What are five back-to-school tips to boost teacher success with Wayfinder?

The 5 tips are: provide direct implementation support in staff meetings and professional learning, embed Wayfinder in adult learning, remove barriers to implementation, help teachers with family messaging, and model Wayfinder activities directly with students. Together, these strategies help set teachers up for a strong start to the school year.

Why is embedding Wayfinder in adult learning important for teachers?

Adults benefit from human skill development just as much as students do. When administrators model Wayfinder activities like team-building exercises with staff, teachers get firsthand experience of the benefits, including improved communication skills, stronger self-awareness, and greater capacity for empathy, making them more likely to bring those same practices into their classrooms.

What can administrators do to remove barriers to Wayfinder implementation?

Teachers' main obstacles to implementing new practices are technology, time, and unfamiliarity. Administrators can help by building a clear scope and sequence with easy-to-access resources shared directly in the app, giving teachers dedicated collaboration time to build their own Collections, and offering ongoing professional learning throughout the year rather than a single summer training session.

How can teachers get help with family messaging about Wayfinder?

Administrators can support teachers by managing family communication proactively, such as hosting Wayfinder activities during back-to-school nights so families can experience the programming firsthand. Using Wayfinder's family letters to explain curricular modules, or linking to Wayfinder blogs in newsletters, can also help families understand how Wayfinder supports their children's academic and personal growth.

What are some ways to model Wayfinder activities directly with students?

Administrators can use assemblies or rallies to set the tone for the school year with quick, large-group activities. Examples include Box Breathing to create calm and focus, This or That to improve energy and engagement, and Stand-up/Sit-down games to foster community and relationship-building among students.

5 Aug

2026

Diana Curtaz

5 Essential Back-to-School Tips to Boost Teacher Success with Wayfinder

9:12

5 Essential Back-to-School Tips to Boost Teacher Success with Wayfinder

Q: How can administrators provide direct implementation support in staff meetings and professional learning?

Administrators can focus on three types of facilitation support: modeling Wayfinder lessons or activities during staff meetings or training (especially easy-to-integrate ones like openers, closers, or team-building exercises), dedicating planning time for teachers to embed Wayfinder into their curriculum, and preparing ready-to-use Collections of lessons so teachers can start confidently from day one. It's also important to tailor activities to the grade levels and experience of each staff audience.

The back-to-school season is here, and Wayfinder knows how exciting yet daunting it can be. As students return to classrooms, you may ask: How do I fully support the teachers on campus as they support our students?

Over the years of helping our partners facilitate successful program rollouts across schools and districts, we’ve found that beginning the year with a strong focus on adult well-being with Wayfinder is a great way to set teachers up for success. While your back-to-school efforts get underway, here are our tips for championing belonging and fostering a positive, productive environment for your educators.

1. Provide Direct Implementation Support in Staff Meetings + Professional Learning

As the school year begins, set aside time for professional learning to model Wayfinder facilitation. As you plan your back-to-school professional learning sessions, think about three direct facilitation support types: modeling, planning, and preparing.

Modeling: Demonstrate Wayfinder lessons or activities in staff meetings or training sessions, focusing especially on those that are easy to integrate, such as openers/closers or team-building exercises. When teachers see how easy and quick many Wayfinder activities are to facilitate, they may be more open and excited to integrate them into their own classrooms.

Planning: Dedicate professional learning time for teachers to prepare to embed Wayfinder into their curriculum and instructional practice, thereby reducing workload and cognitive load throughout the year.

Preparing: Consider taking some work off your teachers’ plates by curating Collections of Wayfinder lessons and activities so they have a ready-to-use resource right from the start. Include all of the activities you modeled in PD so teachers can begin confidently. Preparing these beforehand has the added benefit of helping students start their year with similarly positive experiences. 2026 New Back-to-School Wayfinder Collections

Of course, you can also use Wayfinder’s premade Collections for back-to-school and related themes, including:

Promoting Belonging
Creating Connection
Finding Support
Absenteeism
Ice Breakers
Back to School
Team Building
Games
And more!

When modeling, planning, and preparing Wayfinder resources for summer PD, be mindful of the grade levels your staff members teach, and ensure the activities you demonstrate align with your intended audiences. An activity perfect for kindergarteners might not resonate with high school teachers or their students. Similarly, something suitable for new teachers may not be as impactful for veteran educators.

If you work with a large staff, you may consider splitting into grade bands and modeling different activities for different groups of teachers. Distributing this task among administrators, counselors, and experienced Wayfinder teachers can help you reach all of your educator audiences with training best suited to their grade and familiarity levels.

2. Embed Wayfinder in Adult Learning

Adults can benefit from human skill development just as much as students do. Activities like team-building exercises or even simple mood-boosting music playlists can make a significant difference. When you model these practices with adults, teachers get firsthand experience of their benefits, making them more inclined to use them in classrooms.

Using adult-appropriate Wayfinder activities with your staff isn’t just about making them more comfortable with facilitating it, either. The research-backed benefits of Wayfinder—including improved communication skills, stronger self-awareness, greater capacity for empathy, and more—are also features of a well-functioning staff ready to build a healthy school culture among themselves and their students.

3. Remove Barriers

Teachers sometimes face very real barriers when adding new programs to their teaching practice. At other times, these barriers are mental blocks that make implementing Wayfinder feel like an intimidating new endeavor for teachers. Whatever the case, there are steps you can take to help your teachers find ways to add a Wayfinder component to their classrooms and to feel comfortable and confident in doing so. Teachers' main obstacles in implementing new practices are technology, time, and unfamiliarity. Here are a few steps administrators can take to remove these barriers:

Build a Scope + Sequence: Share Wayfinder resources directly with staff in the app, and reinforce the messaging through school communications or newsletters. Include links to resources so teachers can access materials with a single click. This can help teachers who struggle with new technologies easily access Wayfinder and get comfortable using the platform.

Give Time for Collaboration: Allocate dedicated time during staff meetings or planning sessions to focus specifically on Wayfinder. Encourage grade-level teams to come together and create their own Collections of tailored activities and lessons, removing the onus of planning from individual teachers while also giving them ownership of Wayfinder planning and implementation.

Offer Ongoing Professional Learning: Initial training in summer is great, but it likely won’t be enough for your teachers who are very new to Wayfinder and/or those who have had less-than-great past experiences with similar human skills or character development programming. To help build familiarity and comfort, continue to model new Wayfinder activities throughout the year. Providing ongoing tips and tricks for facilitating Wayfinder with students can help remove the barrier created by unfamiliarity.

4. Help Teachers with Family Messaging

Communication with students’ families is pivotal in ensuring the success of school programs—and this is especially true for less traditional learning experiences like those provided by Wayfinder. Managing this messaging from the start ensures that teachers can confidently embed Wayfinder into their practice without apprehension about how families will react or uncertainty about future ramifications.

A proactive approach, such as arranging Wayfinder activities during back-to-school nights, can offer families a firsthand experience of the programming and alleviate concerns. Families may need help understanding how Wayfinder is important to their children’s academic and personal growth. Use Wayfinder’s family letters to explain curricular modules, or even link to Wayfinder blogs in newsletters that your families might benefit from reading.

5. Model Wayfinder Activities Directly with Students

The first few assemblies or rallies can really help set the tone for a school year. What better way to introduce Wayfinder than to have school administrators model targeted activities? Depending on your students and the tone you’re trying to set, you may consider different types of simple, quick activities that can be facilitated with large groups to create the desired effect.

Create calm + focus: A simple breathing technique, like Wayfinder’s “Box Breathing” activity, helps reduce anxiety and improve focus. It can be introduced at the start of an assembly to set a calm tone and help students focus on the information about to be introduced.

Improve energy + engagement: A quick ice-breaker like Wayfinder’s “This or That” encourages participants to choose between two options (ex: "ice cream or cookies?") and move to one side of a room to indicate their choice. This type of activity energizes students while promoting decision-making skills.

Foster community and relationship-building: Stand-up/Sit-down games, for example, are interactive and can be tailored to be educational (ex: "Stand up if you've read a book for fun this summer.") These types of activities help students get to know one another better, reestablish familiarity after time away, and recognize the strengths and healthy habits they see in their school communities.

By showcasing these activities, administrators not only promote Wayfinder learning but also help teachers visualize how they can incorporate them into their classes.

The beginning of the school year is more than just textbooks and lesson plans; it's about building relationships, encouraging engagement, and setting a positive tone for the months ahead. Likewise, supporting teachers is more than providing resources; it’s about leading by example, fostering collaboration, and removing perceived barriers. With an intentional focus on Wayfinder, administrators can create an environment where teachers feel empowered, supported, and prepared to make a positive impact throughout the school year. Click here for research-backed teacher retention strategies for school and district administrators.

Read more about adult learning with Wayfinder and explore our professional learning offerings here:

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