The Real First Day of School

I think today was a success. The real first day of school is never the most exciting day in my classroom, but I got everything done that I needed to do. We reviewed the rules and consequences (good and bad) and we role played and practiced all the procedures that are essential parts of how I like my classroom to run.

Yes, I'm slightly OCD. But yes, I think it helps my teaching. My room is extremely organized and structured. But that structure actually makes it easier for us to break out of it later on in the year.

Let me explain. I like to use all sorts of activities to teach. There are never any days when my students simply watch me put notes on the board and do practice problems the rest of the block. BORING! We do group activities, art projects, music activities, learning stations, all sorts of things. I'll try just about any activity once and see if it works for me, but in order to do all of the fun things, I have to set boundaries.

The students have to know that even when we are doing something fun, they still know how I want them to behave. Simply doing a group activity does not mean you sit there and talk as loudly as you want to your friend for 20 minutes. They have to learn how to follow directions. They learn that they are responsible for their actions and they learn how I want them to behave for certain lessons. So today, I laid the ground rules for that.

We role played how to come into class, how to sharpen your pencil, how to answer questions, how to turn in homework, and how to come to attention after an activity. As I said before, it's not the most exciting day of the year, but it's important.

I think that at the least I got my point across. In such a small intimate setting, I think it would be easy for the kids to think that they can walk all over you, because they know from day one that you care about them and that this school is different. But even though I like to have a good time, I think the kids know that I take this school very seriously and I expect the best from them.

Or at least I hope they do.

Tomorrow is the "Following Directions and Taking Notes" day. I'm kind of excited about it. I also have some Icebreaker games to throw in the mix and a funny Power Point about myself to show them. I'm interested to see how they take it. I ask them for so much information about them so I can get to know them better that I felt it was only fair to give them equal amounts of information about me. I didn't do this in Mississippi. The situation was different. I had to maintain a certain distance from my students and didn't let them know so much about me. But in this Alternative setting, I felt like it was appropriate to let them see more of who I am and why I am there.

I don't get mushy. And it's really nothing too personal. I simply am going to tell them the same things I asked them to tell me - my favorite foods, my favorite color, my hobbies - that kind of thing.


On a completely different note, tomorrow I have to wear dress sandals because of the blister on my heel that I developed today. The shoes I wore today are my regular old black teacher shoes, but they haven't been worn since - well, since I last taught almost two years ago. Note to self: break teacher shoes back in after summer vacation and before school starts.