Teaching Tip: Establish Clear Expectations at the Start of the School Year

Hello, friends! I’m Elizabeth Urbanowicz with Foundation Worldview, and today's Teaching Tip is an important one as we head into a new school year. Today’s tip is this: establish clear expectations.

Why This Tip Matters

At the beginning of the school year, we can lose a lot of ground with the children we are teaching when we jump right into academic content without first taking time to clearly define the behavioral and academic expectations we have for them.

The reason we lose so much ground is that expectations that are not clearly and explicitly communicated are rarely met. And it is unfair to the children we are teaching to hold them to a standard that we have not communicated. It also leads us to waste so much time correcting incorrect behavior.

If, instead of diving straight into academics, we spend the first few days—or even weeks—more heavily focused on expectations, modeling those expectations, and practicing them together, we may feel like we’re falling behind. We might think, “We’re not at point X, Y, or Z where we should be academically.”

But here’s the truth: if we put in the hard work upfront of establishing expectations, modeling them, and practicing them, we will eventually get way ahead of where we would’ve been had we not taken that time. Academic progress comes much more smoothly once classroom routines and expectations are clearly understood and consistently practiced.

A Biblical Foundation for Clear Expectations

This concept isn’t just practical—it also makes sense from a biblical perspective. Throughout the entire narrative of Scripture, we see a pattern: God always establishes clear expectations for His people.

• In the garden, God made it clear to Adam: he could eat from every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

• When God led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, He gave them the law—clear instructions for how they were to live in the land.

• In the Gospels, Jesus laid out very clearly how His followers were to live.

• In the epistles, the apostles continued this pattern, providing clear instruction for how we as believers are called to live.

God graciously never leaves us guessing—and we should model that same clarity for the children we teach.

How to Establish Expectations

I recommend you begin by asking yourself:
What are my expectations for the children I am teaching?

Take time to think through your expectations clearly. You might even want to jot them down. Once you’ve clarified your expectations—either mentally or on paper—communicate them to your students.

Then, take the time to model those expectations and have students practice them repeatedly.

A Real-Life Example from the Classroom

My background is in elementary education, and when I was a third-grade teacher, I took this principle seriously from day one.

At the beginning of each year, I would explain to my students what I expected from them when they entered the classroom each morning. For example:

• They were to hold their materials as they walked into the room.

• They were expected to respond when I greeted them.

• Then, they were to find a project to work on quietly at their desks.

On the first day of school, I would explain this expectation, then model it—I’d walk through exactly how to carry materials, greet me, and begin the morning task quietly.

Then, I would line my students up in the hallway and practice. Everyone would walk in and go through the routine. And we wouldn’t just do it once—we practiced over and over again, day after day.

It wasn’t a “one and done” situation. But usually by the third week of school, students had the routine down, and things began to run like clockwork. And when a student did fail to meet the expectation, I could gently correct them or discipline them in love, reminding them of what we had already practiced together.

The Long-Term Benefit

Once the children we are teaching have mastered the expectations, the rest of the academic year goes so much smoother. We gain back all the time we invested in training and then some.

Final Reminder

Just as a reminder, today’s Teaching Tip was this: Establish clear expectations at the beginning of the year.

For more help in equipping the children you are teaching to think biblically, be sure to check out our many other resources at FoundationWorldview.com.

Thanks so much for joining me for this Teaching Tip, and I’ll see you next time!