The First Week

In every teacher prep program or path I've ever heard about, there's talk about the first week of school. Whether your philosophy is "don't smile until December" or "don't look at the syllabus until week 2", there's no denying that you can use the first week of school to set the tone and expectations of your classroom. So when people ask me what I've been doing with my summer, my answer is "planning the first week of school".

After weeks of reading, reflection and discussion with some of my friends from grad school here's my plan for the first week:

Day 1: What's in a name?

Goal - Building community and learning more about each other as a class.

Activity - Brainstorm and free-write about our names; Share with a partner; Mrs. Beck shares with the class.

Homework - First assignment, due Friday: The History of Me

Other important notes for Day 1:

Students will learn class routines and structures, including self-regulated warm-up. Students will be expected to come into the room, pick up their materials and begin their warm up. Students will have the opportunity to start over and try again if they struggle with this structure.

Day 2: How do we learn about History?

Goal - Introduce students to the inquiry process.

Activity - How are classrooms today different from classrooms during Reconstruction? Modeling, Group Practice, Individual Practice.

Homework - History of Me

Other important notes for Day 2:

I've noticed in the past that students often struggle with inquiry, particularly if they are not used to it from prior classrooms. My style of teaching involves a lot of student-driven learning, where students need to interpret and infer information rather than copy or recreate it. I've found it is important to explicitly model the process of interpretation and inference for students, so they believe they can be successful at it. This is the goal for Day 2.

Day 3: What makes a good student, good teacher?

Goal - Engage students in a collaborative discussion of class expectations; continue to build community.

Activity - Brainstorm & partner work: What makes a good student? What makes a good teacher? Identify final class list of five qualities as an expectations contract.

Homework - History of Me

Day 4: Epic Road Trip

Goal - Learn the location & significance of the 50 states.

Activity - Groups design and present plan for Epic Summer Road Trip through the U.S.

Homework - 50 States Map

Things I'm still thinking about:

- Classroom Rules vs. Classroom Expectations: I view classroom rules as non-genotiable structures that paint a picture for students of what behavior is required in my classroom. I would have no more than 3, and they would be something like "You will not take away from learning opportunities in this classroom" and "You will treat yourself and others with respect in this classroom". How will I treat these differently than the expectations we come up with in our Day 3 discussion? When will I introduce them? How do I explain them?

- Order of Day 2 and Day 3 Lessons: Do I jump into inquiry first, or continue to focus on community building by having the expectations conversation?

- Best way to teach 50 states: This is something that students need to know. Do I emphasize memorization techniques or try to build associations and connections? Right now, I'm taking the associations approach by going the Epic Road Trip project route, but I'm not convinced that'll work the way I expect. For homework, they will need to make a flip chart to help them memorize. Maybe I can compromise by building in the memorization to a lesson the following week?

I'm not sure who is reading this blog, but anyone who has any ideas or suggestions for me in my first week - please! Pass it on! Whether you remember being 12 or are a teacher yourself, I welcome feedback.