By October, you’ve put a lot into your classroom. You’ve taught routines, built relationships, explained expectations  –  and then explained them again (and maybe one more time). You’ve tried to make learning engaging while helping students learn how to work alongside each other.

Some of that work is paying off. Some still needs your attention. And some days, it’s hard to tell which is which.

Before you go looking for another strategy, pause to look at what you’ve already built.

What will you keep? What can you release? What could use a refresh?

These three questions can help you decide where to put your energy next – and recognize the effort that deserves more time to grow.

KEEP: What’s helping your students thrive?

When something goes wrong, it tends to get our attention immediately. The things going well can become so familiar that we barely notice them.

Students get their materials independently. A partner conversation helps them work through a tricky idea. Someone notices a classmate needs help and offers it.

Those moments count. They’re evidence of something you’ve helped build. Keeping what works also means recognizing that some of your effort hasn’t shown its full value yet.

When I taught fifth grade, I spent a lot of time in the fall teaching students how to work together. We practiced helping each other, being patient, and responding kindly when someone didn’t understand. I kept returning to the importance of trusting one another and recognizing that different people could help us learn.

Then, in January, I walked out with my two teaching teammates after we’d taught the same math lesson. 

It had been a tough one. Students were confused and the lesson hadn’t unfolded quite the way any of us had hoped.

My students had been confused, too, but somewhere in the middle of the struggle, I noticed something else  happening. A few students understood what the task required and began helping their classmates. One student explained it in a way that reached peers even better than my explanation had.

As I listened to my teammates, I felt this huge swell of pride. Not because the lesson had gone exactly as I had planned, but because the time we’d spent learning to collaborate was showing up when we needed it. When the work got hard, students knew they could turn toward each other for help.

Ask yourself: Which routines, relationships, or strategies are helping students thrive – or showing signs of growth worth continuing?

Sometimes the answer is something that makes your day easier right now. Sometimes it’s something you’re still patiently teaching.

RELEASE: What’s taking more energy than it’s giving back?

We recently coached a middle school teacher who was frustrated by the start of class.

Students regularly arrived just after the bell. Their entrances interrupted the lesson, and the teacher faced a familiar decision: send them back out to get a late pass, losing another ten minutes, or let them stay and navigate the disagreement about being late.

Even once students were settled, getting them focused was a struggle.

We looked at their schedule. Students had three minutes to leave one class, stop at their lockers for materials, and get to the next room. When they arrived, they were expected to be seated, silent, and ready to learn immediately – much as they had been in the previous class.

The hallway offered something they wanted: a chance to talk with friends. And if coming into class meant that conversation had to end immediately, there wasn’t much incentive to leave the hallway early.

That helped us understand what needed another look.

The teacher’s goal made sense: get students to class on time and protect learning. But the expectation that students would move straight from hallway conversation into silent learning was creating a daily struggle.

Letting go of that particular approach opened up a possibility.

Ask yourself: Is there a routine, expectation, or approach that is taking more energy than it’s giving back?

You can still care deeply about the goal while reconsidering how you’re asking students to reach it.

REFRESH: What could a small adjustment make possible?

We changed how that class began.

Students came in and had three minutes to talk with friends. Then they joined a short, fun warm – up connected loosely to the lesson, working and talking in teams for another three minutes.

Six minutes.

On paper, that felt like a lot of time. In practice, it was four minutes less than the teacher had been losing to late arrivals and trips to get passes.

Within a week, every student was in their seat on time, every day. 

The new routine made room for students’ need to connect without sacrificing learning time. The teacher enjoyed creating the warm – ups and watching students grapple with them. Class felt more purposeful and lighter.

The change began with looking closely at a familiar problem and asking what students needed to enter learning successfully.

Ask yourself: What could benefit from a small adjustment or a different perspective?

Look at one part of the day that consistently feels harder than it needs to. What might you notice if you considered it from your students’ perspective?

Give your seeds time to grow

A fall check – in can help you make a needed change. It can also help you resist abandoning something simply because the results aren’t immediate.

Teaching students to trust each other, ask for help, or respond with patience takes repeated practice. The seeds you plant in August, September, and October may become most visible in January, when the work gets harder, and students have something to draw on.

Choose one thing to keep, one thing to release, and one thing to refresh. They might even be three parts of the same classroom routine.

You’ve already invested a great deal in this classroom. Give yourself a moment to notice what’s growing… and decide what needs tending next.

Written by Sarah Fillion 2026

Want more ideas for helping students get engaged and stay on task?

Our Maximizing On-Task Behavior: Proactive & Reactive Strategies course helps you take a fresh look at your classroom practices, prevent common off-task behaviors, and respond effectively when challenges arise. Find practical tools to protect learning time and make your day feel more manageable.