Getting Started Right

How do you start your day? Some people begin with prayer or meditation. Others listen to a song to either hype or calm them On Thursday mornings, I scan in a couple of hundred people at the Y who begin with a workout. Whatever people choose to do sets the tone for their day. As people leave the Y on Thursday mornings at six, I say, "Have a great day. You got it started well."

The same is true of the school year. How you start matters. It sets the tone for your year, so be intentional about it.

What do you do on the first day of school?

Let's look at a few online stereotypes.

• Relationships First - There are the "relationships first" people. They spend the first weeks of school doing icebreakers and team building activities. They play a lot of games before they ever teach the first iota of subject area content. 
• Let's Get Started - Then, there are the teachers who jump into content with barely a moment of introduction. "In this class, we work." is the opening sentence. The kids in this room have homework on the first night of school.
• Procedure Practice - These are the people who came of age in the Harry Wong era. They spend the first days of school going over the syllabus and practicing procedures over and over again until they are tight as a drum.

Like all stereotypes, few real people fit neatly into these categories. Most of us have some blend of setting expectations, trying to learn kids names, and doing something fun that is also related to our content.

I did want to get to content quickly, but I knew procedures mattered to a smoothly functioning classroom, so I tried to get through the rules/syllabus stuff as quickly as was effective and move into a content based introductory activity. 

I'm not here to tell you which kind of person to be. There are many variables involved in what might make the best choice for your class. If you teach art, it probably looks different than if you algebra. If you teach an introductory class, like Spanish I, it might look different than if you teach AP Literature. If you feel like a fraud trying to do an icebreaker than you would hate doing in a faculty meeting, that's going to land like a lead balloon with your students. 

My advice to you as the new school year begins is to be intentional. Realize that the first day will set the tone. If you do not intend to move forward as "the fun teacher," don't set that expectation by doing fun activities. If you expect adherence to procedures for the rest of the year, you will have to teach them on the first day, but it might be wiser to teach them as you do them rather than attempt an isolated "procedures lesson." It is important that you know their names, but there are ways to do that without spending the first 45 minutes of your class time on it (Hint: HW Assignment One can be for them to submit a video on your school LSM in which they introduce themselves and tell you about their goals - which has the added bonus of them pronouncing their own name, eliminating the awkwardness of you mispronouncing it in addition to showing that they are properly enrolled and logged in on the system).

Those first days matter. They matter a lot. And they determine what kids will expect from the rest of their time with you. So sit down and give it a lot of thought. What are you trying to communicate? Make the days activities about that.

Have a great year!