First- Class First Week

       The first week for any teacher can be more than stressful to say the least. Getting to know your students while covering some ground expectations and looking forward into the year takes a lot of planning and careful execution. The author covers some of her advice on dealing with students, getting prepared for the year to come, and setting those expectations in the second part of our reading. Some important advice that was shared with me from my virtual mentor team for this section is listed below.

First-Day Butterflies

“To be honest, I hope that I ALWAYS get the beginning of the year butterflies...it means that I care and that I love what I do.” –Krista Pontius

            It’s important that we prepare for the inevitable school year and have all of our ducks in a row ready to start off on the right foot. Nervousness can be mitigated through organization and preparation, but Mrs. Pontius brings up a great point. We should always be a little nervous because we aspire to do well! We will always face new challenges and teach new students year after year, and butterflies are a way to know you care.

To Rule or not to Rule

“I’m a major proponent of not posting rules and not reading rules off to students.  My general statement was, “You know what it means to behave in school. If you forget, it happens.  If you decide you don’t want to act appropriately for school, we’ll talk about what’s next after school during football practice.” –Becky Haddad

            A main point of the author made in this section was that students know how to behave, and listing off a set of rules just won’t cut it. Keeping it simple and reminding them they know how to behave is what is best. Teachers need to have some degree of flexibility to deal with various circumstances relating to discipline, so having a simple rule requiring respect and stating some clear expectations is key.

Expectations- no Exceptions

“Expectation need to be shared.  General expectation can be on the first day, but save the rest for the next few days.  I did like to cover my syllabi and have the students fill out an information sheet.  It opens opportunities for questions about me and my classroom (expectations).”

            This again ties into the point made by Ms. Haddad that reading off rules is sometimes redundant for a room full of high school students. For many, the rules simply haven’t changed since day one of kindergarten, and more often than not, you’re one of about 6 teachers ratting off the same rules. Set some general expectations—but leave some of the procedures for the days to come. Take the first day to get to know your students and develop some rapport with them.

Respect and be respected

“Just talk with them not at them.  General information that I gather would include:  personal interests, learning styles appreciated and disliked, understanding of agriculture.”

All of my mentors agree that respect is a give and take thing. Take the first day to interact with your students and get to know them. Do some “temperature taking” to gauge what dispositions they may have about your subject and what their set of understanding may be. Effective teachers need to know their audience, and that should be a goal of your first week. Treat your students with respect, and you’re more likely to be respected in return.