5 Must Have Tools for Summer School Teachers

Research shows that 3.4 million students attended summer school in 2020.

With so many young people taking time out of their summer to learn, countless educators are needed to run the summer schools they attend. But, unlike in regular schools, often summer school teachers have to be resourceful in their teaching as a result of working outside of their regular classrooms.

If you’re preparing for your first summer teaching experience, knowing what you need can be tough.

In this article, we outline five of the most important tools for teachers at summer schools. Read on to make sure you and your summer students never go without.

1. Teaching Resources

In the run-up to your first job amongst fellow summer school teachers, you might want to do some preparation and learning surrounding how best to keep your summer classes engaging for students. With the official school year being out, it might be tricky at times to curate a real classroom environment.

There are lots of books and reports that explain good ways to lean into the summer environment as a way of exciting your students and keeping them interested.

The prospect of a first summer’s teaching might seem overwhelming, but it’ll be less daunting if you’re confident in yourself as an educator. Consult the writings of those brave teachers who went before, learn from their experiences, and enjoy watching your students thrive.

2. Stationery Supplies

Teaching and learning have always required one thing in particular: stationery. Copious amounts of it.

This is one of the key tools for summer school.

Pencils break, erasers get lost, and pens run out of ink. In a full summer’s teaching, there are countless items of stationery that you might need. Rather than getting into a sticky situation when you find out your students have no paper or pens, be sure to stock up in case you need to hand some out.

Here’s a list of some items you might find useful during the summer:

• Pens
• Pencils
• Sharpener
• Erasers
• Ruler
• Tape
• Glue
• Scissors
• Paperclips
• Rubber Bands
• Sticky Notes
• Magnets
• Markers
• Push Pins

Go into the summer armed with your own pencil case, and a few spare items that the kids might need. You don’t need to spend your whole salary buying out office depot – you can ask the kids to bring things of their own too – but having some tools to hand will ease your mind.

Summer tutoring is all about making learning fun and accessible, and anticipating your student’s potential needs is part of this.

Having a pencil to give to the student who has none can show them they are welcome and safe even if they don’t have the best resources to bring to class. It will help everyone to avoid stress in the event of a breakage or loss. The importance of stationery items as summer tutoring tools cannot be overstated.

3. Virtual Classroom Software

Not all summer schools are held in a physical room. Sometimes, circumstances might mean a virtual classroom works better. Having a good and reliable virtual classroom available when needed is essential in the modern age of summer school teaching.

Even when you are all together, the tools found in a good virtual classroom software can be incredibly useful.

A virtual whiteboard can allow you to work collaboratively with students on questions and topics, and you can save the work once the lesson is complete. Screen sharing and recording functions mean you can keep a record of your classes to share with students.

Having a good virtual platform to accompany in-person classes means being able to give your students even more learning materials.

It also gives you as the teacher a good place to store resources in an organized and accessible way rather than having them mixed up with personal and professional documents or lost amongst documents from other classes you’ve taught.

Before your summer starts, be sure to invest in and set up a good online classroom. You’ll thank yourself for it soon enough!

4. Planner

The teacher’s planner is an essential resource. It can help you to keep track of assignments, grades, lesson plans, and timings. Educators have countless things to juggle, and getting them out of your head and onto the page can be a great way to reduce stress.

Planning has been shown to improve productivity, allowing people to get the most out of the limited hours in the day. 

You can use it to set times for lessons, figure out sensible deadlines for students, and make sure you don’t spend too much time marking work.

It’s also the ideal tool for the forgetful. 

Being a teacher means balancing remembering school-based dates and events with organizing your own personal life. Having a planner can help you improve your work-life balance and remember all those key days.

5. Sanitizer and Cleaning Supplies

Keeping you and your students safe and healthy is a huge priority if everyone is to enjoy summer school. Having some disinfectant to wipe down desks regularly and some sanitizer for your class to use means everyone can feel safe and free from worrying about germs.

A fresh classroom is a fun classroom to learn in.

Grab yourself some cleaning things to keep in your classroom. Remember that they need to be kept away from any younger students, and always supervise use if needs be.

Your Summer School Success Awaits!

Knowing exactly what tools you need sets you up for a positive experience in helping students learn and grow. Summer school is a great opportunity to combine learning with fun, and with these resources, you’ll do a great job.

Your classroom might just be the one in which students make long-term memories, so equip yourself to make sure they’re good ones!

The lifestyle of a teacher can be hectic and complex. If you’re looking for more organization and resource tips, be sure to take a look at our latest blog posts for helpful articles!