First Day of School First Week of School

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First Day of School First Week of School

• Chris Kanouse
• TxBESS Consultant
• Region 10 ESC

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TEACHER...

• As you prepare for the first day of school, be
  reminded of the tools you have at your command -
  because of your talents, your traits, and your
  training - and because you chose to become a
  teacher! Trish Marcuzzo, Omaha Schools

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Four Box Synectics

• Identify a recorder
• Share hobbies, interests, recent activities
• Recorder collect items
• Choose four items
• Brainstorm sentence completions
• Choose 1 favorite

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Outcomes

• Participants will identify/reconsider
  tasks/strategies/plans to effectively prepare and
  organize the first day and week of school.
• Participants will share experiences and expertise
  related to beginning a school year.
• Participants will create implementation plans for
  the first day/week of school.

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Thoughts from Joan M. Brown

• Many students describe a good teacher as one who
  likes children, is well-prepared, consistent, and
  fair. However, as most teachers know, one does
  not become a good teacher overnight. Teaching
  is a learning process - one that requires time,
  patience, and experience.

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GOAL SETTING

• The purpose of goal setting is to put you in a
  frame of mind that allows you to think about
  short and long range planning. Write about your
  personal goals for today.
• Whats in it for you to meet your goals? Give
  three or more reasons.
• As you wait for your group members to finish,
  please browse through the articles on the table.

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Stand and Chat

• Stand.
• Make eye contact with someone across the room.
• Find a space to stand together.
• Chat about the assigned topic.

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What do you think?Your success during the school
year will be decided by what you do on the first
days of school.
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Seven Things Kids Want to Know on the First Day
of School

• Am I in the right room?
• Where am I supposed to sit?
• What are the rules in this classroom?
• What will I be doing this year?
• How will I be graded?
• Who is the teacher as a person?
• Will the teacher treat me like a human being?
  (from A
  Better Beginning by Marge Scherer)

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Mapping Your Curriculum

• Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
• Textbooks and Resources
• Student Assessments (grading policies and
  rubrics)
• Lesson Plans
• Teacher Supplies
• Substitute Teacher Information

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Stir the Classroom

• Divide the group into 4 or 5 equal groups.
• Individual groups count off to number themselves.
• Information is presented, and the group discusses
  the topic, issue, or question.
• The facilitator calls out a number, and the
  person with the number rotates to the next group
  to share a summary of their groups discussion.
• Repeat the process with steps 3 and 4.

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Ingredients for a Brain-Smart Classroom from
SuperTeaching by Eric Jenson

• Curriculum
• How do you check to be sure that the subject
  matter is relevant and cross-curricular?
• How do you present the big picture as well as
  the smaller chunks?
• How do you emphasize the process, learning to
  learn?
• How is the curriculum examined from many angles
  over a period of time?

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More about Brain-Smart Classrooms

• Instruction
• How do you make your teaching approaches
  flexible, individualized, based on multiple
  learning styles, novel and interesting?
• How do you facilitate your students working in
  teams?
• How do you create assignments which are fun,
  realistic, complex, and rich?
• How do you assure that your students receive lots
  of feedback on a daily basis?

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More about Brain-Smart Classrooms

• Environment
• How do you provide seating and temperature
  options for students?
• How do you utilize music, rich visuals, and
  aromas in your classroom?
• How does your classroom maintain a rule of
  respect for all individuals, and an environment
  free of threat and tight teacher control?

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More about Brain-Smart Classrooms

• Assessment
• How does your assessment approach take into
  account the uniqueness of each learner?
• How do you assess learning over time as well as
  incrementally?
• How do you set up structures for peer and
  personal assessment?
• How do you give learners some choice in the
  assessment process?

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Ways to Provide Learner Feedback

• computers
• peer editing
• show and tell

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Successful Students Know How To Do Things

• PROCEDURES Practicing until it becomes a
  routine.
• ROUTINES Doing things without being told.
• REHEARSALS Doing things until they become
  routines.
• How do you decide which procedures need to become
  routines?

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Mapping Your Classroom Procedures

• Use the Classroom Procedures checklist to focus
  your table group discussion.
• Identify a key factor which enables you to
  effectively teach students procedures and
  routines.
• Create an innovative way to share your group
  thinking with the whole group.

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Homework Think-Abouts

• Time appropriate for age of students
• Focuses on information learned
• Addresses a variety of types and interests
• Procedure for posting assignments
• Directions explained in class
• Grading policy/consequences explained
• Avenues for communication to parents

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Roam and Buzz

• After considering the Homework Think-Abouts,
  write down one tip/strategy which you use to
  promote homework success for students.
• Exchange tips/strategies with as many individuals
  as time permits.
• Share additional information gained with table
  group members.

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Questions to Consider...

• Do students have enough knowledge to successfully
  complete the assigned work?
• Are materials available at home to successfully
  complete the assignment?
• How long should students take to successfully
  complete the work?

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Mapping Your Classroom Management Plans

• Think about the following questions and jot down
  your responses so you can reflect on what you do.
• Choose one topic for a focused follow-up
  discussion.
• Be prepared to offer your thoughts and strategies
  for your chosen topic.

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Rules and Procedures

• What are your classroom rules?
• Should students give input for the rules and
  consequences? Why or why not?

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Consequences

• Why do (or why dont) all students receive the
  same consequences for the same misbehavior?
• What types of behavior can you ignore?
• How do you handle off-tasks behaviors?

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Rewards

• Do you believe in rewarding students for good
  behavior? Why or why not?
• If so, what types of rewards do you use?

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Assistance

• When is it appropriate and effective to inform
  parents of their childs misbehavior?
• What types of offenses should be handled by the
  administrative team?

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Mapping Your Room Arrangement and Classroom
Environment

• BULLETIN BOARDS
• How many
• What topics
• Who creates them
• DESK/TABLE ARRANGEMENT
• Accessibility
• Visibility
• Distractibility
• Grouping procedures

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What We Know From Research

• Students increase voluntary use of literature
  free-time activities up to 25 if classrooms have
  library corners.
• accessible and attractive materials are used
  more! (Morrow and Weinstein)

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More News From Research

• Better managers place students where they can be
  easily monitored, easily reached for help, and
  they can easily see all instructional displays.
• visible and accessible students behave better!
  (Evertson et. al)

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More News From Research

• Seating students in a circle increases discussion
  and reduces off-task behavior.
• seating arrangement influences behavior!
  (Rosenfield, Lambert, Black)

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Consider This ...

• How do you make decisions about bulletin board
  topics?
• How do you involve students in bulletin board
  displays?
• What helps you determine seating arrangement
  changes?
• How often should the classroom seating
  arrangement be changed?

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THE WEEK BEFORE SCHOOL

• Solets see how much we know as new teachers.
• Lets also consider other informational needs for
  the week before school.

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Say Something

• Choose a partner.
• Decide together how far you will read before
  stopping to say something.
• Read silently to your chosen stopping point.
• Both partners say something.
• Continue the process until you have completed the
  reading.

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Research shows...

• That if you do not use an idea within three days,
  you will never use it.
• If you use it within 24 hours, you are more
  likely to integrate it permanently.
• When you hear something that you would like to
  use write it down before you forget. Then use
  it soon!

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TEACHER EXPECTATIONS

• SET YOUR GOALS CAROUSEL
• Write a goal for the first day of school.
• Write a goal for the first week of school.
• Write a goal for the first grading period.
• Write a goal for the first semester.
• Write a goal that you want to meet by the end of
  the school year.
• WRITE AN ACTION PLAN FOR HOW YOU WOULD ACHIEVE
  ONE OF THESE GOALS.

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BEYOND SURVIVAL

• As beginning teachers, we all plan to survive our
  first year.
• After surviving the first year, our focus moves
  to improving student achievement.
• As you explore effective teaching and learning
  strategies this coming year, continue to
  collaborate with your colleagues and ask lots of
  questions.

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Time for Reflection

• After the first week of school, take time to
  consider what your students would say it is like
  to be in your classroom. Ask yourself the same
  question periodically throughout the school year.
  Taking the time for this reflection will enable
  you to continually be the teacher who can best
  meet your students needs.

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5 - 3 - 1

• Jot down five words which bring back your
  experiences from today. These may be content
  connections, feelings, recollections, or
  descriptors.
• Choose your best three and share them with your
  group.
• As a group, choose one word which captures the
  essence of today and be ready to share it.