Teacher suggestions for the first day of school

In which I share many teachers' ideas and advice for beginning the school year

Lemme just start by saying THANK YOU to the teachers who responded to my email asking what they do on the First Days of school. The suggestions and revelations came in a flood! Joe and I are going to talk about a few of them in our Bonus episode, which is dropping soon, but there’s so much more wisdom my teachers shared that I’m including what they wrote in this post. For your enjoyment and, I hope, inspiration.

And there’s never enough wisdom! So share what you do before, on, and after First Days of school. We want to hear from you!

Courtney from Kentucky

Here is how I start a new year:

1. Lots of ways to learn about the kids!

• interest survey, games that have them talking about themselves, etc.

• Plan time for breaks, the kids get overwhelmed/overstimulated with all the hustle and bustle, so plan for quiet/independent time

2. Prep for me:

• Figure out what to wear the night before school for at least the first few days of school

• Prep coffee night before

• Be prepared to come home and nap!

• Schedule a massage/chiropractic appointment the first/second week of school

3. Don't overdo the decorating

• We all want things to look cute (especially in the elementary level), but don't stress about it because that isn't what is important or what your kids care about

• Your students don't make growth based on how your room looks

4. Be ready for anything

• Dress comfortably the first few days, you have no clue what is in store

• Over plan for the first few weeks but be prepared to completely pivot from all plans

Amy from Massachusetts

Best set up strategies I have for teachers would include:

• Having a seating chart (even if ABC order). Students want a place to go when they are uneasy and this helps.

• Share information about yourself on day 1. This makes us people.

• Keep them busy. It is good to give some kind of reading passage and follow up questions. This helps teachers to see students' capabilities.

• Give students a questionnaire about who they are. When you collect this- be sure to make use of it. Get to know your students and drum up conversations with them on those topics. It builds relationships.

• Making connections at home soon in the school year. Building a connection with families will pay off in the long run. (include the student in the correspondence.)

Steph from Massachusetts

I always love to do a small hands on easy activity. Like, in my 6th grade class I'll take out Legos and do 2 minute building challenges with them like create as many things that start with the letter b in 2 minutes. Quantity over quality. And I can see a large amount of variance between kiddos.

Also with the Lego one I do partnered ones to see how they interact with peers and with sharing aloud. I also do like, make an invention in 4 minutes, or a creature that didnt exist before in 5. Tell me all about it. Its a good intro tool. :) ok ok im done now haha

Seating charts of course

Sometimes getting kids into our canvas and give them a tour. Tell them what to expect and tell them a brief bit about me.

I also give them a tour of my classroom because there's so many goodies in there lol, I encourage them to use the supplies in the calm corner.

Yeah. Its harder for me because after 6th grade I know almost all of them lol. So I end up doing a quick intro circle where we say names and pronouns (they change sometimes) and usually a weird question like favorite cereal or a would you rather. :)

Deb from Massachusetts

• I greet my students at the door, a personal hello (I greet my students everyday at the door to do a quick check in with them).

• Day one I have the agenda on the board so the students know what to expect in class.

• I make it my mission to know the students' names within days of starting the new year. I ask them "When I call on you if you could state your name for me so I will learn it. I have many names to learn and I want to know all your names." I will repeat their names back to them. It helps me to learn.

• I review my syllabus for the class, I ask them to reread it and to have questions about it. Or what is confusing or what are they excited about?

• I have about a 15 minute slideshow presentation on me. Yes, that is correct. I introduce myself through pictures, I start with a picture of me in first grade with poorly cut bangs by my mother and some teeth missing. I have pictures of things I love to do outside of school, hike, kayak, garden, travel, run half marathons and read...., I have a list of books I have read the last few years. And of course pictures of my two cats and two dogs. I do not show pictures of my family out of privacy because they are not comfortable with it. This provides I hope an opportunity to see that I am a person and it fosters connections. A few years ago I had mentioned I visited Scotland and a student raised his hand to share his grandfather lives in Scotland. After class he asked if I visited certain places in Scotland. Plus pet pictures always open up dialogue with students. They want to share their pet pictures and stories.

• My first unit which we start on day two is an essay on their personal fashion style. We spend about two weeks reading and analyzing articles on fashion, they answer questions about their own fashion and write an essay on it. There is much more to my unit. This allows me to get to know who they are and another way to make a connection, I get to understand why a student wears a red hoodie his entire time at BART. So fun to read them!

• Set firm boundaries, rules and norms in your class on day one, I revisit them often throughout the year. I will have reminders embedded in my daily agenda.

Julie from Vermont

First, I make a lot of lists so I can visualize what needs to get done and in what order. Triaging helps minimize my anxiety about the myriad of things that are needed to get the new year off the ground so I can chip away at it vs. panic at the enormity of it all. Being organized helps me feel in control and minimizes my anxiety.

Second, I recognize that those first few teacher inservice days give me swirly feelings(to quote Lauren:)just being surrounded by lots of people after having a relatively quiet summer where I experience other humans in small doses and even though I appear as an extravert, I live a closeted introvert life to re energize and renew so I get a little fatigued by all the, 'hey, how was your summer'. I have learned to keep my responses brief and happy rather than spend a whole lot of energy recapping for every single colleague who asks......conserv conversational energy as I assume the question is born out of filling a small talk void anyway:)

Third, once the kids actually layer in, I have to dial my own enthusiasm down a few notches as I recognize that my Tigger energy can be overwhelming for kids just coming off of their slow summer mode and my pom pom personality, although sincere, is to also to compensate for my own nerves and anxiety. I have been thinking/planning, etc. for the new school year for quite some time and they have not so I have to be mindful to meet them where they are and tune into their head space as we transition to the rhythm of the new school year. Just as I have to get used to being around a lot of people during those first few teacher days, they have to get used to thousands of things as well. Although I can be quite the social butterfly and interested in them as people I also am super aware that I will lean into being more task oriented and panic that there is 'so much to do, so let's get started, NOW' mode.

Taking breaths, taking a beat and launching into the new school year gradually is something I am still practicing.

Fourth, I pause to think about all the things I am grateful for that help me keep perspective.....I get to teach in a beautiful state on a beautiful campus with amazing resources and awe inspiring colleagues.....I am given the autonomy to teach what I want with incredible flexibility and the opportunity to explore new things every year with kids who are at a really unique time in their development as young adults........I have a respectable salary with stipends and benefits, I reside in a special home with a supportive family......knock on wood, we are all healthy and have a comfortable life with opportunities to travel, etc., etc., etc. given the world as a whole, I have A LOT to be grateful for and this gives me important pauses when things at school start to spiral out and I begin to lose perspective which happens with greater frequency as the school year wears on.....historically I am off kilter the most between March-May. I go for walks, meditate, practice yoga, drink tea, make space for friends, play in orchestras, sing for fun, read books, plan day trips and make sure to start & end the day with gratitude thoughts rather than rehashing 'stinkin' thinkin' over and over.

Tim “the Boy from Savoy”

With over 20 years on my career chronometer, I'd like to think that I can waltz into the building a day or two ahead of the students, make photocopies of my syllabus, tidy up my room, and claim that I'm ready for the onslaught. I've learned through trial and error that, while I am adept at flying by the seat of my pants, and can now even land gracefully when doing so, the toll on my nerves is untenable.

Here is what I've been planning for the start of my upcoming school year:

1. Set norms & expectations. For the first two weeks, this entails having each day planned to the minute (as close as possible). What this will look like in the classroom is vigorous instruction in classroom norms and routines, with frequent repetition for reinforcement. Yes, we'll be 'doing math', but more importantly we'll be learning how to communicate with each other both verbally and non-verbally, how to ensure our needs (physical, intellectual, and emotional) are met, and what the consequences are for failing to communicate effectively and respect each other's needs.

   To prepare for this, I'm making signs for the classroom (re: noise expectations, no food, hand signals, et c.), and writing scripts for instruction about the rules, and for repetition to reinforce the rules. I've been casually communicating with my 6th grade teammates throughout the summer thus far to start establishing common language so we're unified in what our expectations are.

2. Be vigilant. In the past I've been hyper-focused on jumping right into the curriculum, to ensure that I stay as close to the course pacing as possible - and to try to instill a sense of urgency in my students that what I'm teaching is so important that I want to just get right to it. Then around Thanksgiving or Christmas I'm thrown for a loop to learn that Kid A is not looking forward to the upcoming break because of [fill in personal tragedy].

   This year I will be more intentionally trying to 'reach out with my feelings' to increase my awareness of my students' mental and emotional statuses. We'll do more collective temperature checks - which will look like more structured entrance routines. In addition to answering the Do Now, students will give me some scaled rating of how they're doing at the moment (I haven't figured out exactly how to efficiently collect that info, but I have some ideas).

   I guess this is really an effort to try to build relationships from the start. Simultaneously, though, for this school year I want to focus on the demander side of being a warm demander. Being warm usually comes naturally to me (usually). Reflecting on the challenges I faced over the last two school years, I think some of the things I struggled with in the classroom could have been mitigated if I had been slightly more demanding.

TL/DR: over-prepare, establish classroom norms, routines, and expectations, and listen to what the kids are saying, watch what they're doing, and use the Force to try to make sense of the undercurrents.

Jessie from Alaska

The transition from summer back to school is exciting, but abrupt. I am coming from months of freedom, so I keep in mind that my students are too. I try to ease them slowly back into the school routine. I also try to empower them. I start the school year with mostly empty walls and few expectations for students. I ask them how a routine should work and how we should transition, line up (or not), clean up, use wobble stools, what our class rules should be, consequences, etc. After a few days I also ask them what their highlights from the previous year were and what they want to do this year. I give them opportunities to speak up in class about all of these questions, but I also give them opportunities to give feedback and answers privately. I have them make labels for their desks, books, book boxes, etc during the first week while I read aloud to them.

I also have some simple art projects and STEM projects to complete during the first week. I have students for multiple years, so I have to be really creative because I can't repeat most projects! Some of those projects are things they tell me at the end of the year were their favorite parts of the year!

I have also created a few traditions. I always make personalized bookmarks for each student and have them on their desk when they walk in the room on the first day. I take individual photos and class photos outside on the first day too. I love seeing how much children change from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, so we look at the photos at the end of the year and I include them in our end of the year slideshow.

If I had to give recommendations to other teachers about how to start the year it would be this:

• Be patient with students. Many of them haven't opened a book or picked up a pencil all summer long. Make the first few weeks easy and, most importantly, fun.

• Involve students in creating procedures, expectations, and consequences. It takes some time, but the time spent is well worth it because they are empowered and take ownership of their classroom. Discussions during the process of developing all of this can be really informative too.

• Talk to your students. What do they love? What do they not love? What do they want to learn? How do they want to learn?

Sarah from Texas

I’d say that the big thing is to figure out how to be extremely transparent with students about what you expect of them while also being very available and supportive about how you can help them meet those expectations. I think we have a university culture (probably k12, too) where a very demanding class with relatively strict expectations must mean it comes with an unhelpful or mean teacher. I think showing students that there is a space where expectations can been kept high while still fostering strong connections and support is very important.

Happy First Day! May this school year be joyful and rewarding. And may you contact TTE if it’s not!