Making everyday excellence ‘routine’

by guest contributor, Sara Dower

A Focus on Wellbeing and Academic Success

The beginning of any school day brings a myriad of thoughts, feelings and needs. 26 students, each having experienced a different morning, each feeling a range of emotions, all entering the classroom at the same time. If this sounds overwhelming for you, imagine how it feels for a student. In the past I’ve spent most of my morning simply trying to get my class to a point where they can begin their day…often achieving this right before recess, after which the process starts all over again.

Setting Routines (That Actually Work)

As our school moved towards explicit teaching, we also moved towards explicit routines. We had set these before, constructing expectations through circle-time discussions and whole-class agreements. But these shared understandings often became nothing more than a poster on the wall, only being referred to when things went wrong. Instead, school-wide expectations were set – how we walk throughout the school, enter and exit a room, start and finish our day - all pre-agreed routines that remain the same regardless of year level. Each routine is taught and modelled explicitly, practiced for automaticity. At the beginning of the year this can feel excessive and tedious, but the time spent early on has saved me valuable hours throughout the year.

Personally, these explicit routines minimise noise and reduce opportunity for incidents that occur so often during less-structured transition times. Buy-in from school staff enables me to rest easy knowing that a teacher covering my class is keeping expectations consistent. For students, clear and high expectations support feelings of safety and calm, allowing attention to be given to what’s important – learning.

I was inspired by Katherine Birbalsingh during her chat to Ollie Lovell on his ERRR podcast. Michaela Community School implement silent corridors, among other routines. Katherine discussed the need for definitive routines without the grey area. Her example was brilliant: how can you quantify the concept of quiet corridors, as opposed to silent? My version of quiet is likely to be different from yours, therefore the expectations are already vague. Katherine also emphasised the need to keep routines consistent. How many goals or habits do we give 100% to on the first day, but perhaps 95% the next? What does that look like in 2 weeks? A term?

The Power of the ‘Do Now’

One routine that has brought immediate success has been the morning Do Now. Introduced by Doug Lemov in his book Teach Like a Champion, a Do Now is a short independent task to be completed at the beginning of the day or lesson. Doug recommends that a Do Now is between 3-5 minutes, links to prior or upcoming learning and requires no teacher support. For me, a maths fluency, handwriting review or vocabulary task works well and requires minimal planning. What is so powerful about a Do Now is its versatility. It can be a formative assessment, a task to activate prior knowledge or consolidate prior knowledge. The low-stakes nature of a Do Now means that everyone in my class has found success before 9am. And that is the attitude to learning that I want at the beginning of each day.

Putting the Focus Back Where It Belongs

Establishing strong routines within my classroom has shown to benefit both wellbeing and academic achievement. A calm, structured classroom entry allows students to feel safe and ready to learn. A reduction in noise also supports those with additional sensitivities, creating a more inclusive space. In the morning, setting a Do Now allows me to check in with students without having to manage the spot-fires that always seem to bubble to the surface when students don’t understand the expectations. Every Do Now is an opportunity for consolidation, the little 1% extra that can add up fast. We open our doors at 8.50am each morning, with the day officially beginning at 9am. The old me wouldn’t have thought twice about those 10 minutes, it seemingly being such a tiny portion of the day. But if my students complete a Do Now every school day this year, that’s nearly 32 hours, over a week, of additional learning time.

Now I’m not perfect – there are times when my class need to walk back outside and come in again. They don’t always enter the room and put their bag away before settling down quietly to a task, and sometimes I’m the one who needs to look at my own expectations (teachers get excited about birthdays too…). But like any New Years resolution, as long as I keep things consistent and clear, I know I’m on the right track.

Our guest contributor this week is Sara Dower.

Sara is a Year 3 teacher at Chelsea Heights Primary School (in Melbourne), a co-educational Primary School for Foundation to Grade 6 students. She has a Bachelor of Primary Education and is currently completing her Masters of Education specialising in Language and Literacy. She has over 10 years experience teaching in both the UK and Australia.

Thank you for sharing your insights on how you have bought structure, calm, and consistent excellence into the classroom.