Re: First Day/ a different approach

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On 8/31/11, Tracy wrote:
> I know that planning the first day is extremely important
> in classroom management, and that good communication of
> rules as well as consequences is a must. It's a little
> overwhelming at this point though to figure out how to map
> out my first day with "learning the rules" being more my
> objective. Any advice?

I don't know what kind of school yours is or what kind of
community it's in but there is a school of thought that says
that 'learning the rules' isn't a must for the first day. Of
course, you may teach in a very rough school and then all bets
are off but so many classrooms just emphasize the rules on that
first day and it can be such a dampener on student enthusiasm
for returning to school.

I live a bit in the more perfect world than it really is but on
the first day, I try to frame the year ahead in exciting rather
than rigid terms. I try to share the journey ahead - I really
love the subjects I teach, I'm passionate about them and I
think history and language arts are fascinating subjects with
so much to offer. I spend the first day telling them why
history and language arts are so wonderful and can be so
fascinating.

When I see the kids leave my colleagues' rooms who've
emphasized the rules that day, I see the kids have already
jaded over, the light's gone out of their eyes and their eyes
say, "It's just another year at school."

But I teach in a fairly normal school in a relatively
middle-class community. We have some kids with issues for sure
but none of our kids are really little criminals waiting to
turn on us. Maybe yours are.

I end my first day classes by saying "I love summer, guys, but
I really love being back at school too. I enjoy teaching, I
find all of you to be great scholars in the making, and we're
going to make it a great year in history class (or LA)! I need
some help from you to do that, I think that's common sense and
you know that too. I look forward to your help each day and
with it, I can promise you this will be a class you look
forward to coming to each day as much as I do. Have a great
rest of the day and I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!"

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