🎓 Back to School Starter Kit for Teachers 🙌 w/Templates, Tech Tips & Trainings OH MY!
⏰ TL;DR
This is the start of the BEST YEAR EVER!
🧩 Resource of the Week - Back-2-School Starter Kit
🖖 Livestream of the Week - Teacher Template Resource Roundup!
🛠️ Tech Tip - Canva Bulk Create saves HOURS!!!
📚 Tarver Book Club - Atomic Habits
🎓 HONOR ROLL ONLY - The AI Teacher Playbook Masterclass (knock out 6 hours of PD in the process)!
👋 REAL TALK
Back to school week…
Upbeat Spotify clean song playlist on loop?
$50 says I Got This Feelin…Inside My Soul...is gonna make an appearance! 😂
Blood-borne pathogens required training?
Oh, oh I missed thee!!
Awkard “New to the District” stand-up-and-wave introductions aside, I’ve personally been the person in charge of that week for a district.
Scheduling the sessions.
Teachers begging for more time in their classroom
Getting signatures so we don’t lose state funding
FUN STUFF!!
It's a dance.
Not always a fun one.
More like a three-legged race where the third leg is a SmartBoard bulb you need that’s been discontinued.
But here’s the thing…
That first year I opened back-to-school as Director of Curriculum and Instruction…
I was terrified.
Didn’t sleep the night before.
Felt like Christmas Eve... except the presents were 3-ring binders and “fun icebreakers” with $5 gift cards.
And as soon as it started tho, it flew by.
That’s this job called teaching.
You prep all summer, then blink, and you’re in October and you know lil Billy’s parents on a first name basis.
Mixed feelings are part of the gig.
Excited.
Tired.
Inspired.
Overstimulated?
Wanting to make a difference… but also dreading the week back cause it means we have to change out of our PJs for the first time in months.
And guess what?
That’s okay.
We’re educators.
We ride the rollercoaster of emotions and try to justify why teenagers need to learn Pythagorean Theorem (no fam, you ain’t gonna use this in real life).
So as you head into the chaos:
✏️ Take a deep breath.
🧼 Survive the trainings.
🪄 Steal back time to plan something that lights you up!
Because this job?
It’s hard.
But it matters.
You got this.
Much love,
📥 THE DROP
Quick wins, free tools, and classroom-ready ideas I’d forward a teacher BFF to save time and teach even better!
🧩 Free Resource of the Week - Back-2-School Templates FOR DAYZZZ!
Here’s a ton of free templates you can make a copy of and have for the start of school!
Free Resource Roundup Livestream Replay!! Join the chat live Thursday, July 31 (Harry Potter’s Birthday) 9am - 12pm CST! The link still works any time after that, too! 🎥 Please Subscribe while you’re there (if you want, no pressure)!
But if you just want them templates, here are a bunch specific to the start of school! Most of them are at least 90% ready to go after you make a copy! Take and share whatever you need!
🧩 If you only use one, I like this activity for students that first week! ➡️ About Our Class Google Slide
🛠️ Tech Tip
ChatGPT rolled out a new “Study & Learn” mode: built for students, but also a lil golden nugget for teachers too!
It breaks things down, builds up understanding step-by-step, and even checks for comprehension like a veryyyy patient (and super smart) digital tutor!
✅ Great for test prep
✅ Awesome for walkthroughs
✅ Saves you from explaining slope-intercept form 47 times 🫠
🎥 Click here to see my quick review and how you can use it in class
⏳ Time Saver
Canva Bulk Create = Time Saver Supreme 👑
Canva’s lil Bulk Create feature lets you duplicate templates at scale! Hall passes, certificates, flashcards, name tags, and slides OH MY! All a simple spreadsheet!
Think mail merge or Autocrat, but much more attractive!
🔁 One template
📊 One Google Sheet
📤 Boom. 30+ custom resources in seconds!
Whether you're leveling up your classroom decor or batch-creating student materials, this is a game changer for your workflow and TIMEEEEEEE!!!
🧪 Hack of the Week
Dumb your sched in Google Calendar and it’ll auto create events for you!!
Did you know Google Gemini can literally create calendar events for you? FOR REAL IT’S TRUE I NEVER LIE ABOUT SOMETHING THIS IMPORTANT ALSO SORRY FOR YELLING THIS!
Just open it up, find the Gemini icon, say what you need (“Add planning period every Monday at 2”), and boom, it drops it right into Google Calendar like it’s hotttttt.
No more clicking 87 times to schedule a recurring meeting!!
🧠 It understands natural language
📅 Syncs right with your calendar
⚡ Frees up your brain for, you know…teaching
👨🔬 LEARNING LAB
A few lil chicken nuggets I’ve been learning, lol-ing, or lowkey stealing ideas from (and you can, too)!
🎥 Video I Liked
Michael Bonner Droppin’ Wisdom
Hands down: Michael Bonner is probably my favorite education speaker I’ve ever seen.
In relation to his thoughts from the viddie, in one of my keynotes, I ask the room:
Who here drove a horse and buggy to get here today?
No hands have been raised to date.
Technology (if used correctly) = efficiency
We as educators have to consider the tools students will use for the rest of their lives, and prep them to use those tools for good, not just to cheat.
This clip from Michael is 🔥 and a powerful reminder of the mindset shift we need to meet students where they are and lead them where they’re going!
💬 Rock the Quote
“Technology will not replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational.”
— George Couros
Sie Couros nails it here.
Tech is not the star of the show, you are.
When you pair your teaching with the right tools
You're not just surviving…you're scaling impact like Free Solo.
Teach smart.
Lead loud.
Click buttons with purpose. 🎯
My fav quote I use on this is:
Ai will not replace you as a teacher, however…a teacher who uses AI might.
Modify and adjust.
Or as the 90s t-shirts told us: No Fear.
You got this.
🤖 Prompt of the Week
Ask ChatGPT and/or Gemini:
“Create a back-to-school survival guide from the perspective of a classroom object (like a pencil, whiteboard, or student desk) that also helps set classroom expectations in a fun way.”
🎒 Use it as:
A quirky first-day read-aloud
A writing prompt for students
A hallway display that says “this ain’t your average syllabus week”
Engaging? ✅
Educational? ✅
A lil Weird? ✅
📚 Tarver Book Club
I talked about turning my Baller Teacher keynote 4 years.
Then I read Atomic Habits…
…and wrote the whole thing in 3 months.
James Clear doesn’t peddle motivation, he shows how small, consistent actions can lead to massive change.
Seems like a perfect topic for kicking off the school year (imo)!
TL;DR: Get 1% better each day.
That compounds fast.
💡 A Dr. Tarver approved takeaway:
“You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
Stack your habits onto things you already do, like reviewing bell ringers while taking attendance.
Grab it.
Highlight it.
Apply it.
It’ll level up your classroom and your life.
Again, imo.
🔐 THE VAULT
Weekly highlighted tips, trainings, & resources just for the Honor Roll VIPs! 👩🏫 Admin ➡️ get full access for your ENTIRE school!
🥋 Skill to Help You
In this BRAND NEW COURSE for all you Honor Roll GOATS, we break down what your real role is as a teacher in the age of AI. Spoiler: you're not being replaced, you're doing the thing you got into teaching to do!
Tech may provide answers and convenience, but you provide context, direction, and connection.
You’re the guide, and your students need your help to become the HERO!!
🎥 Trainings to Save Time
Hugeeeee shoutout to everyone who joined the live Resource Round-Up training and knocked out 3 hours of PD like A BOSS!! 🙌
If you missed it, no stress on the dress!
You can join the premiere tomorrow with the rest of the email lists MVPs or watch it anytime you want!
💥 You can ALSO go at your own pace inside the Back-to-School Resource Walkthroughs Course made just for Honor Roll members!
🎤 Steal this Slide Deck
If you’re presenting to your team this week (or just want to to flip through to see things I think are important), grab my Future-Focused Education slide deck.
It’s designed to help you lead a convo on how we can prepare students (and more importantly ourselves) for the tech-driven, fast-moving, ai-infested world they’re stepping into.
💡 Make a copy, tweak what you need, and guide your peeps like the hero you are!
✌️Epilogue
You don’t have to feel 100% ready, just 100% present.
New year, new names, same calling.
You’re not alone, and you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be!!
Let’s ride. 🚀
💌 Never Stop Learning!
-Dr. Tyler Tarver
🎯 P.S. As always, if you wanna scour my free resources and make a copy of something and then change it and then out your name/school on it and then share it with your team/school, now’s the time to do it!
For real, no need to give me credit.
In the words of Hermione Granger…
”No worries, dude, I’ll do all the work and you take all the credit.”
jkjkjkrowling 😂
