As students savor the final moments of their holiday break, teachers in Grand Junction are diligently preparing for the upcoming school semester. The transition from holiday leisure to academic rigors is an annual routine filled with both anticipation and meticulous planning.

Ready to Welcome Students Back

Amy Deschamp, a High School Social Studies Teacher at Grand Junction High School (GJHS), expressed her excitement about the new semester. “We’re ready for all of our tigers to come back and ready to see our first class graduate out of this new building in the spring,” she said. This milestone marks a significant moment for the school community.

The Art of Preparation

For teachers like Deschamp, the preparation for a new semester involves a mix of revisiting old practices and introducing new ones. “Spent some time just doing planning for getting to know you activities, new seating charts, making sure I had all my materials, and just ready to hit the ground running with new and old students that I’ll have,” she explained.

Prepping: Winter vs. Summer

Deschamp noted that the winter preparation is often less intensive compared to the summer. “Probably less than I did in the summer because I know what I’m doing in a couple courses. For me, I have a new course that I’ll be teaching, so I’ve spent a little bit of time, probably maybe five hours over the course of the break and yesterday getting ready for that particular course,” she shared.

Early Planning for Smooth Transitions

A key strategy for Deschamp is advance preparation, even before the winter break begins. “I always try to use my time even before the winter break to get ready because when you come back, it’s so frantic that there really isn’t time that you think you’re going to have. So doing basic things like getting the first couple days of copies ready I tried to do back in December so that I could really just spend time on what new kids I’m getting and what do I need to know about them,” she said.

Adjusting Students Back to School Routine

Adjusting back to a school routine is as much a challenge for students as it is for teachers. “Like all of us, they got to spend their whole break getting up when they want to get up. Being able to go to the bathroom when they want to go to the bathroom, being on their phones all the time. I think phones is probably a hard habit for them to break,” Deschamp noted.

Challenges in Re-establishing Routine

Returning to a structured routine is another hurdle for both teachers and students. Deschamp acknowledged this as a common challenge in the post-holiday period. “Getting back in a routine” is a shared struggle as the new semester begins.