The first few weeks of school are always an adjustment.

Students are learning new schedules, meeting teachers, finding classrooms and remembering what it feels like to sit in class for most of the day. Teachers are adjusting, too. We are learning names, establishing expectations and trying to create classrooms where students feel comfortable enough to learn.

Underneath all of that is something much simpler: routine.

Summer gives young people a break from the structure of the school year. Bedtimes become later. Mornings become slower. Meals happen at different times. Then August arrives, and almost overnight, we expect students to switch everything back on.

That is not always easy.

Routine provides a foundation. Students generally do better when they know what comes next and what is expected of them. That applies inside the classroom, but it begins long before a student walks through the school doors.

Perhaps the most important routine begins the night before.

It Starts With Sleep

Anyone who has taught teenagers knows what a tired student looks like.

Sometimes it is obvious: The student’s head goes down on the desk. Other times, it is more subtle. A student may have difficulty concentrating, become frustrated more easily or struggle to engage with something that normally would not be difficult.

This is not simply a matter of teachers complaining that teenagers stay up too late. Research supports the importance of sleep.

A 2022 systematic review by Caroline Dutil and her colleagues examined 46 observational studies involving nearly 209,000 children and adolescents. It found that later sleep timing was associated with poorer emotional regulation, lower cognitive function or academic achievement, shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality.

The researchers acknowledged that most of the studies were cross-sectional and that the overall quality of evidence was very low. The findings show associations; they do not prove that sending a student to bed earlier will automatically improve their grades.

Still, the larger point is difficult to ignore: Sleep matters.

Parents do not have to transform their homes into military barracks at 9 p.m. What matters is rebuilding consistency. A reasonably consistent bedtime, a morning routine and preparation the night before can remove some of the chaos from the beginning of a student’s day.

Routine Doesn’t Mean Perfection

Educators sometimes need to give parents — and ourselves — a little grace.

We are only a few weeks into the school year. Parents are working. Kids have athletics, jobs, extracurricular activities and family responsibilities. Teachers have families and responsibilities of their own.

A good routine doesn’t have to be complex. It might mean placing a backpack by the door before bed, charging a school-issued device each night, picking out an outfit in advance or designating a place where homework will be completed.

These are small things. That’s the beauty of them.

Schools Have a Role, Too

Educators can’t emphasize the importance of routine while ignoring our obligation to provide it in our schools.

Students should know what is expected of them in the classroom, where to find assignments and how to ask for help. Consequences and expectations shouldn’t shift from day to day or based on a teacher’s mood.

For some students, school is one of the most consistent elements in their lives. That is why predictable classrooms matter.

Communication between educators and parents also matters. If a student begins sleeping through class, arrives unprepared every morning or shows a marked behavioral change, we shouldn’t immediately assign blame. Sometimes it is better to ask: What’s different?

Is the student staying up late to study? Is something changing at home? Is an extracurricular commitment becoming overwhelming? Is the student struggling to return to a school-year routine?

Teachers may see one piece of the puzzle. Parents see another. We get much further when we put those pieces together.

Give It Time

The beginning of the school year feels heavy because we all want to start off right. But we don’t need to get everything right immediately.

The first several weeks should be a time of adjustment for students, parents and teachers. Let’s figure out what works and what doesn’t.

If bedtime has drifted closer to midnight, begin moving it earlier. If mornings are a mess, prepare one additional item the night before. If a student struggles to complete assignments after school, establish a specific time and place for that work.

Tiny adjustments practiced daily become habits. Habits eventually become routines.

Our objective isn’t to produce a perfect student, home or classroom. None of those exists. The objective is to give kids enough structure that when the bell rings and they’re expected to learn, they’re ready.

Sometimes the best parts of a good school day happen before that bell rings at all.

Research Referenced

Dutil, Caroline, et al. “Sleep Timing and Health Indicators in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.” Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada, vol. 42, no. 4, 2022, pp. 150–169. PMID: 35481337. DOI: 10.24095/hpcdp.42.4.04.