Teach Middle East Magazine September 2014 Issue 1 Vol. 2 | Page 38

Health

START THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR
WITH CONFIDENCE
By Aisha Shakti Hakim

Y

ou’ve just spent an incredibly
relaxing time during your
summer break. Maybe you
travelled to somewhere with
crystal clear oceans and rainbow
coloured hammocks where you sipped
fruit mocktails. Perhaps you spent time
eating familiar foods and laughing with
friendly faces back home. You might
even have spent your summer break
enjoying the relative quiet of Ramadan
here in the UAE. Regardless of how
you spent your holidays, it’s likely that
you are well rested, feeling at peace
and energized.
Now you begin to think about returning
to the classroom, and perhaps you

start to feel anxious. Don’t worry; this
is a common emotional response that
can be experienced by either a veteran
teacher or a newbie. Great teachers
tend to be perfectionists and want to
get everything right as soon as they
step into the classroom. However, each
school year comes with a classroom
full of new faces – perplexed, happy,
indifferent, friendly, hostile - and in as
short a time as possible, you’ll have to
figure out how to effectively teach this
mixed cast of characters. If any of this
sounds familiar, here are some tips to
help you start off the new school year
anxiety free!
It helps to keep in mind that your
students are probably as or more
anxious than you. They will likely act
out their anxiety in a variety of ways that
you’ll have to decipher while trying to
maintain your cool. Thinking of starter
activities that will make everyone in
the classroom laugh and have fun
will definitely help to alleviate both
the teacher and students’ anxiety
on the first day back.
The more prepared you
are for the first several
weeks, the less anxious
you will be. Decide what
your classroom rules,
consequences
and
rewards system will be
ahead of time. Students
thrive
in
an
orderly
classroom and you will feel
more confident with rules in
place. Make sure your students
understand the rules and that
you are serious about their
enforcement. Changes
can always be made
to them later in the
trimester, in order
for the rules to be
more reflective of
the context of the
classroom.
Arranging
your
classroom
and
having a week’s

36

September 2014

After The Bell

worth of lesson plans will help to
decrease your anxiety by making
you feel prepared. Set up a studentfriendly classroom that is colourful
and print rich. Have student portfolios
ready to deposit samples of students’
work and assessments. Of course,
be prepared with all of your basic
materials: white board markers and
eraser, pencils, paper and any other
essentials. Having your lesson plans
prepared ahead of time will help you
feel accomplished a