The new school year can be a source of great excitement, but it can also bring great anxiety for many young people preparing to enter a new grade. As students are purchasing new school supplies and preparing their first day of school outfits, teachers and parents are also hard at work making sure everything is ready to ring in the school year on a positive note. It’s important to take time during this time of year to ground ourselves in our “why” and spend some time reflecting on the power that young people hold and use this to ground our belief in students.

As a first year teacher last school year, I worried constantly about ensuring that routines and procedures were explicit so that behavior management would not be an issue. When the times got rough during the school year, it wasn’t my consequence ladder that got me through those days, it was my students, and the way they constantly amazed me with their ability to excel given the expectations I set for them. The thing to note about the start of my school year was that I constantly told them that I believed in them, and therefore, expected great things from them. As a high school teacher, I have seen the difference that the mindsets of adults can make in students. When the adults in a student’s life communicate high expectations and pair them with the belief that students are capable of reaching them, students feel motivated to do so. On the other hand, if adults begin the school year by warning students of what can happen if expectations are not met, students can become anxious and scared to give the school year a fair shot.

Mindset matters when dealing with students any school year. At the end of the day, it’s not about the adults and what we want the school year to be, it’s about our students and what their needs are during the year. As long as teachers and parents keep this belief in mind and use it to guide the interactions they have, the school year will kick off to a great start.

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Daniela Felix

Daniela is a first generation college student who is heavily involved in education in her home district, West Contra Costa Unified. After becoming a mother at a young age, Daniela’s passion for education justice only intensified and she began to fight for an equitable education for all children, regardless of background or zip code. Daniela played a key role in organizing parents with the California Charter Schools Association and is a firm believer in school choice for all families. She is currently a Lead Organizer with Students for Education Reform, organizing college students around education justice issues in her home district. She was recently accepted into Teach for America and plans to continue impacting the lives of children in her hometown of Richmond, CA as a high school social studies teacher. Daniela is a UC Berkeley senior pursuing her B.A. in Legal Studies and Education along with her 4 year old daughter and husband. Daniela is a firm believer in that every single child is capable of meeting high expectations if given the correct support. Daniela hopes to be a provider of that support.

Latest posts by Daniela Felix (see all)

• The Importance of Mid Year Data for Teachers, Students, and Families - December 18, 2019
• Las Familias Deben Participar en la Mejora de los Resultados de las Pruebas SBAC de California - December 10, 2019
• La Guia de los Aprendices de Inglés de California es un Recurso Útil para los Maestros - December 4, 2019
• California’s English Learner Roadmap Is a Helpful Resource for Teachers - December 2, 2019
• Families Need To Be Involved in Improving California’s SBAC Test Results - November 27, 2019