Well, it is that time of year again.
It is time for four more classes of brand-new sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in our drama elective classes as we begin semester two and quarter three of the 2024-25 school calendar.
It seems like just when we get comfortable with classrooms full of students and have worked hard encouraging them to feel safe and trusting, they move on to new elective classes and we start over.
Below is a post on www.discover.hubpages.com on the authors thoughts on the most important things to do with a new class of students.
The First Day of Class: Setting the Tone for the New School Year by Paul Richard Kuehn
The First Day of Class
The first day of class is important for all teachers because it lays a foundation for the new school year. This is done by establishing rapport with students and constructing the foundation for classroom policy and procedure.
Setting The Tone for The New School Year
For almost seven years, I taught English as a foreign language (EFL) at a school in Thailand. Every year I attempted to set the tone for my classes for the new school year by doing the following during the first 50-minute period:
- Establish Rapport with Students:
Our school classes usually began on May 18, and in most years, they were challenging because I had at least 10 different classes. The classes were on both the fifth and sixth-grade levels. There were so many new names and faces to learn, and the students also had to get to know me.
A teacher’s self-introduction is the first order of business when the class begins. In the past, I have written my name and nationality on the whiteboard while introducing myself orally. I have also drawn a map of the United States on the board showing where I was born, grew up, and lived in the past. For some years, I attached a world map to the board and then had the students guess which country I came from. I would also let them think about my hobbies and interests before I revealed them to the students. This was the easy part.
The more difficult part was having the students introduce themselves to me. Due to time constraints, it was challenging to have each student in a class of 28 – 30 introduce herself, in the same manner, I introduced myself. Instead, I would let each student say her name, and then instruct the girls to make name tags and attach them to their desks. Some of my colleagues in the past had photographed each student, so this is a possibility to consider. The important thing is to ensure that each student starts to establish a personal bond with the teacher.
- Laying A Foundation for Classroom Policy and Procedure:
Introductions between the teacher and students and among the students will usually take about 35 minutes. In a 50-minute class period, only 15 minutes will remain for establishing classroom policy and procedure. This is crucial, because classroom routines, policies, and discipline must be set during the first class. From the first day of class, students and teachers must be on the same page regarding teacher expectations regarding books and supplies brought to each class, attendance, tardiness, homework, tests and grading, and acceptable student classroom behavior. If students don’t understand teacher expectations, there certainly will be problems in the classes that could have been avoided.
Establishing rapport through introductions must be done on the first day of school. Setting the tone for classroom management and teacher expectations must begin on the first day and continue to be reinforced during the following class periods.
# # #
As we have mentioned before, we realize it is folly to ever approach a single student or a classroom of students as mere carbon copies of previous students or classes.
Is that challenging?
Yes.
Is it worth the effort to encourage a student and classroom environment that entices more enthusiastic learning?
Most definitely yes!