5 Strategies to Survive Teaching in December
It’s December 1st and the holiday season is officially in full swing. While the holidays typically bring cheer and joy to our personal lives, we often dread them in the classroom. In fact, Christmas break coming around the corner may be the only hope you are clinging to at this point.
I hope that by implementing a few of these strategies you can actually enjoy this season with your students and that it becomes a time of intense bonding and memory making. Read on to have your best December yet!
Choose to embrace the changes that come with the holidays
Just like with most things in life, adjusting your mindset and managing expectations yields more positive experiences. The same is true with teaching during the holiday season. We all know that the students are already distracted, excited, and full of energy. With the holiday trifecta (Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas) back to back, it only makes sense. What makes things even harder is December is always full of programs, rehearsals, unique guests, and other events that may interfere with “business as usual”.
This is where managing expectations comes in. If you expect those changes and reframe December as a special time of year where you and your students get a break from the mundane, it will be more enjoyable for everyone. By incorporating holiday themes into your standards, reading holiday-themed books, and using some of the strategies listed below, you will have a much more positive experience this December.
Deck the halls! Let students help you decorate your classroom
When I first started teaching, I was determined to make the holidays a magical time. I am obsessed with Christmas and couldn’t imagine spending all my days in December without any holiday cheer. Each year I would add one small tradition or one small decorative item to make the classroom feel more cozy and festive.
One tradition was having my students decorate the classroom. My first year, students were invited to join me for lunch and we created our own homemade decorations and put them around the room. My third year I purchased a $20 (somewhat rough-looking, but definitely charming!) Christmas tree for the classroom. A co-worker gifted me some hand-me-down ornaments and lights that were perfect. That year I started a tradition of letting students help me decorate during class if they finished their work. I made sure everyone had an opportunity to participate. We made a big deal out of it, turned out the lights, and lit the tree! It was so magical and special for all of us. From that year on, I made sure it remained a classroom tradition.
3. Create structure by starting classroom traditions
As you can see based on my last point, this one is near and dear to my heart. In fact, next week there will be a 5 part series on different holiday traditions you can start incorporating this year! Once you’ve decided to embrace the season and all of it’s craziness, it is important to make sure that there still is structure. Traditions are a great way to provide structure, create lasting memories, help your class bond, and help establish a class DNA.
Some examples of traditions may be unique experiences such as Secret Santa, or doing random acts of kindness throughout the month. Other examples might be things that contribute to the ambience or “feel” of the season. This may look like specific decorations, music, etc.
Once I started incorporating traditions, I felt students’ behavior and attention was so much better. I actually anticipated the season with joy along with my students and couldn’t wait to start our unique classroom traditions. I often felt most connected to my students right before break, which was the most beautiful gift and set the tone for a fabulous second half of the year.
4. Participate in a countdown to break
At this point, we all are very familiar with advent calendars that help us countdown to Christmas. They have cheese calendars, calendars filled with toys, chocolate, and more! One of the unique classroom traditions my students participated in was random acts of kindness throughout the month as a way to countdown the days to break. One way to do this is to brainstorm and type up a list of ideas, cut them into strips, and place them in little dollar store gift bags. You could place them under your new beautiful Christmas tree (; and open one each day.
I found throughout the years that this helped instill the spirit of the season in my students, many of whom did not have positive role models instilling those values at home. They learned that giving (even if it’s our time or talents) is better than receiving. Another purpose it served was helping mark the time in a visual, interactive way. This is so important, especially for younger students, when the excitement for the holidays is often high and their concept of time is not advanced.
5. If behavior problems do arise, look beyond the surface
This strategy is a little more serious than the others, but is so important. Often during the month of December, I would have one student that would struggle more than usual. It often presented as more meltdowns, outbursts, or even negative behavior that was out of character. My first reaction was often frustration and some meltdowns of my own in my car. This student is going to ruin our classroom holiday traditions and sabotage everything for the rest of the students or how am I going to get through every day leading up to break? or even worse, how am I going to survive the rest of the year?
This really hit home one year when I had a student that really struggled. They were having more outbursts, many of which were directed right at me and intended to get under my skin. I met with my principals, social worker, and school psych and brought up the issue.
After a short while, we became aware that this child’s life was filled with trauma after trauma. I began to realize that similar to how holidays are difficult for some adults, it could be that these outbursts were due to unresolved trauma that was more accentuated during this season. While I couldn’t completely change this child’s circumstances, nor could I prevent these outbursts, I could remind myself of truths. It’s not me, it’s what they’ve gone through and this classroom may be the only safety and light they experience this season. Not only did this help me feel lighter and adjust my expectations, it helped soften my heart towards the student. Our interactions improved slowly, but surely, not because the student changed or their situation changed, but because my heart and response changed.
So here’s to all of you teachers in December. Make the season a little more jolly by trying some of these strategies. Embrace the change and make some memories.
Looking to give a teacher you love a Christmas gift? Click here to grab a free PDF on how to make the best teacher holiday gift basket!
