It has been great to get back into the routine of school this week.  All through August I have been thinking about how to best start off the school year.  I wanted t do something amazing – something that would give my new students that “wow” factor.

I am not sure if my students got the “wow” effect but overall I think that I was able to develop a positive rapport with my students this week.  I tried to mix in icebreakers each day to help students get to know each other and break up the monotony of going over the traditional beginning of the year administrative information.  Here is a breakdown of each day:

Tuesday (Day 1):

This was the first day of school and for the first time in my teaching career students had full 40 minute classes.  I chose not to cover very many rules and procedures on this day because I did not want to overwhelm my students. I had my students create “tabels labels” to help me to quickly learn their names.  In addition I used 2 strategies from Rick Wormelli’s book  Day One and Beyond : Practical Matters for New Middle-Level Teachers (Thanks to my PLN for the book suggestion!).  First I had students give me advice on how to best teach them.  They really came up with some reasonable suggestions.  I did notice that many of them like learning through hands on projects.  The second idea that I used from Rick Wormelli’s book was the phrase “Respect Above All” which on my Promethean Interactive Whiteboard looks like this:

RESPECT

_______

ALL

Students seemed to connect with and relate to this phrase.  I think it is better than giving them a laundry list of what they can and cannot do in my class.  Overall it was not an earth shattering lesson for my students but I was happy to have success with two new strategies.

Wednesday (Day 2):

After taking care of some more administrative items I had my students play a game that I learned in a workshop hosted by two awesome teachers in my district.  The game which is called “Group Juggle”  goes like this:

1.  The class makes a circle in the middle of the room

2.  The teacher gives a ball to one of the students

3.  Students are to toss the ball to the person on their right after making eye contact and saying their name.

4.  The goal is to get the ball around the circle and back to the first student as quickly as possible.

5.  Record the time it takes for each try.

6. After a few tries give the group a few minutes to discuss how to move the ball around the circle faster.  I gave my students 1-2 minutes to discuss.

7.  Let the students try a few more times and then debrief.

This was an awesome activity on many levels.  First it got my students up and out of their chairs – they were excited and energized.  Second it provided me with an opportunity to observe and learn how my students interact in a group setting and third it got them thinking about practice, effort, not giving up and what it means to be part of a team.  We talked about what we can learn from some of their failed attempts.  These kind of activities I think are very powerful for students.  Even though there was not any content covered they were energized and having a positive experience in my classroom.  Hopefully this will lead to greater buy in when we start to cover content.

Thursday (Day 3)

Today was a day heavy on direct instruction from me.  My original intent was to spend half the period discussing classroom procedures and then the second half would be spent playing 1-2 more rounds of yesterdays “Group Juggle” activity and debriefing some more.  I ended up taking pictures of students holding their “table labels” to help me learn their names faster (learning students names is something I have to work hard at).  This was actually a lot of fun as we were joking around trying to get the kids to relax and smile for the camera.  I am going to use these pictures for seating charts for substitutes as well.  Many of the ideas about procedures I got from the book:   The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher.  All in all it was a good day – I did my best to try to crack jokes and mix in humor while going over the basics.

Friday (Day 4)

I began classes today by having my students write three things about themselves on a 3×5 card.   They then paired up and shared their information with each other.  After sharing they traded cards and paired up with a different student. From that point on they introduce themselves and share what they learned about the person on the card they are holding.  This process is repeated until all or nearly all students have met.  I let my students go a little longer with this activity because they seemed to really want to know more about each other.

All in all it was a really good week.  I could feel myself fighting the urge to dive right into content.  I am somewhat torn between spending time building community and jumping right into the curriculum.  I know that building community with my students helps to promote positive attitudes in my class and create “buy in” for the content.  I also know that the sooner I get started on content the more depth I can have for each unit withhout having to superficially “cover” the unit.

I still feel like I could have done things better or differently and maybe someday I will reach my goal of “wowing” the kids and getting them psyched right from day one.  I wonder if anyone else experiences that internal struggle of content vs. building community in the classroom.  Maybe they should not be thought of as separate but two vital and important pieces of education that are woven together and taught simultaneously.

I would love to hear what other teachers do for the first few days of school.