It is time to start thinking about heading back to school, and I hope these five tips will get you moving in the right direction.
Give students something creative to do on the first.
Have a short set of directions on the board for students as they walk in so that you can greet them at the door.
Avoid the syllabus like the plague.
Do anything but go over the syllabus. The students have five or six other teachers reading them a list of rules or procedures, so dare to be different.
You can set expectations and model good behavior without reading students list off a piece of paper. Plus, reading to students in this format is more insulting than informative.
If you must hand out the syllabus, have students read it that night and come back the next day with three questions they have about the syllabus or class.
Have students write something
Student writing establishes the culture of the classroom and moves beyond reading the syllabus; it makes students immediate participants in the class. I also use these write to learn about my students from the get-go.
I always start my English classes with having students do their first
journal write:
Why do we study English?
And discuss as a class.
You could have students write two truths and a lie to share with the class, which helps you learn about your students. I also have used the prompt: What do you hope this class isn't?
Assign Seats
Assigned seats is a controversial topic for many secondary teachers, but I assign seats the first day of class.
I
assign seats randomly as students walk in the door. Finding their place on the chart that I display on the projector takes them a few minutes and gets their brains working.
I also like that it mixes kids up, so if you have a new student they have a place they have to sit with other students, and it breaks up groups that might already know each other, which puts everyone on a more level playing field.
Mostly I assign seats for myself-selfish, I know. I use assigned seats to learn students names, and they stay in the assigned seats through the first quarter. Then, if they have proven worthy, they can sit where they would like. Often, I have found, the students, because they are creatures of habit, stay in their original seat. I explain all this to the students on the first day- that they have to sit there to help me out, and that they will be able to move in two months.
Give a homework assignment
Not a lot of classes give homework on the first day of school, so again, dare to be different. It can be the syllabus questions I suggested above, but I start my
Literary Boot Camp off with two stories to read for the next day.
Homework on day one doesn't mean that you can't keep building relationships, culture, and routines during that first week. What it does do is show the students that they are here to work.
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I have say that I am jealous of those of you have your classrooms all set up and ready to go. I am jealous because we have been under construction all summer (and even the end of last school year), and I have not been able to get into my classroom yet.
However, I am NOT jealous of those of you that have gone back to school already. We don't start here in Michigan until September 8th- the latest possible start date due to the latest day Labor Day can fall.
With that being said, I want to share my classroom not revealed with you. Last spring I had to pack up everything in my room, and here it is piled in the hallway. 10+ years of teaching in one pile. You might recognize my
recovered office chair, my
stool, and my
file cabinet (which I was hoping to finish this summer but oh well) from last summer's classroom makeover. I was kind of proud to say my entire classroom fit into 15 boxes after 10+ years because it means I throw stuff away.
Here is what the inside looked like on my visit a few weeks ago.
My board was taken off because it is being replaced since at the end of last year it started popping off the wall. I am glad I am getting new carpet too; there were some pretty horrendous stains.
I also haven't been able to make trips into my classroom to drop off all the goodies I have collected this summer for what will be a reading corner. Here is the glorious pile in my basement-blocking the laundry room. At least dear hubby is patient about this pile; not that he uses the laundry room anyways.
Are any of you still not in school? Does anyone else not have their classroom ready yet?
Here is to enjoying the rest of summer; be sure to stop by my post from earlier this week
HERE and win a set of teacher planner stickers.
How do I start my year?
It might be best to tell you what I teach first because what I teach drives how I start the year.
My schedule last year:
1) AP Literature
2) AP Psychology
3) Civics and Economics
4) Honors English 11
5) Civics and Economics
6) Prep
7) English 11
This year my schedule will be a little different:
1) Women's Studies (first semester) and
Journalism (second semester)
2) AP Psychology
3) Honor English 11
4) AP Literature
5) Prep
6 and 7) District Curriculum Work
AP English and English 11 (Honors or not) all begin the same way:
Boot Camp and
Literary Terms. My Boot Camp post goes into detail about how I set up my first two weeks and why I set it up that way.
Both of my AP classes take a base-line full-length test the first week of school, but I really try to do it on day 3 or 4. This still gives then enough time to switch out (this happens more than I would like), but gets a score early enough in the year to mark their starting point.
In psychology I start with
Personality Puzzles. They are a good get-to-know each other activity and introduce students to some basic psychology ideas.
To be honest I have no idea how to start women's studies or journalism. I created these classes, and have to write them from scratch. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Be sure to hop over to see what the other secondary English teachers are starting their year with.
