If you haven’t started already, many of you are approaching the first day and week of school. As a new teacher you may be feeling overwhelmed about planning for your classes at this point. In the beginning you’ll probably want to plan one week at a time. Some teachers plan one day at a time, but I do not recommend you do this. First of all, planning one day at a time can lead to unconnected lessons and disjointed learning experiences for students. Your units should flow from one concept/skill to the next so that students are able to make connections from beginning to end. Also, many principals require a week’s worth of lesson plans every Friday. Getting into the habit of planning in advance is a good one to develop even if your principal does not require this. Since so many people will be starting the first day in the next couple of weeks, let’s address planning for the first day and week of school.

Below are a few tips to help you plan:

1)      Begin with introductions and a get-to-know activity

2)      Next, go over your expectations for behavior

3)      After these two activities have been accomplished, you want to alternate a fun activity (either for academic learning, bonding with students, or team building) with going over your expectations and procedures for the classroom.

4)      Continue alternating student-centered vs. teacher-centered activities until your class period is over or the day is ended.

Example:

1)      Teacher introductions

2)      Get-to-know activity

3)      Classroom Expectations (Quiet Signal, getting supplies, talking in class, etc.)

4)      Teaming activity – students are put in groups and come up 1 thing they all have in common, make a team name (older students may even come up with a motto)

5)      Discuss classroom procedures for (entering class, leaving class, writers workshop, readers workshop, etc.)

6)      Student teams create a skit showing what their “expectation” should NOT look like and SHOULD look like. Student groups share

7)      Talk about Personal Best, work product expected, heading for papers, etc.

8)      Students fill out an information sheet or draw a mini-poster showing pictures and facts about themselves.

ETC… Do you see how we switch from a student oriented activity to a teacher oriented activity/discussion? This is a great way to keep student attention throughout a long day. Middle and high school teachers will not have as long to do their activities, so you will want to stretch these out over the course of the first week of school. As the week progresses everyone should begin adding in mini-lessons and activities for the curriculum being taught.

TIP: Overplan for the first several days. You never know how slowly or quickly a class will finish their tasks. Be ready with extra activities just in case. However, be sure to prioritize them and put the less important ones near the end.

TIP: Don’t talk more than 15 minutes at a time. With younger students you shouldn’t talk more than 10 minutes in the beginning. Otherwise they will tune you out and not hear a word you are saying. This is why alternating “fun” activities that get students talking and/or up and moving vs. “teacher talks” is a good idea. It is almost as though you are hitting the reset button to the input centers of the brain. When it is time to listen again everyone will be in a better place to hear and understand what you are saying.

TIP: When going over your expectations and procedures the first day and week of school, SLOW DOWN. Take your time. Talk slowly (but not too slowly) and look at each and every student while you are talking. Don’t just look at one area of the room. Try to get eye contact with every student. If someone is looking down while you are going over your expectations, stop and wait for him/her to look up at you. This lets your students know that you are holding them accountable for this information. These pregnant pauses get student attention. Don’t fear a few moments of silence. Also, speeding through your expectations and procedures will ensure that the information goes in one ear and out the other.

TIP: Have students tell you the expectations in return. You can do this through questioning or as a group activity.

TIP: Practice your procedures as a class. You should practice your quiet signal (getting students to focus on you), entering and leaving the room, walking down the hallway (elementary), etc. Don’t practice these all at once. As it comes time for the procedure during the class or during the day, go over what you expect students to do, then practice it, and then do it for real. This should happen every day during the first week of school so make sure you plan extra time for this.

TIP: Be ready for interruptions all day long. You will have a lot of housekeeping type activities that need to be accomplished for the front office, the counselors, and other support staff. Keep this in mind when trying to get through your plans during that first week. It will help you overcome the frustration that can occur.

Next week we’ll talk about creating a guide for long-term planning using goals and objectives.