1st Day Jitters

Oh boy! Twenty five high school students just walked into the classroom shouting, running, tackling each other. Not one of them has a pencil, paper, or even a backpack. Instead of taking their seats they continue to talk to one another and move about the classroom saying hi to friends. The bell rings and there are not nearly enough students in the classroom. Students continue to trickle in loudly as the teacher is trying to begin the lesson. Two minutes into class five students already ask to use the bathroom. As you can guess it's the first day back to school and the first day for a new teacher! 

This can be a tough day for students and teachers because the teacher doesn't know the students and the student's are still in summer mode and ready for school. For our first lab we had to design a lesson that would help to take some of the stress away from the first day teaching! 

Step 1-Get the students in the room and get them doing something other then talking!

Bell work is a great way to get student's started on the class and keep students in order. Since it is the first day I had students write down on a notecard some important information that I might need as a teacher, and also a few things about the class. 

Step 2- Get the student's engaging with each other and also getting to know the teacher!

example

After introducing myself as the teacher I had the students do an engaging activity I like to call full card person bingo. The students are given a bingo card that has short descriptions in each block. They must move around the room, meet each other, and sign one of the blocks on a classmates card. Some of the blocks can say fun things like enjoys camping or rides horses, while others can have meaning to the teacher about the students learning like is good at math or likes reading. Getting everyone a little more interested in the class the teacher can jump back to the bell work and talk about what students want to learn and why the class is important. 

Step 3- A successful classroom needs structure! 

By having expectations, procedures, and consequences students will know how they are to act in your class and what they shouldn't do. By outlining this at the beginning the school year, students know what is expected of them. While I realize this will not make classroom management a walk in the park hopefully it will help a little. These will be outlined in posters and hung on the wall so that every time students walk into my class they are reminded of the rules set forth in my classroom. I will also have a mailbox system set up for the students so that I can return papers quickly during class. 

Step 4- Get the parents involved! 

Start the contact off on the right foot with the parents by sending information home. I think it is important to send home the expectations and procedures or a letter home to the parents explaining what you expect from students in your class. Hopefully this letter makes it home to the parents and doesn't become part of a science project in their locker. Being an ag ed teacher its really important to have the parents support of the program because of all the extracurricular activities their kids could partake in and this is a great starting point. 

Reality Check! The first day or week or month isn't going to be easy. But the labs and class this semester will help prepare to be successful and we will figure what they can't teach us on our own!