As the school year winds down, we all hit a specific kind of “teacher tired.” You aren’t quite ready for full-on planning mode yet, but the thoughts are there.
They pop up while you’re peeling old name tags off desks or finally cleaning out that corner cabinet. You start thinking about what you want to do differently next time around.
Here’s the thing: the best planning you can do for next year isn’t actually “planning” at all, it’s reflecting.
Spending twenty minutes now reflecting on what actually worked can save you hours next year when summer has blurred the details of what your classroom really looked like.
In this blog, we’ll look at how simple reflection can help you strengthen everything from lesson planning to classroom routines without adding more to your end-of-year to-do list.
Your future self will thank you.
Why Reflection Beats Planning
It’s so tempting to go home, open Pinterest or Instagram, and find ten new systems to try. We’ve all been there: buying the new planners or saving the “perfect” classroom setup. But planning without first reflecting usually leads to overcomplicating things.
When you reflect, you’re looking at your classroom through the lens of reality: the real schedule, the actual district requirements, and the specific needs of your students. It helps you keep the important stuff and ditch the “fluff” that stressed you out without moving the needle of student growth.
And that doesn’t mean you can’t still buy the super cute new bulletin board paper or those color-coordinated supply caddies. It just means your planning decisions are grounded in what actually helped kids learn, not what looked good on social media.
As Dylan Wiliam puts it:
“Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.”
Reflection is how we get there without the added stress.
Ask Yourself These Questions
Before you change a single thing, you have to know what went right.
We are often so focused on fixing problems that we forget what we’re already good at. If you don’t name your wins, you might accidentally get rid of a routine that worked really well.
Grab a notebook or make a note in your phone and do a quick audit of these three areas:
- Your Lesson Plans: Which specific units or weeks felt like they really “clicked” with the kids? Where did you see the most growth?
- Your Routines: Which systems survived even through the crazy weeks (like the ones right before fall/winter/spring break)? Those are your strongest foundations.
- Your Literacy Block: When did your small groups feel the most productive and manageable? What were you doing differently during those times?
Whether you teach Kindergarten and you’re celebrating a phonics routine that finally worked, or you’re in 3rd grade and your kids finally mastered their writing centers, those wins matter.
Write them down so you don’t forget them over the summer.
Pick One Area to Work On
Once you know what worked, pick one thing to change. Just one. Trying to completely redo your whole daily routine is a recipe for a stressful start to the school year.
Think about the rough points in your day. Was it the transition from lunch back into literacy? Was it the way you prepped your centers? Whatever it was, research from educators like Tim Shanahan suggests that clarity and focus matter way more than just doing “more.”
Pick the one area that, if it went even 10% smoother, would make your daily life significantly easier.
Set One Simple Goal
Now, give yourself one clear goal to walk away with. This isn’t a 10-page to-do list; it’s a focus for your “Future Self.”
To turn your reflections into a concrete plan, it helps to shift from general ideas to SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) that define exactly how you’ll achieve your new goal next year.
Here are some examples of SMART goals:
- Planning Goal: By the end of the first quarter, I will use a consistent weekly literacy plan template to reduce my weekend planning time to no more than 60 minutes.
- Efficiency Goal: During the first three weeks of school, I will explicitly teach and time our small-group transitions so that students can move from the carpet to their stations in under 90 seconds.
- Organization Goal: After my beginning-of-the-year assessments, I will create a color-coded “Intervention Station” with pre-filled folders for phonics, fluency, and comprehension to eliminate prep time between student groups.
As Louisa Moats says,
“Teaching reading is complex, but it doesn’t have to be chaotic.”
A clear goal keeps things steady when the school year gets busy.
Tools to Help You Reach Your Goals
If you want to walk into your classroom in the fall knowing the “heavy lifting” is already done, here are a few ways I can help:
The Literacy Clubs: If your goal is to simplify planning, this membership is for you. It includes everything you need for small group lessons and reading centers in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade.
- Each month, you’ll receive:
- Differentiated Literacy Centers to keep your students engaged and learning.
- Small Group Readers & Lesson Plans to take the guesswork out of your instruction.
- A Private Online Forum and Monthly Q&A Zoom Calls for ongoing support and community.
- Professional Development Training Video
Our memberships open for new enrollments every July and January. If you are reading this outside of those enrollment windows, you can join our waitlist today. By joining the list, you’ll receive a monthly sneak peek at the types of materials and support you’ll receive as a member.
Reading Intervention Collaborative (RIC): If your goal is to improve the quality of your intervention without spending your weekends searching the internet for materials, the RIC provides the high-level organization and structure you need. An RIC membership includes:
- 17+ hours of self-paced trainings (with university credit available!) to help you feel more confident.
- A new private podcast episode each month, including a certificate for PD hours.
- Instant access to 2,200+ pages of printable intervention materials, so your small-group materials are always ready.
- Private forum access to ask specific questions about your students.
- Invitations to exclusive sessions hosted by industry guest speakers.
You can go here to find out more about the RIC and see how it can help you transform your small-group instruction.
Literacy PD Courses: If your goal is professional growth and confidence, summer is the perfect time to dive into our literacy professional development courses.
Here is what educators are saying about our courses:
Our self-paced courses include:
- Implementing the Science of Reading in K-2: This provides the blueprint you need to hit your goal of a structured, evidence-based literacy block.
- Master the Rules of English Phonics: Use this to meet your goal of teaching reading and spelling more effectively by mastering phonics rules and syllable division.
- Writing SOS Masterclass: Align this with a goal to support struggling writers and get them back on grade level without the prep stress.
- Beyond Decoding: How to Teach Reading Comprehension in K–2: Use this to meet your goal of teaching comprehension effectively by learning what the Science of Reading says about comprehension and how to teach it explicitly in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade.
You can find more details and pick the right course for you on the Courses page of our website.
Take the Break You Earned
The most important part of “End-of-Year Planning” is actually the break.
Once you’ve done your quick reflection and set your one goal, walk away. Close the laptop. Forget the classroom for a while. You need the distance and the rest to come back with the energy your students deserve.
Enjoy your summer. You’ve more than earned it!
Happy Teaching!
References
- Moats, L. C. (2020). Teaching reading is rocket science. American Federation of Teachers.
- Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2017). Disciplinary literacy: Just the FAQs. Educational Leadership.
- Wiliam, D. (2016). Leadership for Teacher Learning. Learning Sciences International.
