Teachers Ed with Edward DeShazer

First Week Foundations: Building School Culture That Lasts

• Edward DeShazer

Share episode

The first week of school sets the foundation for the entire year, making it essential to establish clear expectations that build trust and create safety for everyone involved. Educational success hinges on setting the right tone from day one, practicing procedures until they become second nature, and creating environments where both students and staff can thrive rather than merely survive.

• Pre-school anxiety is normal and indicates you care about your work
• Clear expectations create safety and trust for students and staff
• Consistency is critical – correct behaviors every time, not sporadically
• Teachers should model desired behaviors, practice procedures until automatic, and maintain emotional stability
• School leaders need to clearly communicate non-negotiables, remain visible throughout the building, and support before disciplining
• The goal is to thrive this year, not just survive
• Give yourself grace during transitions and when new approaches need adjustment

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or hit the thumbs up button on YouTube. Your feedback helps us reach more educators who need this support. Visit www.edwarddeshazer.org to connect with me on all platforms.


www.EdwardDeShazer.org

Speaker 1:

This first week of school is not just about decorating bulletin boards. It's about building the culture that will carry us all school year long. So it is critical that we set the tone now so we don't spend the rest of our year trying to reset it. If you're an educator, that's passionate, but you're tired and you're burnt out and you're wondering what to do next, this is the show for you. We're going to learn together, we're going to recharge together and we're going to grow together so you can be the best you and serve your students and your community to the best of your ability. What's going on pod? Welcome to the Teacher's Ed Podcast. I'm your host, edward DeShazer. Teacher's Ed Podcast is the place where the best and brightest in education come to be inspired, to connect, to learn and to grow. If you enjoy today's episode, please take a moment, please subscribe, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. If you're watching on YouTube, hit the little thumbs up button down there. Your feedback will help us reach more educators like yourself. So let's get started.

Speaker 1:

You know that this is the holiday weekend. For us it was a four-day weekend. For some people it's a three-day weekend, but either way it's a longer weekend. It is a pivotal weekend in education because a lot of people are just getting back with the students after Labor Day. Some have already been back for a few weeks, three, four weeks. Some have been back for a month. That's crazy, but that's a whole other conversation. But this weekend is supposed to be about rest, it's supposed to be about family and it's supposed to be a time for us to just recharge.

Speaker 1:

But for a lot of educators, this weekend is filled with anxiety. It's that knot in your stomach on, you know, sunday and Monday night that you know you're going back and for some of us it's the first time we'll have engagement with our students since. You know, june, maybe even May, and Tuesday those students are gonna be coming through your door. You know, for some teachers the questions start swirling of you know, am I ready? Did I set my classroom up enough? Will my students listen? What about the new policies? What about these changes the school's making? And for school leaders, you know, some of these questions may be will my staff follow through? Did I communicate everything to the best of my ability? Will we start the year strong, or am I going to spend the first month of school putting out fires? Here's the truth. If you are an educator and you feel anxious right now, you are not broken, you are not weak, you are human. That anxiety to me that's actually proof that you care. It means that you're aware of the weight of the work that we do. But the key is to not let that anxiety control the year you're about to step into. And here's what I know after leading schools and working with educators for years the tone you set in the first week of school will ripple through the entire year.

Speaker 1:

Expectations are not just the rules, they are the foundation of the trust that your school, that your classroom, is going to be built on for the entire year. And when teachers set clear and solid expectations with students, they're not just controlling behavior, they are creating safety. And we talked about that in a previous episode with Alexia the dancer teacher, about kids need safety, staff need safety. Students thrive when they know what's expected of them. They relax when the boundaries are clear because they know where they're at. And the same goes for our staff, school leaders. If we don't set expectations with our teachers, with our staff, with other people on our team, about communication, about collaboration, about how we treat each other, then frustration begins to creep in and frustration spreads fast, very contagious. The tone you set in the first week of school is going to echo for the next nine to ten months. If you start with clarity, if you start with consistency, if you start with high expectations, you will build trust. You will build momentum. If you start with confusion, it will take you months to recover. So, teachers, do not shy away from being clear with your students. Students may push back at first, but deep down, they want it. Leaders, do not assume that your team knows what you expect.

Speaker 1:

I want you to say it clearly, I want you to show it and then I want you to reinforce it. So how do we put this practice into practice this week? For teachers, three quick things that you can do. Number one I want you to model what you want to see. If you want respect, I need you to show respect. First, us to practice them with the students until they can do it in their sleep. There was a coach I can't remember who it was, maybe it was Nick Saban, but it's probably a saying that they've been saying forever. And some people they say you practice till you get it right. And I think that's the problem that we do in education. Sometimes we just practice till you get it right. But we need to practice things so much that they won't get it wrong. So make sure when we have those expectations, we practice them till they won't get it wrong. Don't just do it till they do it right the first time, because you know it takes a long time to build these habits. I want us to do these things with our students so much that they can't get it wrong.

Speaker 1:

Number two I need us to be consistent. Don't correct a behavior on Monday and let it slide on Wednesday. Students notice this and inconsistency is where trust begins to break down. And number three I need us to stay calm. Your tone matters just as much as your words. When students see that you're steady, when they see that you are calm, when they see that you are consistent, they then feel steady, calm and consistent.

Speaker 1:

Consistent and for leaders, here are the three things that I want you to to focus on communicate your non-negotiables clearly. Don't just bury them in the handbook. Don't just say them at that first hr meeting and not talk about it again. I need us to say them and I need us to repeat them. Communicate your non-negotiables clearly. Number two I need you to be visible. Excuse me, teachers want to see you in the classrooms, they want to see you in the hallways, they want to see you in the lunchroom, they want to see you at the arrival, they want to see you at departure. They don't want to just see you in emails. So I need us to be visible. And number so I need us to be visible. And number three I need us to support, before we discipline, correct staff with coaching, not just criticism. Because if we can do those three things, if we can communicate our non-negotiables clearly, if we can be visible and if we can support before we discipline, it will set a tempo that will help sustain a great culture for the remainder of the school year.

Speaker 1:

Students don't rise to the level of unclear expectations. They rise to the level of clear and consistent expectations. And this is the same with our staff. If you want excellence with your staff, you can't just hope for it. We have to set it, we have to model it and we have to hold our staff to it. So, as we get ready to head into this new school year, what we'll define staff to them with, and if we lead with compassion, we're not just going to survive this year. We're going to thrive this year and that's got to be our goal. For too long, some of us have just been surviving in education, and that's not fair. That's why people are burning out. I want this year to be a year where we don't just survive, but we actually thrive. So, as our staff are stepping back in the classrooms, as our administrators are stepping back in the buildings, into the hallways, as every one of our people in our team and students are coming back into the building, we are stepping into classrooms where students crave stability. They crave leadership. Staff crave stability. They crave leadership. Staff crave stability. They crave leadership Leaders. We're stepping into a school where staff are craving direction and support. They don't want to just figure it out, we want to support them. Sometimes we all figure this out together.

Speaker 1:

Week of school it's not just about decorating billboards or billboards. It's not just to start over. This first week of school is not just about decorating bulletin boards. It's about building the culture that will carry us all school year long. So it is critical that we set the tone now so we don't spend the rest of our year trying to reset it. We have to set the tone, we have to be clear we have to have high expectations and we have to hold our people accountable to make sure they are reaching those expectations, and we have to support our staff. We have to pick them up when things go wrong. We have to give them grace and mercy. We have to give ourselves grace and mercy. We have to give ourselves grace and mercy.

Speaker 1:

There are some new policies that you're going to put in place. That may not work right away, and that's okay. Don't be scared to pivot when something does not go right, after you have tried it consistently. It is so important that we start to see it right. It's so important, as you're listening this weekend, that you give yourself grace with the feelings that you're feeling. It's okay to be anxious. It's a new year. Every single year, that feeling comes back for people. Some people just can't understand why. It's not that something's wrong with you. It is a human trait to feel anxious when there's a big change, because this is a big change. You may have been doing this for 30 years. Every new year is a big change because you're starting all over again. So I hope we have a phenomenal year this year. As always.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate everyone for tuning in, for being locked in with me Again. If you haven't, I want to make sure you please like, please subscribe, please share this episode with another person, that you care about this in education and that's it about this in education. And that's it for today's episode of teacher that podcast. I hope you got some encouragement. I hope you got some reminders as you step into the new square. If you're on YouTube again, please subscribe. Please the little thumbs up down there below. If you're not listening on YouTube, check us, check us out on YouTube. You can actually see the videos. You can see what's going on.

Speaker 1:

I'm super excited for a lot of the guests that are going to be on this year. I'm super honored for the people that you've already heard that have been on. We've got some phenomenal guests that are coming on this fall, so I'm super excited. I truly appreciate all the work that you all do For anyone that's listening. If you want more information about me, wwwedwarddeshazerorg, let's get connected. Let's lock in Edward Deshazer on Instagram and all other platforms. But thank you for tuning in to the Teacher's Ed podcast. I truly appreciate you. I hope you're having a phenomenal weekend For those that are returning back to school. I hope you have a phenomenal first week of school. Make sure you like, make sure you subscribe, but make sure you keep doing the work. See you all soon.