This is Part 3 of a four-part series on getting ready for the new school year: Reset & Reflect, Digital Cleanup & Setup, Building Routines That Stick, and Countdown to Day One.

The classrooms that feel calm in October aren’t lucky — they’re built that way in the first two weeks of August. Routines are the quiet infrastructure holding everything else up, including your tech.

Start with the boring stuff

The most important routines are the least exciting ones:

• How students enter the room and get started
• How and when devices come out (and get put away)
• What happens when work is turned in — digitally and on paper
• How students ask for help without derailing the whole class

Write these down as if you’re explaining them to a substitute. If you can’t explain it in one sentence, it’s not simple enough yet.

Let tech support the routine, not replace it

A common trap: assuming a tool creates a routine by existing. It doesn’t. A tool only works if the behavior around it is taught and practiced. It isn’t the tool or tech; it is the TEACHER with a plan that make it successful!

• If students submit work digitally, teach and practice the submission process itself — not just the content.
• If you use a warm-up app, have a consistent time and signal for it, the same way you would with a paper worksheet.
• Decide your “tech down” moments in advance — times when no devices are open at all — so it’s a norm, not a punishment.

Practice, don’t assume

The first week isn’t about content — it’s about rehearsal. Walk through routines slowly, let students get it wrong, and correct calmly. Two extra days of practice in August saves weeks of chaos in September.

Build in a review point

Pick a date — say, the Friday of week three — to sit down and ask, “Is this routine actually working?” Routines set in August often need a small tweak once real classroom dynamics show up. That’s normal, not failure.

Last up in this series: the final countdown — what to actually do the week before students walk in.

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This post is part of a four-part series on getting ready for the new school year. Missed the last one? Part 2: Digital Cleanup & Setup ← | → Continue with Part 4: Countdown to Day One