Classroom Routines & Systems

I know it's hard to believe, but back-to-school season is here again. My social media feeds are full of teachers setting up their classrooms, and while I don't head back for another week, I'm already thinking through my own setup. Over the years, I've developed a process that helps me stay organized, avoid feeling overwhelmed, and make sure my classroom is ready for students—not just decorated for the first day.

When setting up a classroom for English language learners, it's easy to focus on decorations, bulletin boards, and making everything look perfect. But the classroom systems you build matter far more than how your room looks. Simple, consistent classroom systems help ELL students spend less time figuring out procedures and more time learning mathematics.

Teachers are busy, YOU are busy. We have so many little things to keep up with on a daily basis. The word wall was creating a struggle, but it would be worth it if I felt it was the ideal solution to support my students. My goal is to create a system that is easy to maintain, supports my students, and isn’t too visually overwhelming.

Getting my students to do homework this past school year was tough. They didn’t see the value in it, and honestly, why would they? They could plug the question into AI, get the answer in seconds, and move on. By the end of the year, it got so bad in one class that some days I stopped really checking homework altogether and just gave a completion grade.

The end of the year always brings about a time of reflection. Reflection on what the future holds and on what the past year brought. Before I completely check out for the summer and start planning, I wanted to look back and celebrate both the successes and the struggles of the past year, while also looking ahead to classroom strategies for next year.

I came home after the first week of the spring semester feeling emotionally drained. Nothing major happened. No classroom blowups. No admin emergencies. No parent conferences gone wrong. Just… teaching. The Weight of Everyday Teaching One student was absent most of the week and only showed up for one day. Another is dealing with family situations that make it hard to focus on school right now. Several students are frustrated and refuse to use the supports provided to them, li

Combine that with my nickname, Beetle, and Bugged About Math was born. What started as a quirky classroom tool became the perfect name for a space dedicated to making math fun, approachable, and full of little helpers along the way.