as well.
One final note: in addition to being audacious, you also want to ensure your goals are feasible. It’s
inspiring to shoot for a big goal, but if it’s too far out of reach, then motivation can drop. So create an
aim that sits at the nexus of audacity and feasibility.
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2. Your vision and goals should be personally meaningful to you

Why did you get into this work? What do you want your legacy to be?
Make sure that your vision and goals reflect the why that spurred you to become a teacher in the first
place. This matters because if you are passionate about the vision and goals you’re driving towards, your
students will be more likely to care as well. Enthusiasm is infectious.
3. Your vision and goals should be personally meaningful to your students and families
What are the hopes and dreams of your students? What hopes and dreams do their families have for
them?
Your students and families will be more likely to partner with you in pursuit of a bold vision if it matters
to them. For this reason, over time, you should make sure that your goal is created with rather than for
your students and their families.
Will you ever create a goal that everyone loves? Of course not. But the process of engaging students
families around the content of the goal is an invaluable part of the process.
4. Your vision and goals should be both quantitative and qualitative

Quantitative goals (for instance, “Students will achieve 1.75 years of reading growth”) are important
because they enable us to accurately understand where we are relative to our goal. They enable us to
adjust course and share progress in ways that spark enthusiasm.
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A qualitative vision (for instance, “Students will love reading” or “Students will know the rich history and
strength of their cultural background”) is also critical. Numbers are important, but not everything that
matters can be quantified.
5. Your vision and goals should extend beyond academics

Academics matter so much. At the same time, our students will need much more than book knowledge
if they’re going to realize their dreams and rise to their full potential.
Here are some ways to extend your vision and goals beyond academics8:
● Personal growth. What personal characteristics should my students further develop so they can
thrive in the long run? What mindsets will they need to have about themselves? What should
they know about their own strengths and values? What character traits are most essential?
● Social and cultural consciousness. What should students know about their cultural identity?
What do they need to understand about how power operates in this world? What should they
understand about the nature of racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression? How might we
teach in such a way that our students take the lead in creating a more just, equitable world?
● Access. What are the key pathways to my students being able to bring their dreams to life? For
instance, if I’m a high school teacher, is a successful score on the ACT exam a major barrier to
college admission? If so, what does that make me want to prioritize? If I’m a middle school
teacher, what high school options are available to my students? Would some of those options
more effectively set students up to achieve their dreams? If my students struggle to access basic
services, how might my vision and goals incorporate that reality?
If we want to position students to achieve their own liberation in an oppressive world, our vision and
goals need to extend beyond a teacher’s typical “lane.”
6. Your vision should be dynamic over time

Your vision will almost certainly change over time. For instance, your vision in November should
probably look different than it does on the first day of school. Why? Because, by November, you’ll have
built much deeper relationships with your students and their families. You’ll have a much deeper
understanding of their strengths, aspirations, and challenges, so your vision should evolve accordingly.
Moreover, you will have changed and grown by November. For instance, you might have a deeper
understanding of the type of classroom community that you want to build. As you clarify that new
aspiration, incorporate it into your vision for your class.
One thing that almost certainly should not change, however, are your quantitative academic goals. At
least, you should be very hesitant to revise those goals downward. For instance, let’s say your goal is for
students to average 1.75 years of growth in their reading levels by the end of the year. And then let’s say
that, in November, they’ve only grown .2 years. This should not cause you to revise your goal
downward; instead, this should prompt you to reflect on what you’re doing in your own practice that is
failing to bring about additional growth. Consult other teachers, your students, their families, coaches,
admin, etc., and then adjust your practice based on what you learn. Adjust your practice, not your
aspirations.
8 Credit for the idea behind these additional dimensions of a vision goes to Teach For America – Bay Area (2015).
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Okay. Any tips for actually putting my vision and goals into writing?
Here are a few options:
Use a template
Some folks really like to use a template to create their vision and goals. If that’s your style, consider the
templates that you can find here and here. Take time to consider how you’d answer the questions in the
document, and then type out your thoughts!
Build off examples

Consider reading through examples of visions and goals before starting your own. Feel free to consult
the resource document to see a few examples others have shared.
Start with a blank page

Some people find templates constricting and prefer to start with a blank page. If that’s your style, go for
it!
Envision by yourself
You might find it helpful to start without writing any words at all. Consider taking some time to silently
envision what you hope to be true by the end of the school year. Create a clear mental image of what
your classroom will be like and what your students will have achieved. What will students be saying
about themselves? To each other? To you? What work will be lining the walls? How will students have
grown?
Once you’ve created this visualization in your mind, begin committing it to paper.
Alternatively, make some artwork! Literally create a picture of what you would want to be true of your
classroom by the end of the year.
Envision with others

If you’re a verbal processor, you might find it helpful to talk things through with someone. For instance,
you could print out this vision template, hand it to a friend, coach, or family member, and then have
them ask you the questions that are listed on the page. Ask them to jot down notes as you talk so you
can revisit your thoughts afterwards.
Now what?
Now, go forth and create a draft of your vision and goals!
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Step 7: Prioritize
I started crying just after the waitress dropped off the pancakes.
It was October of my first year of teaching, and my mom had come to visit. We decided to meet for an
early-morning breakfast at IHOP before she paid a visit to my classroom.
After some chit chat, I remember her asking, “So, how are things going, Ty?” And then I remember my
vision becoming blurry as my eyes welled up with tears. And then I remember saying, as a tear rolled
down my cheek and onto the pancake in front of me, “It’s just really hard, Mom.”
Crying into pancakes at IHOP: not my finest hour.
I was overwhelmed with all the things I needed to do: grading, lesson planning, following up with
students who were acting out, responding to parent phone calls, unit planning, preparing for
department meetings, making my third period hate me less. The list felt endless. I couldn’t do it all.
Moreover, I wasn’t very good at any of it. Each of the tasks I needed to complete was a glaring reminder
of my inadequacies. I wasn’t sleeping as much as I should have been. I hadn’t been exercising very
much. I was gaining weight. And I was getting my ass kicked.
The cherry on top? My first period class, the one my mom was about to see, wasn’t going well. At all.
So I cried. Into my pancakes.
* * *
There’s a chance that, in a few short weeks, you’ll be in a similar spot. Or worse.
Don’t believe me? Do a Google search for “phases of a first year teacher” and see what comes up.
Let’s avoid all that happening to you, eh?
Why does it get so bad for some folks?

Of course, there are many reasons things get as hard as they do, but I’ve got a theory that I think
explains most of it.
Allow me to introduce you to an incredible idea, one that has the potential to
change your life: The Eisenhower Principle.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States. And the
dude got. stuff. done. In addition to being president, Eisenhower served as the
Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II and
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was instrumental in Hitler’s defeat. He was the president of Columbia University and the first ever
Supreme Commander of NATO. During his presidency, he launched DARPA, which would go on to play a
pivotal role in creating the internet. He also helped launch both NASA and the Interstate Highway
System.
Eisenhower once shared a piece of wisdom that is particularly germane to the possibility that you’ll
enter a spiral of misery in the coming weeks. In 1954, he gave a speech in which he said the following: “I
have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the
important are never urgent.” (1954, par. 17) Over time, a version of this quote has come to serve in the
popular consciousness as The Eisenhower Principle: “What is important is seldom urgent and what is
urgent is seldom important.”
That right there is the nugget of wisdom that can prevent you from crying into your breakfast.
The Eisenhower Principle helps us to see that, with any challenge or task, there are two dimensions:
importance and urgency. Importance relates to whether we should do something. Urgency relates to
when we should do something.
Based on this idea (and with a pinch of corny clip art) I created the table you can see below, which I’m
calling “The Eisenhower Organizer.” Give it a read.
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The Eisenhower Organizer
• Longer-term planning
• Investments in physical health: eating well,
Row 1 sleeping enough, exercising regularly,
Important preventative medical care, etc.
but not urgent • Building trusting relationships
• Spiritual development
• Genuine relaxation
• Crises
Row 2
• Significant challenges that need to be
Important
addressed right away
and urgent
• Some projects or tasks with deadlines
Row 3 • Some communications (emails, calls, mail)

Not important • Some meetings
but urgent • Some projects or tasks with deadlines
• Excessive social media

Row 4
• Mindless TV; Netflix binges
Not important
• Some communications (emails, calls, mail)
and not urgent
• Other ways of wasting time
Understanding and acting on the wisdom contained in the table above contains the key to avoiding the
misery that engulfed me during my first year of teaching.
And here is the most important truth: Greatness comes when you rise as high as possible in the table. In
other words, greatness will come when you…
1. Basically eliminate Row 4 from your life
2. Minimize or delegate Row 3
3. Invest so much time in Row 1 that Row 2 shrinks down to a manageable size
To illustrate via a non-example, let’s consider the how The Eisenhower Organizer often plays out for
new teachers.
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August to September: Urgent, urgent, urgent!!!
• Not enough sleep

• Little to no exercise
Row 1 • Eating unhealthy food or skipping meals
Important because you’re frantically helping students or
but not urgent working on Row 2 stuff.
• Some relationship building with students and
colleagues
• Lesson planning for the next day

• Making copies for the next day
• Fixing the copy machine when it jams
• Learning your school’s essential systems (e.g.,
taking attendance)
• Making sure you have all the desks you need
in your classroom
Row 2 • Getting another light bulb for your projector
Important after it burns out and you need it next period
and urgent • Dealing with conflicts
• Getting your information to Human
Resources again after they lost it so you can
get paid
• Getting the bathroom key for your school so
you can, you know, go to the bathroom
• Frantically cleaning up your room for back-to-
school night
• Responding to lots of emails and calls that are
Row 3
urgent but not actually that important
Not important
• Going to meetings that don’t actually help
but urgent
you or your students in any way
Row 4 • You’re watching a fair amount of TV

Not important • You’re spending a good amount of time
and not urgent scrolling through social media
During the first weeks and months of the school year, Row 2 gets really big. Everything in your world
feels urgent. Of course, many things are urgent! You really do need to have a lesson plan for the next
day. You really do need to fix that jam in the copy machine. You really do need to make sure you’re
taking attendance. And so on.
You’re also having a hard time distinguishing between Rows 2 and 3. You think to yourself, “That thing
my principal just asked me to do - it’s definitely urgent, but do I really need to do it by tomorrow?” You
can’t tell. The same goes for the email you got from your department chair. “She used ALL CAPS, so it’s
clearly urgent,” you think to yourself, “but do I really need to do all that she asked before our next
department meeting?” Not knowing the answer, and not wanting to make a bad first impression, you
stay up most of the night finishing the stuff you were asked to do.
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To get everything done, you cut back on sleep and you stop exercising. You stop talking with people you
love. You skip meals, leaving you grouchy during the day. And then you pick up fast food on your way
home, making you feel even worse. You spend increasing amounts of time on the couch, mindlessly
scrolling through your social media feed.
After a few weeks like this, October hits.
October to November: Urgency!!! → Burnout + misery
Row 1 • You’re not sleeping enough

Important • You’ve stopped exercising
but not urgent • You’re eating almost exclusively junk food

• Fixing the copy machine when it jams
• Dealing with a conflict between you and a
student
• Dealing with a conflict between you and yet
Row 2
another student
Important
and urgent • Dealing with tension between you and a
colleague
• Meeting mandatory requirements that have
been set by your school administration
• Doing all of your grading for the past two
months to make sure that you can submit
progress reports on time
Row 3 • You’re dropping the ball on a lot of things. If

Not important something isn’t totally urgent for your
but urgent survival, you don’t do it.
• Long Netflix binges

• Hours of scrolling through social media,
wishing you were as happy as your friends
seem to be
Row 4 • Answering unimportant emails to avoid the
Not important things you actually need to do
and not urgent • Sitting on your couch staring at nothing,
wishing you had a boring office job
• Having long, rambling vent sessions with
colleagues in which no productive action or
solutions are generated
If you are heading down the spiral of misery outlined above, you’re spending a massive amount of time
in Row 2. The number of urgent tasks is endless. Because you aren’t sleeping enough, you’re having a
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harder and harder time managing your emotions. Things that didn’t ruffle your feathers in the past are
now driving you up the wall. You’re having more interpersonal conflicts than ever before, and the clean-
up process from those conflicts is taking precious time. Most of your waking hours are spent putting out
fires.
And then, as soon as you have a free moment, you slip right into Row 4. You crave it. You need it. You’re
so exhausted that your biggest accomplishment on Saturdays consists of picking a new show to binge-
watch on Netflix. But you feel guilty the whole time that you’re watching the show, knowing that you
should be working on all the things that you need to get done. You become a semi-professional
procrastinator, doing anything other than work until the last possible moment. You see your friends on
social media looking joyful and happy, and you feel intense envy. You wonder why you decided to do
this work in the first place. You fantasize about having a mindless office job. Sunday evenings are the
worst.
Sadly, this is the reality for too many folks new to the profession.
Yikes. How can I avoid that?

The scenario outlined above is common, but it’s not inevitable. Here’s how to avoid it:
First, develop Eisenhower Organizer Consciousness. This is the ability to understand, at any given point
in time, what row you’re in.
For instance, as you’re scrolling through yet another set of frivolous pictures on Instagram, you’ll have a
flash of recognition: “Oh! I’m in Row 4! I’m wasting time!” Once you can identify what row you’re in, you
then have the power to make a conscious choice about what row you want to be in.
To build your Eisenhower Organizer Consciousness, conduct an Eisenhower audit. Print out a copy of this
blank Eisenhower Organizer, and then consider these questions: Over the course of the last week or so,
what did you do that was Row 1? What were your Row 2 activities? What did you do that you would
categorize as Rows 3 or 4? Write your answers in the Eisenhower Organizer to build up a greater
understanding of how you’re currently using your time.
Second, allocate more time to Row 1. Do this even (and especially) when it’s hard. For example, even
when you feel that don’t have time to meet with that knowledgeable veteran educator next door, swing
by her classroom. Even when your mind is telling you that you don’t have time to exercise that day, take
a 15-minute jog. Discipline yourself to do the important stuff.
The challenge, of course, is that you never urgently need to do stuff from Row 1. You could skip going to
the gym and the world would keep spinning. You could avoid making those positive phone calls and no
one would ever know.
The truth of the matter, however, is that we ignore Row 1 at our peril. Row 1, you’ll discover, is the row
of greatness. Why? Because with enough time in Row 1, Row 2 shrinks. And your cravings for Row 4 will
decrease. Trust me on this.
Third, starve Row 4. Little by little, reallocate the time you used to spend in Row 4 to Row 1.
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Some folks might object: “But I need Row 4! That is how I relax!”
No, it isn’t. Row 4 is sneaky. It lies. It will tell you that you need a Netflix binge or some other prolonged
escape activity, but you don’t.
Now, don’t get me wrong. You should absolutely take time to relax. But you should make sure that your
relaxation is genuinely rejuvenating. And this is where it gets tricky: The same activity can be both Row 1
and also, after a certain period of time, Row 4. For instance, kicking back and watching an episode of
your favorite show on Netflix can certainly be a Row 1 activity. But you know, my friends, when that
same activity has crossed the line from Row 1 into Row 4. As the fourth episode turns into the fifth, as
you continue to ignore that voice in your head that says it’s time to turn it off, you know you’ve crossed
the line between healthy relaxation and full-on procrastination.
When you realize that you’ve crossed that line, stop. Remember that Row 4 is the anchor keeping you
mired in your misery. While some part of you is saying that one more episode will make you happy, you
know in your gut that voice is lying. So call it out. And get the heck out of Row 4.
Let’s now consider how things would go if we disciplined ourselves to give Row 1 a lot of love right from
the beginning of the year.
August to September: Urgency!!! Also, relationships, planning, and taking care of yourself
• Twice a week, asking a veteran teacher,
coach, or administrator to get coffee or
dinner to get to know them and to get their
help with the challenges you’re facing
• Connecting with veteran educators you’ve
heard are outstanding teachers and getting
them to share their lesson plans with you
• Making at least two positive phone calls
Row 1 home each night to build relationships with
Important students and families
but not urgent • Exercising five days per week, even if it’s only
a 15-minute jog
• Never getting less than seven hours of sleep
• On the weekends, planning the arc of lessons
for the week so you’re not scrambling day-to-
day
• Setting aside a time each week for grading
• Holding a part of the weekend sacred to hang
out with friends and talk with loved ones
Row 2 • Fixing the copy machine when it jams
Important • Learning your school’s essential systems (e.g.,
and urgent taking attendance)
• Making sure you have all the desks you need
in your classroom
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• Getting another light bulb for your projector

after it burns out and you need it next period
• Dealing with conflicts
• Getting your information to Human
Resources again after they lost it so you can
get paid
• Getting the bathroom key for your school so
you can, you know, go to the bathroom
• Frantically cleaning up your room for back-to-
school night
Row 3 • Using your Eisenhower Organizer

Not important Consciousness, you avoid spending more time
but urgent here than is absolutely necessary
Row 4
• You have basically cut this out of your life
Not important
entirely
and not urgent
The first few months of the school year look distinctly different when you are on a path to greatness.
You’ll have developed virtuous habits: building relationships with people who can support you, getting
enough sleep and exercise, planning beyond the day-to-day, setting aside time to be with loved ones,
etc. It’ll be painful to cut excessive social media and other distractions out of your life, but you know
they’ll still be around in a few months.
Of course, there will still be days in which you feel overwhelmed. There will be many moments when
you encounter challenges you have no idea how to resolve. Nevertheless, you remain fanatical about
protecting your time in Row 1. At times, this means that other, more urgent efforts aren’t as successful
as you might have hoped. For instance, one of your lesson plans wasn’t as good as it could have been.
But it was late in the evening, and you knew that you needed to head towards bed to get enough sleep.
Over time, you’ll start to see benefits from your daily investments in Row 1.
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October to November: Deepening relationships, planning ahead, professional development

• You’ve identified a core group of veteran
educators you can turn to, your “Cabinet”.
You’re having at least one conversation each
week with a member of your cabinet to talk
through your challenges and to get their
advice
• Through your cabinet, you find a treasure
trove of unit and lesson plans; you’re able to
get most of your lesson planning and copying
done on the weekends
• You’re using some of the time that you
previously spent on lesson planning to attend
professional development sessions (beyond
Row 1 what is required of you) to improve the
Important execution of your lesson plans in the
but not urgent classroom
• You’re continuing to sleep enough, exercise
regularly, and spend time with loved ones
• You’re making two home visits each week to
develop deeper bonds with students and
families
• You continue to make at least two positive
phone calls each day to strengthen
relationships with students and families
• Every other week, you revisit and update the
vision that you created before school started.
You revise the vision based on what you’re
learning from your students and families
about their hopes and dreams
• Adjusting lesson plans

Row 2 • Fixing the copy machine when it jams
Important • Dealing with conflicts among students
and urgent • Meeting mandatory requirements set by your
administration
Row 3
• You’ve gotten really good at avoiding time
Not important
here or delegating it to others
but urgent
• You have more time for this now, but you

Row 4
know that you need to stay focused on Row 1,
Not important
so you reinvest any extra time you have for
and not urgent
this row back into Row 1
Can you see how disciplined, daily investments in Row 1 have the potential to dramatically shrink Row
2? And can you see how much better your life will be?
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I’m in! What should I do now?

Wonderful! Let’s prove that the typical phases of a first year teacher aren’t inevitable. Let’s show it’s
possible for your first year to be hard, yes, but not miserable. To that end, five tasks lay before you.
1. Identify your needs

We humans share a common set of needs. Rumer Godden puts it this way:
“[E]veryone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional and a

spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but, unless we go into
every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.” (13)
Imagine yourself to be a house with those four rooms. Where do you spend most of your time? Which
room might you be neglecting? To do good work with our students, it’s essential that we attend to each:
• Eating well
• Sleeping enough
The Physical
• Regular exercise
• Preventative medical care
• Learning and intellectual development
The Mental
• Creating plans and preparing for the future
• Time with family, friends, and loved ones
The Emotional • Service to others and to a cause greater than ourselves
• Deepening self-awareness practices
• Contemplation, reflection, meditation
The Spiritual
• Worshiping with other like-minded believers
Use the table below to clarify what you must have to be sustained and fulfilled. Additionally, identify
what would be nice but not essential.
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The Four Rooms Must haves Nice to haves
• Eating well
• Sleeping enough
The Physical • Regular exercise
• Proactive medical
care
• Learning and
intellectual
development
The Mental
• Creating plans and
preparing for the
future
• Time with family,

friends, and loved
ones
• Service to others and
The Emotional
to a cause greater
than ourselves
• Deepening self-
awareness practices
• Contemplation,
reflection, meditation
The Spiritual • Worshiping with
other like-minded
believers
You can also find a digital copy of this table here.
Once you’ve filled out the table above, put it some place where you’ll see it: your fridge, notebook, etc.
Also, calendar times for these Row 1 activities each week. If you’re feeling rough at any point over the
course of the fall, return to this list and consider what might be missing.
2. Identify your row 3 and 4 tendencies

As we’ve discussed, you’ll need to give Row 1 a substantial amount of your time if you’re going to have a
good year. To find that time, you’ll need to hack away at Rows 3 and 4. Use the table below to find that
time.
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What Why Now what?

What are the Row 3 and 4 Are there common reasons why Given that, how could I cut back
activities I do most frequently? I start these things? Do I begin on the time I spend in Rows 3
when I’m feeling a particular and 4?
emotion? At a certain time of
day? Place?
Tyler’s example: Mindlessly Tyler’s example: Right after dinner Tyler’s example: When I start
scrolling through Facebook. when my blood sugar is still low eating dinner, set a timer that’ll
and I’m alone in my apartment. remind me to get off Facebook if
I’m on it when it goes off.
A digital copy is here.
3. Create a system for clarifying your priorities on a weekly basis

Your system for clarifying priorities each week should be characterized by the following:
1. Priorities. It should list your biggest priorities for the week ahead. There should be no more than
three. And the more your priorities reflect efforts in Row 1, the better!
2. Daily clarity. It should clarify what you’ll do each day of the week to bring your priorities to life.
3. Increase Row 1. The system should result in you spending more time in Row 1.
4. Reflection. It should include space for you to reflect on the previous week and the degree to
which you brought your priorities to life.
In terms of the exact system you use, feel free to explore! And be open to changing your approach if you
find the system you initially adopt to be unhelpful or unsustainable for you. For instance, I know people
who have tried to make computer-based prioritization systems work, but they found that they much
preferred a handwritten system, so they switched. The process of finding your ideal prioritization system
will be just that: a process.
If it’s helpful, you can read about my own prioritization system in Appendix F. I outline my system in
detail and include links so that you can use to start using it right away if you’d like.
Okay - go forth and get or create your weekly prioritization system!
4. Set reminders to prioritize and reflect

Pick a consistent time each week to establish your priorities for the next one.
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As you can read in Appendix F, I use Sunday afternoons to reflect on the previous seven days and to
consider what matters most in the week ahead. Whatever recurring time you go with, stick to it.
5. Clarify your priorities and calendar for the first week of the school year
Take time now to clarify your priorities and calendar for the first week of the year. What’ll matter most
that week? How will you spend your time? When will you lesson plan? Make phone calls home? Reach
out to colleagues for support? Exercise? Sleep?
Clarifying your priorities and your calendar now will mean fewer decisions down the road and a higher
likelihood that you’ll stick to a healthy routine once things get busy.
Okay. I’ve done all that. What now?

You’re done! You’ve made it through each of the steps. Congratulations!!
Now make sure that you work hard, dream big, fail forward, and practice that teacher magic.
Big love,
Tyler
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Appendix
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Appendix A
Why did you order the steps in the way you did?
The book begins with the most practical task: setting up the classroom. And it ends with the most
theoretical: practicing teacher magic, creating a vision and goals, and prioritizing.
Why? I’m betting that a soon-to-be teacher whose mind is gripped with fear about the impending start
of the school year will be more likely to spend an hour driving to Staples to buy supplies than to type out
a vision. Buying supplies is easy. Writing a vision can be intimidating.
Put differently, I thought about the steps through the lens of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. People need
to address their basic physical needs before they can think about love, belonging, and their highest
aspirations.
That said, many people would argue that my ordering of the steps is “wrong.” They would say that
teachers should go in the reverse sequence as they prepare for the school year: They should first clarify
answers to the big, theoretical questions and only then move to more mundane tasks like classroom
setup. I actually agree. And for the soon-to-be teacher who can go through the steps in that order, I’d
encourage it!
But remember the intended audience of this book: people who are so freaked that they are practically
frozen in place. I’m writing this book for folks who feel like I felt in the lead up to the first day of school.
If you had told me to start with big, theoretical ideas, you would’ve been more likely to stall my progress
than spark it.
By starting with the physical work of setting up a classroom, something most able-bodied people can do,
teachers will start to ride a wave of progress. My bet is that, as their classroom comes together, their
anxiety will lessen. And then they’ll be able to engage in the higher-level, theoretical work that is also
essential for their success.
All that said, the ideal order for the steps is the one that leads to the highest amount of productive
action. So if you want to tackle the steps in an alternative order, go for it!
Will the steps you’ve written help me have a strong start?

I sure hope so. I’ve tried my best to write advice that’ll be helpful. But I’m sure that some of what I share
is off or won’t resonate with certain folks. For any instance in which I lead you astray, I apologize!
If you have ideas for improving the book, please share them here. And if you have resources that you
think would benefit others, please email them to me! The only way I can improve is through learning,
and my hope is that, together, we can craft a set of resources that will support hundreds of thousands of
soon-to-be teachers across the world.
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Appendix B
Lesson planning pathways
Pathway A: Watch an example. The first pathway involves some detective work. Here’s how it goes:
watch someone teaching the first day(s) of the school year and, as you’re watching, consider these four
questions:
1. What is the teacher doing?
2. Why do I think the teacher is doing that?
3. What lesson plan objective do I think the teacher has in mind?
4. Do I want to make that an objective in my own lesson plans?
By analyzing the logic behind a teacher’s actions, you’ll build your metacognitive muscle. Effective
teachers are conscious of what they’re going for and then continually align their actions to that
objective. By getting inside a teacher’s head, you’ll build up your own version of that muscle.
If possible, try to watch a veteran educator in real life. If you can’t, find videos of teachers in action. And
as you watch, use the table below as a note-catcher (a digital copy is here).
What is the teacher doing? Why do I think the teacher What lesson plan objective Do I want to make that
is doing that? do I think the teacher has in an objective in my own
mind? lesson plans?
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Pathway B: Understand the ideas. In what follows, I’ll outline four, high-level suggestions about what to
prioritize during the first days of the year.
1. Establish clarity about procedures, systems, rules, and routines

I found this analogy helpful: At the beginning of the school year, as you teach your procedures, routines,
etc., you’re laying down “tracks” so that the “train of learning” runs smoothly for the rest of the year.
For learning to progress efficiently and effectively, your students must understand the systems and
routines that will guide the way y’all roll together. Pun intended.
Sadly, many new teachers neglect this critical truth. I think this neglect arises primarily from misguided
expectations: New teachers expect to spend lots of time crafting lesson plans about their content area
(for example, creating lessons on the quadratic formula), but they do not always expect to apply that
same level of thoughtfulness to teaching classroom procedures (for example, teaching students how to
pass in papers). As a result, many don’t effectively teach procedures. Or they don’t teach procedures at
all. And before long, many of those same teachers find that learning has ground to a halt.
Others actively believe they shouldn’t teach classroom procedures. Or that they shouldn’t need to teach
them. “My students should know this by now,” they say. Of course, it’s true that our students are
brilliant and that most will use their common sense most of the time. But what we’re looking to forge is
common, common sense.
For those who think that teaching procedures is a waste of precious learning time, consider a famous
example of a leader who sweat the small stuff on the front end. John Wooden was the legendary coach
of the UCLA basketball team. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest sports coaches in
history. And Wooden focused considerable time in his first practice session with his players each season
- practice sessions that included some of the most outstanding players in the country - on how players
should… tie their shoes! Wooden focused on this basic procedure because he knew that, over time,
poorly tied shoes would increase the likelihood of time lost to injury. The same principle applies in the
classroom.
“Okay,” you say. “But which procedures are the most important for me to teach during the first two
days?” Here’s my two cents:
● Entering the class and getting the materials students will need
● Passing in papers
● Engaging in partner talk
● Understanding how students will know to bring attention back to the teacher
● Reading together as a class
● Ending class and leaving the classroom
Now, some might be reading this and thinking, “Oh my gosh, I have no idea how I want students to
(insert procedure from above).” Don’t worry about that right now! We’ll cover all that together in Step 4.
For now, your job is just to pick the objectives for your lesson plans in days 1 and 2.
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2. Make sure your students know who you are and why you do this work
If your students don’t know who you are or why you do this work, it’ll be harder for them to trust you.
And trust is essential. We all know this. We know how much time is wasted on conflict when we work
(or live!) with people we don’t trust. The same is true in classrooms.
And you, dear-soon-to-be teacher, are responsible for creating strong, trusting relationships with and
among your students. It may be challenging, but it’s squarely within your locus of control. And it’s crucial
to build these relationships at the beginning of the year.
“That makes sense,” you say. “And I’m down to focus on building trust. But how?”
First, let’s clarify our terms. I like the definition of trust provided by the good folks at The Trusted
Advisor. They break it down into four parts.
● Credibility: The skills and knowledge to deliver what we’re supposed to deliver. Credibility
relates to the words we speak and our skill level.
● Reliability: How much people can depend on us to follow through and be consistent over time.
Reliability relates to our actions.
● Intimacy: How safe people feel to say stuff to us without judgment. Intimacy is about how folks
feel.
● Self-orientation: This is about whether people think we are focused on ourselves and our own
interests or on them and theirs. As you can see here, trust is higher when self-orientation is low.
And self-orientation matters most. When people know you’re focused on them and their flourishing,
trust blossoms. When they think you’re just looking out for #1, it doesn’t.
Two final, related points:

1. Good intentions aren’t enough. Your actions are what matter.
2. Don’t think that you’re entitled to trust from your students. You aren’t. You’ve gotta earn it.
3. Make sure students have an initial sense of your vision and goals
Students should know what you envision for the class. As humans, we have a desire to know where
we’re headed. So plan to share your vision and goals with students during the first days of the school
year. Lots more about this in Step 6.
4. Make sure students understand the relevance of your class to their personal
aspirations
Many teachers naively assume that students understand the value of their class to students’ lives. And
then those teachers get frustrated when students don’t seem to get it.
My advice: Assume students aren’t clear on the way your class can add value to their lives. Instead,
explicitly help them to connect the dots between what y’all will do together and their deepest hopes.
There’s almost nothing as powerful as a human being in pursuit of her dreams. Leverage this fact by
making sure your students know that your class is a pathway to their aspirations.
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Pathway C. Read example plans. Read through example lesson plans that teachers used over the course
of the first few days of school. The focus here is on developing a clear understanding of the objectives
that other teachers prioritized in their first lessons. You’ll then pick your own.
To do this…
1. Head to this link, find a lesson plan for days one or two, and read through the “Objectives”
portion of the lesson plan.
2. Decide on the objectives that you will aim for in your lesson plans for the first two days of the
school year.
3. Write them down in your own emerging plans for days one and two.
Once you’ve picked your own objectives, you’re all set!

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Appendix C
Building student investment
So glad you came by!
First, let’s remind ourselves of that all-important equation: Student investment = “I can” x “I want.”
The most important factor, however, is whether you think it’s your job to increase student investment.
It is. Teachers who accept this responsibility can achieve great things with their students. It doesn’t end
well, though, for folks who refuse to do so.
Assuming you accept responsibility for the level of investment that your students feel, here are some
key points to remember and actions to take:
1. Accept that investing students will take extra work.
2. Remember that it is possible to invest all students in your class. Yes, even that kid who drives
you crazy.
3. Expect that some students won’t be invested at the outset.
4. Approach investment challenges as opportunities to grow your practice.
5. Be aware that, at certain points, thoughts like these may pop into your head: “I can’t do this,” or
“Some teachers can get their students invested, but I just can’t,” or “I don’t have the
charisma/planning skills/patience/etc. to get students invested.” When you have thoughts like
these, remind yourself that great teachers are made, not born. Remind yourself that building
investment is a learnable skill. When my mind spewed thoughts like these, I found it helpful to
re-read this.
6. Keep trying new ways to get students invested.
7. Don’t stop trying new methods to get students invested until they’re invested in what y’all are
doing together.
The approach outlined above, combined with the ideas below, is your recipe for success.
“I can.” As human beings, we are more invested in a task when we know we can achieve success. For
instance, if we’re playing a video game, we’ll keep playing if we know success is possible. But if our skill
level is too low and the game is too hard, we’re likely to lose interest. Classrooms are no different.
Here are two ways to build a sense of “I can” in your classroom:

How to build “I can” Why does this work? Aligned resource
Visually track There’s pretty much nothing that helps to You can find a resource with
progress increase “I can” in students more than literally lots of ways to track student
seeing the progress they’ve already made. progress here.
Teach about the Many students believe that their ability to learn A resource I used to teach
malleability of certain concepts or subjects is fundamentally fixed versus growth mindset
intelligence limited. We’ve all heard someone say, “I’m just is here. And if you haven’t
not a math person.” By teaching students the already, read Carol Dweck’s
truth - that the human brain can learn new incredible book, Mindset.
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things with effort - we enable students to

reconsider this pernicious belief.
“I want.” Building “I can” is important, but it’s not enough. After all, I can do boring math review
problems, but I don’t wanna!
So it’s critical to consider whether students will want what you’re offering. Some students will walk in on
day one eager for your lessons. Others, however, will walk in wanting nothing to do with you or what
you’re teaching. It’s your job to understand the perspective of those young people. And then it’s your
job to either help them see the value in what y’all are doing or to modify what you’re teaching so that it
better aligns with their experiences and aspirations.
Here are some additional tips and resources for building “I want”:
How to build “I want” Why does this work? Aligned resource
Create a compelling, Human beings find it energizing to pursue big, Head to Step 6 if you’d like to
audacious, and personally bold visions. We want to be on a mission that we read more. If you’re in a
meaningful vision and believe in, to be part of something bigger than hurry, you can read through a
goals for your class. ourselves. With a vision and goal for your class few sample visions here.
that is personally meaningful to students, “I
want” will increase.
Help students to see how By continually clarifying the connection between Do it often. No fancy
the stuff you’re doing will what you’re doing in the classroom and the vision resources required.
help you reach the vision and goals of the class, you help students to see
and goals for the class. the purpose behind the lessons. We humans
appreciate understanding rationale, so leverage
this truth in your instruction.
Connect the classroom to By knowing the hopes and dreams of your During the first weeks of the
the hopes and dreams of students, you can draw direct ties between what year, I had students create
your students. y’all are doing together and their hopes for the Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals
future. Done well, this will increase “I want.” for the school year ahead.
Build deep, trusting When high levels of trust exist between you and Three activities helped me
relationships with your your students, they’ll be much more eager to learn about my students:
students. engage in the content of your course. 1. “I am from” poems.
2. Autobiographical essays.
The guide I used is here.
3. Listening to them.
Use positive consequences By celebrating and reinforcing students’ positive I’ve described my system of
behavioral choices, you’re likely to get more of positive consequences above
that same positive behavior. in Step 4.
Some thoughts on extrinsic rewards in pursuit of “I want”

You may have noticed the relative lack of extrinsic rewards (aside from those in my positive
consequence system). The reason is that pretty much all the research on human motivation suggests
that extrinsic rewards don’t work. They may have a short-term impact - “I’ll get Hot Cheetos if I do this
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worksheet? Let’s go!”- but they aren’t a sustainable source of motivation. So resist using them. And if
you can’t help yourself, at least be conscious that you’re relying on a flawed strategy.
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Appendix D
Culture of Achievement versus Classroom Management
In Step 4, I use the term “culture of achievement” rather than “classroom management.” I kept the term
“classroom management” in the table of contents because most folks are familiar with it. If a teacher
says that he’s “working on classroom management,” we know what he’s talking about.
I believe, however, that we should be striving for something more than classroom management.
What’s the difference?

What most people mean when they talk about “classroom management” is getting students to do what
the teacher says. Classroom management often centers on the teacher’s ability to “control” student
behavior, to ensure compliance.
Culture of achievement, on the other hand, relates not only to whether students are doing what you
asked but why they’re doing it. A culture of achievement raises our sights from mere compliance to the
creation of a culture in which students make an active choice to engage in their work with joy, passion,
and genuine interest. In such a culture, students understand how their work aligns with their personal
goals and with those of the class. In other words, a culture of achievement centers itself on the
aspirations and self-directed choices of students as compared to the teacher’s control.
Perhaps the easiest way to illustrate the difference between the two would be to highlight what they
might look like on a spectrum. Here’s what a spectrum for classroom management might look like:
Somewhat badly- Somewhat well-
Badly-managed class Well-managed class
managed class managed class
Students never do what Students sometimes do Students mostly do Students always (or
they are told. In fact, what the teacher says what the teacher says almost always) do what
they very often do the and sometimes don’t. but sometimes don’t. the teacher tells them
opposite. to do.
To compare, re-read the spectrum for culture of achievement in Step 4 above.
Why aspire to a culture of achievement rather than classroom management?

1. Student leadership and agency sit at the center of a culture of achievement. A culture of
achievement creates the conditions in which students will make conscious choices to engage in
their work with because it matters to them personally. A culture of achievement starts from the
premise that our young people have agency, that they can and will make choices about how to
engage. Classroom management, on the other hand, focuses on the cultivation of passivity, on
student compliance with expectations handed down from on high. Following orders has its
place, but to enable our students to thrive in the 21st century, we need them to lead.
2. Culture of achievement is more nuanced. In seeking to make progress along the culture of
achievement spectrum, we grapple with a richer set of questions than we do when we’re
striving for classroom management.
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3. Classroom management can do more harm than good. Perhaps the most important reason is
that classroom management can actually be oppressive. Depending on the way we go about it,
classroom management can perpetuate some of the deepest injustices that our students face
and limit their long-term ability to flourish. We can end up unintentionally strengthening the
same challenges that we got into this work to combat.
Wait a second. Are you saying that striving for classroom management is bad?
Not necessarily. But possibly. It depends.
First, let’s consider a truth: There is a massive number of classrooms around the world in which students
don’t do what their teachers tell them to do. In many of these classrooms, teachers have good stuff
prepared for their students, but because the teacher lacks foundational classroom management skills,
students make essentially no academic or personal progress.
The amount of human potential that goes to waste because of this is staggering. Young people who
might have made incredible contributions to society are instead relegated to less productive lives in part
because their teachers weren’t able to engage them in productive learning. Classrooms that might have
created passionate writers, scientists, or historians instead serve as 50-minute holding cells. While many
factors contribute to a student’s flourishing, the pervasive lack of basic classroom management skills
among teachers is a clear threat to our collective well-being.
For that reason, we must do a better job of equipping educators to develop the skills they need to
ensure that students remain on task. At the same time, striving for “classroom management” might do
more harm than good. Why?
1. “Classroom management” might come about by means of fear and intimidation

One problem with striving for classroom management is that it says nothing about the means by which
the teacher gets the classroom “managed.”
The sad reality is that some teachers resort to negative and harmful means to achieve “good” classroom
management. In thousands of classrooms around the country, students follow all of the teacher’s
directions because he has created an environment of intimidation and fear. Students do whatever the
teacher says because they fear being belittled, yelled at, insulted, physically intimidated, or worse.
Classrooms such as these are not good places for young people. There are about a thousand reasons
why this is the case, but here are three:
1. Negativity is never lessened with more negativity. To repeat a quote from Dr. King, “Darkness
cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do
that.” (King 2010, 47)
2. The long-term. Intimidation may lead to the temporary cessation of a negative behavior, but,
long-term, it does nothing to address the root cause of that behavior.
3. People can’t learn when they’re scared. If students are fearful, it’s pretty much impossible for
them to open their minds to new ideas.
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Now, some parents might prefer for their children to be in an environment of intimidation and order
than one of warm-and-fuzzy chaos. Others might argue that yelling at students is actually what love
looks like in some instances.
I hear that. My point, though, is that we can do better. I believe we can and must strive to create
learning environments that don’t rely on fear or intimidation. We must strive to create conditions in our
classrooms in which our students can rise to their full potential through a positive, loving, and
aspirational culture.
To be clear, I don’t believe that the teachers who resort to fear or intimidation are bad people. Rather, I
think they’re good people resorting to bad strategies because they just don’t know any other way. I
hope this book points folks who find themselves in this predicament towards those more effective
methods.
2. Certain forms of classroom management may strengthen the school-to-prison pipeline

First, let’s consider the unacceptable status quo in the United States.
As you can see in the table below, 16% of students in our country are black, and yet, according to the US
Department of Education, black students represent 42% of students who are given multiple out-of-
school suspensions. (US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights 2014, 2)
To take just one additional example from The Prison Policy Initiative (Sakala 2014, par. 3), consider the
radically disproportionate rate at which we incarcerate black people as compared to white people in this
country:
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Race/Ethnicity % of U.S. population % of U.S. incarcerated

population
White (non-Hispanic) 64% 39%
Black 13% 40%
In Beverly Tatum’s book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, she defines racism
as “a system of advantage based on race.” (7) Tatum goes on to write that “racism, like other forms of
oppression, is not only a personal ideology based on racial prejudice, but a system involving cultural
messages and institutional policies and practices.” (7, emphasis in original) In other words, our
educational and criminal justice systems are racist because they systematically produce outcomes that
are more damaging to people of color than to white folks.
Worse, our educational and criminal justice systems are intimately and inextricably linked. Our
educational system directly contributes to the shamefully high number of people who become involved
in our criminal justice system. One report found that, “students who have been suspended are three
times more likely to drop out by the 10th grade than students who have never been suspended.
Dropping out in turn triples the likelihood that a person will be incarcerated later in life.” (The New York
Civil Liberties Union 2008, par. 7) This is the plain and terrible truth about the system that we’ve got.
The direct connection between what takes place in school and a person’s subsequent incarceration is
what we refer to as the school-to-prison pipeline. And it is our moral responsibility to do everything in
our power to disrupt practices that perpetuate institutionalized racism and that strengthen the school-
to-prison pipeline.
Now, there are many factors that increase the likelihood of incarceration. But as educators, we need to
focus on that which is within our control. And our disciplinary systems are squarely within our control.
“Okay, Tyler,” you might be thinking to yourself. “I see how terrible the outcomes are and I get how
important it is for us to keep this in mind. But how could using a particular classroom management
system possibly increase a student’s likelihood of incarceration?”
Here are just a few ways in which a particular approach to classroom management has the potential to
strengthen the school-to-prison pipeline:
1. Shaming students
Avoid any classroom practice in which the purpose is to induce shame.
In mentioning this, I’m considering the distinction between guilt and shame. Guilt involves feeling
remorse about our actions. Shame, on the other hand, involves feeling remorse about ourselves. Guilt
may have its place (though I think it’s wildly overused). Shame does not.
The most important reason to avoid shame is that it’s destructive. It doesn’t spark positive action. All it
really leads to is a person feeling like a piece of shit. Shame causes people to lose sight of their own
worth, potential, and beauty. And because people who feel ashamed have difficulty loving themselves,
it’s almost impossible for them to show love to others.
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Too many of our students, because of the racism and oppression that surround us, are continually
exposed to implicit and explicit messages that they don’t have value or the potential for greatness. We
must ensure that none of our own actions (or inactions) reinforce those damaging messages.
2. Focusing on punishment and exclusion (as compared to restoration and inclusion)

When the aim of our disciplinary systems is to dole out punishments and exclude people from
community, we mimic the behavior of our broken criminal justice system. In so doing, we accustom
ourselves to a logic of rejection over restoration. We numb ourselves to the marginalization of precious
human beings.
When the focus of our classroom management efforts is grounded in kicking people out, we implicitly
communicate, “We’d be better off without you.”
Over time, young people who are persistently excluded through referral forms, suspensions, and
expulsions will come to internalize the idea that classrooms are not places for them, that schools are not
spaces where they can flourish. They may come to question their own worth and potential as human
beings. As a result, they’ll seek meaning and purpose elsewhere.
To be clear, I believe it may be necessary to remove a young person from a classroom if their behavior is
egregious. My own culture of achievement plan requires that students head to the office if they reach a
certain number of consequences over the course of a class period, and I stand by that idea.
But all too often, our disciplinary system stops there: a referral form to the office and a “good riddance.”
We fail to follow up with that young person to see how they’re doing, to identify the root cause of the
challenge, and to restore our relationship with them. We fail to question the system that produced the
exclusion and our complicity in that system. We let ourselves off the hook.
Most damaging of all, we expel certain young people from our hearts. We rationalize their persistent
exclusion as a sacrifice that is necessary for the whole. We try to punish and exclude our way to peace.
And as we know deep down, that ain’t gonna work.
Given this, here are two tasks for each of us:

First, we must look in the mirror and ask ourselves a series of questions: “How might I be unintentionally
perpetuating practices of harmful exclusion? How do I think about and use referral forms, suspensions,
and expulsions in my own practice? If I ask a young person to leave the classroom, how do I engage with
him afterwards? What more could I be doing to create a culture in my classroom that focuses on
restoration and inclusion rather than punishment and separation? What about the system that we’ve
constructed in this classroom/school/district might be creating the conditions for this young person to
act in this way?”
Second, armed with an increased consciousness of our complicity in a system that oppresses certain
young people, we must change our actions. We need to build our ability to listen deeply to students to
understand the true causes of their frustration. We might need to work with the principal of our school
to have a school-wide conversation about disciplinary practices. In short, we must do all that we can to
transform a system that too often functions as the training wheels for our justice system.
98
3. Classroom management might habituate students to passive submission to an unjust status quo
A third way in which striving for “classroom management” might actually do more harm than good is
that it might habituate our young people to passivity, to unquestioning compliance with an
unacceptable status quo.
Our world is broken. Injustice runs rampant. And the only way to see a change is to challenge the
injustices around us. To ensure this happens, our young people must play an active role in
understanding and ultimately transforming the status quo. We must educate them in such a way that
they become and remain, as Dr. King said, “maladjusted” to injustice. (1986, 14)
In fixating on “classroom management,” we may run the risk of producing a class, a school, or a
generation of young people who view passive compliance with the expectations of authority figures as
the end to which they should aspire. This is a real danger. And we must be mindful of this danger in our
practice.
I hear those points! What does that mean for how I should lead?
None of us wants to inadvertently strengthen the school-to-prison pipeline. And none of us wants to
habituate our students to passivity in the face of injustice. So what should we do?
Understand your privilege and biases

We must first understand our own privilege and biases. If we’re not conscious of them, we’ll act from
them without thinking, and we’ll be dramatically more likely to cause harm.
There are myriad resources and readings out there to support folks in understanding their privilege and
biases. Based on where you’re at and what you need, be sure to seek them out. If it’s helpful, here are
two I’d recommend for getting started:
● The book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Tatum
● The article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh
Honor identity and share power

● Teach lessons that build on the identity and experiences of our students. The lessons we teach
should build on the cultural strengths and assets of our students. In my own classroom -
whether we were discussing The House on Mango Street or Night - I tried to help students see
the deep resilience and strengths that they already possessed and the way those strengths were
playing out in the works we were reading together. Do the same.
● Teach critical questioning and build critical consciousness. Our students need to develop an
understanding of the way that injustice plays out at a systemic level along lines of race, class,
gender, and other dimensions of identity. They can’t change what they can’t see. In my own
classroom, I tried to build students’ consciousness by analyzing the way racism plays out in To
Kill a Mockingbird. We dove into data about the state of educational inequity during our debate
unit. And we analyzed the roots of the Holocaust in our unit on Night. I worked to ensure that
students could see more of the ways in which oppression plays out in our world and charged
them with doing something about it.
● Give students authority in their learning. In addition to helping students understand how power
operates in the world around us, I tried to put structures in place in the classroom that would
99
enable them to claim and exercise power. Whether it was through student-led Socratic seminars
or giving them agency over the books they read during our literature circles unit, I tried to
maximize the level of ownership that students could take over their learning (though this wasn’t
the case during the first few days of the year - more on this below).
Share rationale
Each day, I made it a priority to tell students why we were doing what we were doing. I also made sure
to share rationale when explaining or enforcing consequences around behavior. For instance, I explained
that the reason I expected students to enter the classroom silently and get to work on their opening
activity was so we could maximize our limited learning time.
Why this focus on rationale?

● It communicates respect. When we communicate rationale to students, we communicate
respect for their intellect. We implicitly communicate that they are thoughtful and engaged
human beings who deserve to understand why we adults do what we do.
● It communicates students’ power to choose. Sharing rationale implicitly communicates to
students that we know they have free minds. It communicates that we know they have the
power to choose how much they will invest into the work we do together.
● It highlights logic + invites dissent. When we share rationale, we invite students into the logic
behind our actions. This, in turn, invites them to formulate opinions about whether they agree
or disagree with our logic. In so doing, we help students strengthen their ability to critically
examine the choices of people in positions of authority. This is especially important for those of
you teaching marginalized young folks, too many of whom have spent their lives in classrooms
that celebrate passive compliance above all else.
Encourage and listen to dissent

It’s essential that we listen to our students. Particularly when they’ve got a bone to pick with us.
One way I tried to solicit ideas and pushback from students was to include space for feedback at the end
of quizzes or as part of our opening “Launch” activity. I asked students what they liked about the class
and what they would like to see improved. You can see an example from an opening activity below and
here (also a few humorous answers here and here). Whenever I asked students to fill these out, I set
aside the time to read through each one and to follow up with students as necessary.
100
Another way I stayed attuned to students’ dissenting opinions was by following up with students who
vocally disagreed with something I had done or some aspect of how we rolled as a class. As you may
know (or will soon find out), many students won’t be shy about sharing their feedback with you. I tried
to always consider this an asset and an opportunity for me to learn. Of course, I didn’t do this perfectly,
and I’m sure that I unintentionally inhibited candor in a variety of ways, but I also know that I made a
concerted effort to keep my finger on the pulse of how students were experiencing my class. You should
too.
But I’ve got one caveat.
To illustrate, consider this not-uncommon exchange from my first year of teaching:

Me: “John, you have a warning for talking just now. The expectation is that we’re working on our test
silently.”
John: “But I wasn’t even talking!”
Me: “I saw you talking. You were talking with Adam.”
John: “Adam was talking to me! I wasn’t talking to him! Why are you always picking on me?”
Me: “I’m not picking on you. But you were talking, so you have a warning.”
John: “But Janet is talking too and you aren’t even giving her a warning!”
And on and on it went. Meanwhile, learning in the classroom had come to a screeching halt and the
entire class was watching me and John go back and forth.
Dear reader, do not get into one-on-one debates with students in front of the whole class. They almost
never achieve resolution and often just further anger the student who is already upset. Instead, have
those conversations after class in a one-on-one setting. For more specific advice about how to deal with
situations like these, head here.
Lead your classroom

One of the most common pitfalls I’ve seen among new teachers is failing to set and hold clear, high
expectations for students and their behavior. For some, this is because they’re trying to be “nice.” They
101
don’t feel authentic being in charge of a classroom. Others resist setting and holding high behavioral
expectations out of a belief that to do so would be problematically authoritarian.
I struggled with the “nice” trap during my first year in the classroom. I saw behaviors I knew I should
address, but I rationalized inaction: “I don’t want to make a big deal about Justine’s side-conversation.
That just wouldn’t be me.” White-dominant culture avoids conflict, and I was avoiding conflict like it was
my job.
What I came to understand is that holding students to a high behavioral bar is not problematic in and of
itself. The means that you use to enforce your expectations may be problematic, but the mere fact that
you’re holding students to a high bar is actually a blessing.
Moreover, I learned the hard way that if I didn’t establish myself as being in charge at the beginning of
the school year, it would be much more challenging later. If I lacked the authority to focus students on
the tasks at hand during the first days of the year, learning would be unlikely to occur and my ability to
contribute to their long-term flourishing would be jeopardized. So I was unapologetic in expecting
students to meet my expectations. Behavior that did not meet the expectations was addressed quickly
and firmly (and, crucially, with love - more on this in Step 6) 9.
Now, this does not mean that your lessons must be teacher-centered. Or that you should go on some
weird power trip, becoming intoxicated with your positional authority and wielding it in harmful ways.
But it does mean that your students are counting on you to be the person who establishes a physically
and emotionally safe space in which students can learn and grow.
9
Some folks may find my first lessons to be problematically rigid and teacher-centered. I’ve written up a
few words in response to that push here: http://tinyurl.com/toorigid. Hit me up if you have other
thoughts about getting this balance right!
102
Appendix E
Teacher magic
Teacher magic is the truth that teachers can believe things into being. But where does teacher magic
come from? And where do we get the power to practice it?
Before we answer those questions, let’s grapple with a slightly more basic question.
Does teacher magic even exist?

Yes. Each of us intuitively knows that teacher magic exists because we’ve experienced it with our own
teachers - for better or for worse. We’ve each witnessed the way a teacher’s belief about us shaped and
molded who we’ve become.
Research proves it too. Now, the research doesn’t prove the existence of any supernatural forces, but it
does demonstrate that teachers have the ability to believe things into being.
In the 1960s, researcher Robert Rosenthal conducted a study at an elementary school. Rosenthal and his
team administered intelligence tests to students around the start of the school year and, results in hand,
the researchers informed teachers that a subset of their students were poised for significant academic
growth over the course of the year ahead. Those students, the researchers said, were likely to
experience intellectual “blooming.” (Rosenthal 1968, 66) The teachers were cautioned, however, to
treat their future-bloomers just like any other student. Teachers were forbidden from communicating
the results of the assessment to students or parents in any way, and teachers were then monitored for
compliance with these expectations.
At the end of the year, students were tested again, and the results were just as the researchers had
predicted: the bloomers made significant academic growth, dramatically outpacing the rest of the class.
But here’s the catch: The researchers had been lying. On the assessment at the beginning of the school
year, the performance of students who were supposedly poised for “blooming” had been entirely
average.
So what led those students to dramatically outpace the rest of their classes? Especially when teachers
weren’t allowed to treat them any differently?
Of course, we don’t know with certainty. But we do know that the teachers’ expectations somehow
transformed into reality. The researchers explained the bloomers’ growth this way:
“By what [the teacher] said, by how and when she said it, [by] her facial expressions,
postures, and perhaps by her touch, the teacher may have communicated to the
children of the experimental group that she expected improved intellectual
performance. Such communications together with possible changes in teaching
techniques may have helped the child learn by changing his self concept, his
expectations of his own behavior, and his motivation, as well as his cognitive style and
skills.” (180)
103
The beliefs that teachers held about their students manifested in reality - even when the teachers never
uttered a word about their beliefs. That’s some teacher magic right there.
For anyone who still doubts the power of our minds to believe new things into being, consider this: it
works with lab rats as well.
In another study, Rosenthal looked at the speed at which lab rats learned to run through mazes. In the
lab, Rosenthal (1963) separated his rats into two groups. Over one group, he hung a sign that read,
“Maze Dull.” Over the other, the sign read, “Maze Bright.” Dumb rats, smart rats.
The job of the lab workers was simple: Take rats from their cages to the maze and then observe how
quickly the rats learned to find the cheese. What the lab workers didn’t know was that there was no
difference between the rats: assignments to the “Dull” and “Bright” groups had been random.
So what did the study find? You guessed it: The rats labeled “Bright” learned the mazes significantly
faster than those labeled “Dull”. And remember: the only thing the lab workers did was pick the rats up
to take them to and from the maze. Different context, same thing: teacher magic.
What’s the source of teacher magic?

Where does teacher magic come from? And how do we practice it when, say, a student who has been
driving us crazy is throwing wads of paper at classmates for the fifth day in a row? How do we see the
potential in each of our students when our minds can be so quick categorize them as “dull?” Or worse.
Some teachers would tell you that the ability to summon teacher magic comes from visceral experiences
in their own lives. They might talk about a teacher who, with a few well-timed words, caused them to
believe that they were capable of something great.
Others might have experienced teachers who actively denigrated their potential. Those who
experienced such damaging educators might go on to use that negative experience as motivation to
keep the bar raised high for each of their own students.
My sense, however is that any teacher magic I was able to muster derived from two primary ingredients.
The first: God.
When I got teacher magic right (despite royally screwing it up on many occasions), I think it came from
my conviction that each of us is made Imago Dei, in the image of God. I think it came from my conviction
that each of us is imbued with infinite worth and unimaginable potential. By reconnecting with this core
belief at important moments in the classroom, I got more power to notice, call attention to, and act on
students’ potential.
Over time, however, I came to believe that this idea was necessary but not sufficient. I could resist the
temptation that overcomes so many teachers to see certain students as “behavior problems,” but that
perspective alone wasn’t enough. As I would come to see, I needed to go beyond seeing students’
infinite worth and move to love.
104
Now, I’m talking about a specific kind of love. A description from Martin Luther King Jr. is helpful:
“In speaking of love at this point, we are not referring to some sentimental emotion…
There are three words for love in the Greek New Testament. First, there is eros. In
Platonic philosophy eros meant the yearning of the soul for the realm of the divine. It
has come now to mean a sort of aesthetic or romantic love. Second, there is philia. It
meant intimate affectionateness between friends. Philia denotes a sort of reciprocal
love: the person loves because he is loved. When we speak of loving those who oppose
us we refer to neither eros nor philia; we speak of a love which is expressed in the Greek
word agape. Agape means nothing sentimental or basically affectionate; it means
understanding, redeeming good will for all men, an overflowing love which seeks
nothing in return. It is the love of God working in the lives of men. When we love on the
agape level we love men not because we like them, not because their attitudes and
ways appeal to us, but because God loves them.” (1986, 8-9)
From my perspective, agape love is the essential ingredient in teacher magic.
Why? Because agape love is the most transformative force on this planet. It’s love with no strings
attached. It isn’t the transactional love we’re used to: “If you give me compliance/flattery/money etc.,
I’ll give you love.” It’s love that doesn’t make sense.
Agape is what love looks like when love is a burning bush. It’s the essence of what the Apostle Paul is
talking about when he tells us that, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.” (Romans 5:8, ESV)
And it’s not soft, sentimental nonsense. Dr. King continues:
“Agape love is not a weak, passive love. It is love in action. Agape is love seeking to
preserve and create community. It is insistence on community even when one seeks to
break it. Agape is a willingness to go to any length to restore community. It doesn’t stop
at the first mile, but it goes the second mile to restore community. It is a willingness to
forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven.” (1986, 20)
Agape love is walking up to the student who is talking over her classmates for the fourth time in a row
and addressing her with tender care, without a hint of the anger that initially boiled up within you.
Agape love is sitting down with a student who cussed you out and flipped over a desk just hours earlier
and starting your conversation with a genuine, “How are you?” Agape love is making the fifth home visit
for that student who is continuing to struggle. Agape love is never giving up.
Loving in this way is hard. One reason it’s so hard is because it’s darn near impossible to give agape love
if you haven’t received it.
For me, knowing that God loves me more than I deserve fuels my capacity to muster it for others. When
I was furious at a student and just wanted to punish, I would remember that God loved me even when I
didn’t deserve it. When I wanted to expel a student from my classroom, I would remember that I’m a
sinner who has been given grace. I’m all jacked up, but God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die so that I
105
could be reconciled with Him. By remembering the astonishing, no-strings-attached love that God gave
to me, I gained the power to give it to others. At least, on my good days.
Of course, you don’t need to buy any of this. It’s just my take. But if you haven’t, I might suggest test
driving a few of these ideas to see how they work for you. And, however you end up conjuring teacher
magic with your students, I wish you great success in bringing it to life. We need more of it in this world.
106
Appendix F
Tyler’s weekly prioritization system
In what follows, I’ve outlined my own prioritization system. The three main documents that I’ll refer to
are the following:
• Weekly reflection, learning, and priorities document
• Priorities brainstorming document
• Daily priorities template
Each week, I save the time on Sunday afternoons between about three and six PM to engage in a
process of reflection and planning for the week ahead. It doesn’t always take three hours, but I’ve found
it helpful to set aside a generous chunk of time to think things through.
Here’s what I’ll do during that time:

1. First, I reflect on the previous week using the top portion of my weekly reflection, learning, and
priorities document.
2. Next, I print out a copy of my priorities brainstorming document and list out all the things that
could be a priority for the week ahead. To spark ideas and to make sure I’m not overlooking
anything that could be a priority, I look through documents that might help me remember
what’s going to matter most in the coming weeks. As a teacher, that might be the following:
a. My vision and goals for the year. I’ll start here to keep my eyes on the prize. By re-
reading my vision and goals each week, I come to internalize them more deeply. It then
becomes second nature to use them as a guide for action.
b. Data. I’ll look through the most recent data I’ve got about the progress we’re making
towards our vision and goals. In so doing, I’m making sure that my actions are
responsive to how things are actually progressing.
c. Unit plan. I’ll look over the plan for where I’m heading instructionally over the course of
the coming weeks.
d. School calendars. I’ll look through the school calendar for the next month or so, thinking
about any meetings or professional development sessions I’ll be attending.
e. My personal calendar. I’ll look at my own calendar for the coming four to six weeks.
3. After going through those documents, I’ll typically have a list of things I could be prioritizing in
the week ahead. The next step: deciding what matters most. Sometimes it’s obvious. In other
instances, the decision is harder. But I know I’ve got to pull the trigger and make a call.
4. Once I’ve got my top three priorities (and never more than three!), I write them down in my
weekly reflection, learning, and priorities document. As you’ll see when you look at the
document, I write them down as if it were the Friday of the week that’s about to begin. I try to
picture what I’ll feel like after I’ve accomplished my priorities. I do this because there’s research
that suggests that you’re more likely to achieve success if you visualize it in advance.
5. Finally, I make a copy of my daily priorities template for the week ahead. I add the correct dates
and priorities to the heading for each day. Finally, I add in work that I know I’ll need to do on
particular days. Here are a few other notes on how I use the daily priorities document (these will
make sense once you’ve looked at the document):
a. Green versus white. Each day, I add in the most important things I need to work on in
the green rows. To use the parlance of Step 7, I make sure these are either Row 1 or
107
Row 2 activities. Also, I try to make sure to put the thing I want to do least (but know I
should do) at the top of the list. Other stuff goes in the white rows below. During work-
time, I do the green rows first and then, only if I have time, the white ones. By working
through tasks sequentially based on this ordering, the most important stuff stays front
and center.
b. Rows. If I need to add more rows, I’ll add ‘em.
c. Pomodoros. You’ll notice a column in the document entitled “Estimated Pomodoros”.
The reason for this is that, when I have work-time, I use a Pomodoro timer to guide my
efforts. This is an awesome system for remaining focused on the most important task in
front of you. Google “Pomodoro technique” for more info.
6. Gratitude. As you can see in the daily priorities template, there’s space each day to list out the
things I am grateful for. I typically add a few in the morning and then others sporadically over
the course of the rest of the day. I’d encourage you to make this a habit as well! By constantly
scanning for things we can be grateful for, we train our minds to see that kind of stuff more
often. And then, before too long, a spirit of gratitude pervades our life.
Speaking of gratitude, thank you for reading this book. And thank you for all that you do to be an
outstanding teacher for your students! I’m grateful for you.
108
Bibliography
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Delpit, Lisa D. Multiplication Is for White People. New York: The New Press, 2012.
Duncan-Andrade, Jeffrey. “Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete.”
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Godden, Rumer. A House with Four Rooms. New York: Morrow, 1989.
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2016. http://www.nyclu.org/content/impact-of-school-suspensions-and-demand-passage-of-
student-safety-act.
King, Martin Luther. Strength To Love. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010.
King, Martin Luther, and James Melvin. Washington. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of
Martin Luther King, Jr. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986.
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2004.

7 Steps For A Great Start To The School Year - May 2020

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Before we get going...

But I wasn’t ready for them.

If so, it’s time for you to buckle down.

Here’s what we’ll cover together:

To start this journey…

Why did you write this?

3. I think we dramatically underestimate the importance of teacher happiness

What will this book be? What won’t it be?

Exhaustive. This book does not include

Any tips on pacing my effort over the coming weeks?

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8

Practice your teacher magic Draft your vision and goals

Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12

Day 13 Day 14 The first day of school

Any last words of advice before I dive in?

Step 1: Set up your classroom

This is a miserable situation. I know from personal experience.

Do not make the same mistake I did!

Let’s visualize your first day of the school year:

1. Draft a “stuff-you-need power map”

Keys to my school and

Desks and chairs (ideally

Stuff for me and my

Stuff to write on:

3. Assess what you’ve got

If that’s where you’re at, yes!

Two questions to consider as you watch the video:

You can see examples of different kinds

5. Get the stuff you need

Step 2: Create lesson plans for the first two

To be clear, though, you’re still in danger of getting slammed.

That is going to feel good!

What should be true of my lesson plans in general?

Pathway B ...read higher-level ideas about what you

Pathway C ...read through example lesson plans for

Each of the three pathways is laid out in Appendix B below.

What are examples of lesson plans I could steal, tweak, or modify?

I’ve seen the examples. What now?!

Three more thoughts before you charge ahead:

I’ve got my plans! Now what?

And with that, Step 3!

Step 3: Create high-level plans for the first

Let me tell you from experience: having this plan matters.

It was not a pleasant time.

Work hard to give yourself the gift of feeling this way!

First two weeks

Feel Know Be able to do

What is the plan to get there?

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives

Homework Homework Homework Homework Homework

Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives

Homework Homework Homework Homework Homework

First two weeks

Here’s an example of what you might aim for:

First two weeks

- Inspired by the - The expectations and procedures - Meet the expectations

Here are a few thoughts behind the outcomes above:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives Objectives