10 Tips for a Strong Start to the School Year with Fishtank ELA

Chatter filled hallways. Freshly sharpened pencils. A sea of backpacks. All of these things only mean one thing: school is back in session.

All of us at Fishtank Learning hope you had a restful and refreshing summer. As you get ready to begin the new school year, we’ve rounded up a few tips, tools, and resources to help you start strong. Whether you’re preparing your classroom, supporting teachers, or thinking of the months ahead, we’ve got you covered. There’s something here for everyone.

We hope the tips on this list make the back-to-school season a little bit smoother—that way you can focus on what matters most—your students.

Tips for Starting the School Year Strong with Fishtank ELA

1. Get comfortable. Over the past few school years, we’ve released enhancements to our curriculum and our website. Spend time (re)familiarizing yourself with our platform or re-reading about our product updates. Instructional Leaders: If needed by your teachers, reach out to your partnerships manager to schedule a Teacher Orientation.

2. Dive in. Read your core texts for Unit 1 before launching with your students. Complete your Unit Launch to teach the text with confidence, purpose, and responsiveness.

3. Prep materials. Whether it’s printing or organizing slides, handouts, word cards, or other classroom resources, get things ready ahead of time. Fishtank already offers many of these either in an editable format or ready to download. Get all your word cards ready for the school year. This makes it easy to print, organize, or otherwise have them ready for when you need them.

4. Take stock. Take time to identify the structures and systems you already have in place to support a successful Fishtank implementation. This might include collaborative planning time, professional learning, or team meetings. Don’t be afraid to ask our Implementation team about our Readiness Assessment. And don’t panic (see Tip #9) if everything isn’t in place by day one. Focus on what you can implement now and create a plan to build additional structures throughout the year.

5. Build community. Let other adults in your students’ lives know what they’ll be learning by sending home a copy of our Family Guides. These guides invite others into your student’s learning and can support continued learning outside the classroom. Not only are these editable, but this year we now have them available translated into Spanish. (Watch the video to see how to access each unit’s Family Guide!)  ## wistia_blog cwxawcl06o ##

   
    
   Family Guides available for Fishtank Plus users. Not a Fishtank Plus member? Individual users can upgrade to Fishtank Plus here. Interested in an all-access school license? Request a demo today!
    

6. Internalize. Start building familiarity with our intellectual preparation processes (Intellectual Preparation K-5, 6-8, 9-12). Internalize 2-3 lessons in Unit 1 using the Lesson Internalization process to determine how you’ll engage your students and customize your materials! By using our process to internalize each lesson, you’ll ensure that your lessons will meet your students’ needs. 

7. Leverage technology. Utilize Fishtank Student (for ELA Grades 3-12) this year for students to complete their Target Tasks and take assessments. Using Fishtank Student in your classroom can enable you to track assessment data and give real-time feedback to students. Learn more about Fishtank Student (for ELA Grades 3-12).  

8. Get signed up. Instructional Leaders: Build your capacity to support your teachers by signing up for Fishtank’s Leader Development Series. Engage with other leaders across the country as we learn best practices for a successful Fishtank implementation. Hear what other Leaders have to say about our Leader Development Series. 

9. Don’t panic. Give yourself grace. Whether you’re starting the school year as a Fishtank veteran or just starting your journey, remember that strong implementation is built over time. Focus on steady progress, celebrate small wins, and trust that your confidence and expertise will grow with each lesson. 

10. Trust the process. Trust the process by trusting your students. Start with the belief that all students can engage with complex texts and meaningful tasks when given the right support. Rather than changing the text itself, focus on providing targeted supports that help specific students access the learning. Need ideas for supporting all learners? Check the Supporting All Students boxes in each lesson and our Library of Teacher Tools.

As the year gets underway, we’d love to hear from you about which tips were most useful in your planning. Here’s to another year of meaningful learning and supporting students!

Jess Lamadieu
Director of School Partnerships and former MS ELA Teacher

Emily Wojtusik
Senior Director of Implementation and former MS ELA Teacher, Dean, and Principal

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