Great list of ideas to review at the start of each year. However, your question was how the students would view the list. My bet is the only issues they care about are numbers 4 and 5 (and not necessarily in that order). If you, as a teacher, can not build a relationship with your students, then there is a good possibility that they will not buy into the rest of the curriculum. If you can not motivate or excite your students then the rest of the checklist may be an excercise in futility at worst, or an uphill battle at best. It is my belief that if I can establish a personal relationship with my students, they will perform better. I am not going to question why they want to learn from me, I only want to insure that they do.

Do you have any good recommendations for keeping organized in the beginning of the year? And keeping organized throughout the year? I always seem to create good ideas, but it can be hard to follow through with all of them.

Carol, I couldn't agree more. I believe that establishing a positive teacher/student relationship has more to do with a student's success than most teachers are willing to admit. To admit this puts too much of a burden on some teachers as they are not willing to invest the necessary time or effort. The teachers in my school who are most sought after by parents are the ones who are willing to build these relationships not only with the students but with the parents as well. Taking the time to build relationships with students' parents can certainly pay dividends in advancing a child's education.

I agree with you both. The list is great. I feel relationship building is extremely important and begins when the students walk in the door for the first time. That initial contact can set the standard for the rest of the year. It is important for students to know that their teacher cares for them and yes, this takes effort. But, the rapport that is built leads to more progress in the classroom and can influence a student's motivation.

I'm not sure exactly what types of organization you are looking for but to start if you are looking for classroom management and set up - Harry Wong's book, The First Days of School(2005) is an excellent resource. It provides you with ideas and websites to visit to get ideas from other teaching professionals about numerous topics including organization.

Every year I print out my lesson plans and use them for the next year, of coarse I modify them according to any notes I left on any particular lesson the previous year. I also try to find 2 responsible students the first week of school. When I say responsible, I mean up to date with assignments, disciplined and "on the ball" like we say in my school. These 2 students help me file, pass out papers, clean up at the end of the day and prepare my classroom in the morning before I open my doors. Most of the time it's routine, so they don't even have to ask what I need. It has helped me organize my priorities. If it is something important I need to complete, I now have the time since my helpers are taking care of the non-mperative things in the classroom. I've done this for the last 3 years and it has helped immensly.

What do you do to keep students motivated and focused throughout the school year. How do you keep their interest, when there are so many other things to distract them?

I agree completely, that teacher and student relationships have a great bearing on the students success. I do not think that you have to be loved or be the students "pal", but you must communicate with them and show that you have an interest in them as well as your subject matter. Building a bond with students gives them a sense of involement.
We have a Parent Connect on our schools web-site, this is where the parents can access their childs grades and stay in contact with each of their teachers, I believe that allowing the parents to have this connection/relationship and involvement with the teachers is a great tool to offer for community involvement

Christy,
My school is starting a new online grading program that would allow the parents to enter the schools website and view their child's grades. I was wondering if you have ever had any backlash from this at your school, and negative outcome of the parents viewing the grades. I am an elementary teacher and I fear that if we go to this, we will have parents calling and emailing all of the time. This is because of how we grade and the fact that there are not an excessive amount of grades that would be listed for them to see. In elementary we do a lot of observation assessing instead of hard copy test assessment. Let me know how your Parent connect site works for you and the elementary level of your school district.
Thanks

I always have so many plans of what I am going to do over the summer to prepare for the next year. I sometimes get some of them done, but never accomplish all of them. I have to be organized though, or I just can't work well. I do believe you need to have that positive relationship with your students. Being in elementary, that is important, but so is rule following. We usually have to teach rules and procedures throughout those first couple days of school, as well as the curriculum for our grade. So, while we jump into the curriculum, we can jump in with full force until our children remember how to the procedures of school work.
To answer your question about additional preassessments, I think that we, at my school, have plenty in place to see where our kids are to start the year.