OH MY, IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Dr. Wendy Ghiora – Posting #96 – August 20, 2011

Just how important is the first day of school anyway? It’s actually VERY important. It sets the tone for the entire year. It's been said, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." It's another start of the school year and that means another opportunity to improve your teaching. What are your plans for the first day and the first week? If you're an experienced teacher, you probably try to establish the "class culture" each year. If that' s not started on the first day and established within the first week, it probably won’t be.

As a teacher, what are some of the most important things you should do at the very beginning of the school year? Below are some principles for creating your own class culture.

Make it Fresh
One thing every teacher should consider is trying something new; something you’ve never done before on the first day of school. That's the beauty of teaching; we get to start all over again each year. If you are an effective teacher you will undoubtedly start with a plan, a better and more reflective plan than the previous year. That change can begin the first day. Do something new that reflects the new plan. For example, change the way the seats are arranged, teach from the back and front of the class.

The ineffective teacher does the same thing year after year, which is why Einstein said,
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting different results."

Get Students' Buy-In Through Icebreakers
Although ice breakers can seem frivolous, they can be an important first step to getting student buy-in. Unless a student is emotionally connected to school, they will lack motivation to learn. Many teachers consider ice breakers as essential to building the comfort necessary when creating a “team” of learners. For example, have a game where everyone memorizes everyone else’s name and something about them.

Create Class Rules
Create classroom rules using student input. Ideally you should keep classroom rules down to a manageable limit of 3-6 rules. Include a tardy policy and a behavior contract. Elicit student agreement on the order of importance of each rule.


Use Warmups
Begin the routine of using meaningful daily warm-ups. The key word here is “meaningful.” Students are experts at identifying “busy work,” which is not what they should be doing. They should do work that will include real practice toward achieving important learning goals they have set for themselves. For example, if the day before you taught about US presidents, create a slideshow that has presidents pictures and something about each and then let students jot down which president they are.

Have a Positive Teacher Communication/Attitude
Most students are also wondering:
“Will the teacher treat me as a human being?” Everyone wants to be treated with respect, dignity, and love, whether that person is a teacher, administrator, or student. You will have about seven seconds to create that perception beginning with:

how you treat yourself with respect, dignity, and love,
how you greet your students at the door,
how you dress,
what signs are posted in your classroom,
the message on the chalkboard,
the obviousness that you are organized and ready,
that you are in control of the learning environment for the classroom, and
that you really care about each child’s success in your classroom

An ineffective teacher may be more concerned with doing "their thing" or “can't wait to start with a fun activity” so that he or she can be the student's friend or pal. The students are not looking for fun. They are looking for security, consistency, respect, dignity, and care and you can convey that message on the first day of school by conveying how well you are organized. Your effective management skills will demonstrate to the students if your class will be exciting or boring, and if you will light or extinguish their candle.

Get to Know Your Students
An important thing to accomplish during the first week of school is getting to know one personal thing about each of your students. You should learn all of their names in the first week and try to remember one personal interest, hobby or strength that helps to define them. You are going to be a mentor and guiding force in the months to come and your influence will be considerably stronger if you can relate to a personal aspect of each child in your class.

Elicit High Expectations
An effective teacher must have high expectations. Strive to raise the bar for your students. If you expect less effort you will receive less effort. You should work on an attitude that says you know students can achieve to your level of expectations. This will automatically give them a sense of confidence too. This is not to say that you should create unrealistic expectations. However, your expectations will be one of the key factors in helping students learn and achieve.

When you clearly explain and train your students in your expectations, they will know what to do and when to do it. This creates a well-disciplined class which in turn supports student learning. Challenging your students every day is a powerful tool which will motivate them to strive to do their very best and beyond. Although it takes a bit of work and time on your part at the beginning of the year, it is so well worth it!

Conclusion
Which of these is most important? For building a classroom culture, all of them are. Create your teaching plan for the first week and make sure to include all of these principles. If you do, you'll be on your way to creating a class culture that will result in excellent class management and student learning. Go for it!