(This is the first post in a four-part series)
This week鈥檚 question is:
What are the best ways to start a new school year?
Though the District where I teach doesn鈥檛 begin school until September 1st, I know most other educators and students head back a lot sooner. So I鈥檓 interrupting publishing my annual series of to share this four-part series and hope it will provide some timely help.
Usually, these 鈥淩esponse鈥� posts also include a ten-minute interview with guests on the topic. I didn鈥檛 have a chance to pull that together this summer, but you can listen to my hundred previous , and can count on many new ones when the fall gets rolling.
In addition to the advice contained in this year鈥檚 series, you can also read suggestions that have been previously offered by contributors to this column at .
I鈥檝e also created a related collection at
Today鈥檚 contributors are Roxanna Elden, Dave Stuart Jr., Ekuwah Moses, Matt Wachel , Pam Allyn, and Kevin Parr.
Response From Roxanna Elden
Roxanna Elden is the author of See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers. This year, she created the , a free, 3-day email series to help teachers cut through information overload and prepare for the first day of class:
Plan for interruptions. Your main goal the first day is to set a serious tone so you can teach with minimum drama the rest of the year. This can be harder than it sounds because teachers often have to meet, greet, and seat existing students while new kids show up at the door and the PA crackles with last-minute office requests. For this reason, the first day of class should be the most structured day of the year, not the most exciting. Your first day lesson plan should be more like a checklist, and should include plenty of quiet activities that students can do at their desks without much help. One possibility is to have students make with their names, seat numbers, and one identifying detail so you can learn their names while they are working. You should also include a backup activity in case your lesson ends early. Take any steps you can to minimize first-day surprises. Any materials not in your room the Thursday before school starts won鈥檛 be there on Monday - unless you put them there on Friday.
Plan for paper. You know your students will turn in plenty of papers once the year starts. What you may not realize is you鈥檒l also get lots of paperwork from your school early in the year - including some things you may not need to look at until May. Set up a box to file papers such as inventory lists that you don鈥檛 need to fill out now but can鈥檛 afford to lose. Otherwise, these can quickly turn into a tower on your desk that covers more urgent work. You can start off on the right foot by having a clean file box and hanging folders ready to go inside it. You鈥檒l also want a that says 鈥渋deas for later,鈥� where you can put the binders, folders, and workbooks full of potentially awesome teaching ideas from professional development sessions and colleagues. Then, be ready to turn your attention to grading students鈥� work. Get at least two grades into your grade book the first week... and every week after that. Otherwise, ungraded papers can pile up and lead to a crisis when your first set of grades is due.
Plan for sleep. There can be a macho culture among young teachers regarding the number of hours put in - for the kids. After all, don鈥檛 kids deserve someone who will work tirelessly to make sure they reach their full potential? Sure they do, but they also deserve a mentally healthy adult who wants to be in the room with them. A teacher sleeping three hours a night and making up for it with a double-dose of energy drinks is not that person. Work hard, but also set a teacher bedtime for yourself and stick to it - for the kids.
Response From Dave Stuart Jr.
Dave Stuart Jr. () is a high school teacher who also writes and researches about literacy instruction, character strengths, and teacher flourishing. His is read by over 35,000 people each month, and he gives around the country. He believes that all students and teachers can flourish, and he hopes his work helps you toward that:
In the first month of school, my aim is to establish a beachhead from which to launch a successful year with students in which we accomplish more together than any prior year of my career. I go into the year expecting that bad or insane or tragic or frustrating things are liable to happen at any moment, and my job is to faithfully steward the people, time, and potential that I have been entrusted with. My success doesn鈥檛 depend only on the first month, but the first month does have special strategic importance.
With that said, here are the basic objectives I want to meet in the first month of school.
- Finish a unit. In each course, I want us to complete a unit. This gives students a sense of progress and me a sense of keeping to a schedule (I鈥檒l have the end dates for every unit set before school starts) and where each student is academically.
- Establish the normality of each component of . By the time a month is over, my students should see that, just like the poster at the front of my room states, 鈥淲e are all about becoming better thinkers, readers, writers, speakers, and people.鈥� Toward this end, there are a few consistent practices and ways of thinking that I want my students to be familiar with (the remaining objectives).
- Establish the routine of Think-Pair-Share. Eighty percent of the speaking my students do this year will be with a partner using Think-Pair-Share. I need to know that every time I present a question and release it to pairs, quality work is taking place. , and here鈥檚 how I鈥檒l occasionally modify it into to keep pushing student growth.
- Establish the routine of Pop-Up Debate. Three weeks of Think-Pair-Share will culminate in our first . Here鈥檚 how I help many of my students progress in the first month from terrified to speak publicly to standing up and talking on their own: .
- Establish the routine of Kelly Gallagher鈥檚 Article of the Week assignment. By the time the first month ends, students will have completed four articles of the week. , , and .
- Establish my classroom policies. I use Michael Linsin鈥檚 approach, which I walk through in . I also explain how I came to adopt Linsin鈥檚 work and show you how you can determine whether you鈥檇 like to do likewise .
- Establish that their education is theirs. I鈥檒l start the year with , both so that I can understand a bit more of what they鈥檙e after and, more importantly, so that they can understand that education is about way more than GPAs and credits -- education is about becoming the people we always hoped we鈥檇 be.
- Establish a class vocabulary about procrastination. I haven鈥檛 done this before, but I鈥檓 excited to get the Instant Gratification Monkey labeled in the first month. .
And that is the super-macro version of the first month of school for me this year, God willing.
Response From Ekuwah Moses
Ekuwah Moses is currently a Family and Community Engagement Project Facilitator in Las Vegas, Nevada and works for the Clark County School District. Previously, she served as an Instructional Coach, Literacy Specialist, Learning Strategist, and elementary classroom teacher. Moses is a published author and has presented internationally. Follow her on Twitter @ekuwah or Facebook at 鈥淐ues from Ekuwah Moses":
Challenge: Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are. A considerable investment in the process of forging long-term relationships is the best way to start a school year. Relationships with colleagues, students, parents, administration, and community are essential to ensuring student achievement.
Colleagues. As soon as grade level teams and classroom assignments are announced immediately exchange phone numbers, visit each other鈥檚 classrooms, follow each other鈥檚 professional social media accounts, and get to know each other鈥檚 strengths. Set a time to meet each week and establish a purpose for meeting. This partnership will be invaluable to saving time throughout the school year. Early relationships between teachers yield exponential benefits in planning, preparation, and problem solving.
69传媒. Reach out to students before school starts. This could be sending postcards or friendly letters. It could also be as personal as a phone call or home visit. These efforts will set a positive tone for the first day of school.
Once school begins, establish consistent daily routines from the first day. Use your eyes and ears to acknowledge something positive to as many students as possible throughout the day. Greet students with a smile at the door or the pick-up line. Periodically, distribute interest inventories and short surveys to get to know all of your student鈥檚 strengths and interests. Incorporate student names and interests in word problems and relevant academic tasks. Write little sticky notes of specific feedback and place them on desks or inside notebooks. Immediately start digital or paper portfolios of student-selected work, pictures, or projects that will eventually go home at the end of the year.
Resist the urge to cover your bulletin boards and walls immediately or before school starts. Simply cover the bulletin boards with solid paper and prominently display an open-ended question (鈥淲hat will we create this year?鈥�) or the subject. A black paper background is exceptional for using a silver Sharpie to sentence-stalk and curate a graffiti board. 鈥淢ath is Everywhere鈥� is another open-ended title for a board that could be co-created throughout the year. Inform concerned students, parents, or administrators that you will be co-creating a meaning-making journey with the students. Strive that everything displayed on the wall will be co-created or created by students. The environmental print is for student access and the brain seeks personal relevance.
Parents. Parents need clear, concise, and consistent communication. Introduce yourself before school starts via newsletters, postcards, or phone calls. Create a positive phone call home calendar that lists a few parents to call each day. Establish a classroom website, a social media account, and a personalized corresponding tool (like Seesaw) for projects, videos, and assignments. Voluntarily, invite parents to special 鈥減arent-child workshops鈥� in your classroom after school. Use interest surveys to learn about special talents, careers, and hobbies that parents can support in the classroom. Set up a volunteer schedule and calendar to organize guest readers, reading buddies, chaperones, and assemblers. Plan ahead and send home requests for classroom supplies and materials. Again, call home and tell parents a positive comment. Parents need and appreciate reassurance.
Community. Make it a priority to collaborate with the community to enhance opportunities for learning and civic participation. Look for and share community events that would be academically beneficial for students. Do not overlook non-profit organizations, cultural institutions, universities, community colleges, social service agencies, healthcare organizations and others with a proven track record of success in child/family education that are willing to freely share their time and expertise in the classroom or virtually. These partnerships or donations could help offset a tight budget or use of personal funds.
This sounds exhausting, but these actions are crucial to sealing the teacher-student bond. 69传媒 perform better is classrooms where s/he feels noticed, connected, valued, and appreciated.
Response From Matt Wachel
Matt Wachel has been a kindergarten teacher, early childhood director, principal and is currently an assistant principal in the Park Hill School District in Kansas City, MO. He is co-author of the book and is an . Connect with Matt on twitter @mattwachel:
As summer winds down and the start to school begins in a few weeks for many students and schools, starting the year on a successful note is essential for a year full of learning, memories and experiences. There are three ways educators can prepare for a successful year.
First Day
On the first day of school, don鈥檛 talk about rules. 69传媒 typically come to school the first day on their best behavior eager to see what their new teacher and room have to offer. Instead of spending hours and hours talking about ways to be safe, respectful and responsible as well as how to sharpen a pencil or where to put your folders (which are very important - just maybe not on the first day of school), inspire your students. Bring your best and most engaging lesson to the classroom on the first day. Have your students leave the school on the first day excited, eager and looking forward to day number 2! Let them leave school on the first day wanting to come back on the second day with more zeal than they had on the first day.
Choice
If the answer is seven, what could be a possible statement? 4 + 3 = 7? 12 - 5 = 7? There are seven days in the week? The possibilities are endless. How often do educators offer choice to their students? Educators should design their lessons and intentionally plan with specific learning objectives in mind; however, they should be flexible and offer students choices as to how they will demonstrate their learning. Maybe it is by writing a poem, creating a short video or building a model - students will flourish and exceed our expectations when they are given choices. Give the students the choice and let their individual personalities, passions and talents shine!
Relationships
Nothing is more powerful than the relationships built between a teacher and her students and their families. Educators can spend the first week sharing with their students their own passions, interests, and learning. Take the time to learn about the students - what are their interests, concerns, hobbies, and passions. Continue the relationships beyond the first week through the Friday Five. Each Friday, make a phone call home to five families and share something truly special about their child. Through the Friday Five, educators can continue to develop and nurture relationships throughout the school year.
When you first meet someone, your opinion is generally formed about that person in the first ten seconds. Think about that. It takes only ten seconds to form an opinion of someone. How do educators make an impression in only ten seconds? The answer is making sure that those ten seconds count - in words, in body language, in a handshake, in a smile. In short, we have to think about how we present ourselves to people. Starting the year off strong will allow educators the opportunity to have a year full of success and memorable learning experiences.
Response From Pam Allyn
Pam Allyn is the Executive Director and founder of LitWorld, a global organization advocating for children鈥檚 rights as readers, writers, and learners, and the creator of 鈥淲orld Read Aloud Day.鈥� . Pam is the author of many books including Your Child鈥檚 Writing Life (winner of the Mom鈥檚 Choice Award), and What To Read When: The Books and Stories To Read With Your Child-And All The Best Times To Read Them (winner of the National Parenting Magazine Award). Most recently, with Ernest Morrell Pam co-authored Every Child a Super Reader - 7 Strengths to Open a World of Possible (Scholastic):
Five Super Reader Commitments to Make the School Year Unforgettable
The time is now to make a commitment to turn every child into a 鈥渟uper reader,鈥� to give them a sure way to become truly ready for the 21st century world and to experience the joy, pleasure and exaltation of an empowered reading life.
We can do this, first, by depathologizing the reading experience. We have 鈥渕edicalized鈥� reading instruction so that we are in a constant state of diagnosing children: leveling them, intervening with them, 鈥減ushing in鈥� or 鈥減ulling out.鈥� The language we use to describe how we teach reading can be negative for children, and our methods for instruction can feel more like treating a disease than raising readers. At LitWord, I work with children across the United States and the world, and see children yearning for a positive reading experience, longing to join the literacy 鈥渃lub,鈥� and striving to become better at something they know will change their lives. The negative language of low expectations and intervention is inhibitive. It has prevented them from seeing themselves as super readers, from becoming aspirational in their reading goals, and from being bold and fearless in taking risks as readers. It has denied them a place at the reading table.
I鈥檓 recommending five commitments we can all make, as teachers, families and administrators to create a Super Reader Community Zone--a place where all children have the opportunity of a lifetime: to see reading as a fundamental, joyful part of their everyday lives.
1. Use a strength-based approach to reading instruction.
My most recent work, which culminated in Every Child a Super Reader, a book I co-authored with Dr. Ernest Morrell, focuses on creating a positive foundation to build capacity in every reader through what we call the 7 Strengths. From belonging to courage, from confidence to hope, the 7 Strengths provide an escalating framework that helps bolster a child鈥檚 authentic learning muscles. The strengths are designed to build resilience in our readers, for them to flourish in a community where their natural strengths are valued, and where they can practice taking risks as readers in a safe way. Use the 7 Strengths to build a supportive reading culture, to help children become 鈥�69传媒 Friends,鈥� and to foster a community of goal-setting, where children get in the habit of saying, 鈥淚 am the kind of reader who...鈥� or, 鈥淚 am becoming the kind of reader who...鈥� Starting off the year, the 7 Strengths can build capacity in your students for the 鈥渟oft鈥� skills that will make them stronger readers each week.
2. Affirm small steps of progress.
Don鈥檛 wait until later in the year to reward and affirm reading progress. Take time each day to honor those small steps. 鈥淭oday I loved how Pedro read for nine minutes; yesterday he read for seven!鈥� Or, 鈥淚 appreciate how Sarah took time today to help Janelle select a new book in the library.鈥� Help your children discover strength-based language too, so that they can also praise each other鈥檚 small steps as readers. Post on- and off-line the strength steps your students take each day as readers, from how they build stamina to how they stretch to try new genres.
3. Every day, hold 20 minutes of Structured Independent 69传媒.
I can鈥檛 stress this one enough! Twenty minutes a day of Structured Independent 69传媒 will change your kids鈥� lives. While we know from the Scholastic Kids & Family 69传媒 ReportTM that one-third of children ages 6-17 (33%) say their class has a designated time during the school day to read a book of choice independently, only 17% do this every or almost every school day. Giving students opportunity to make choices about what they read and to provide them with book boxes (or a personalized file online) for their curated reading experiences helps them to see themselves as dynamic and ever-growing readers. No one should feel stuck in any one level at any time, though plenty of our students do. While I think leveling has a place for instruction, it is not a natural way to read. Every day I read above, below and at my level; and even as an adult, I am always learning how to be a stronger reader. Structured Independent 69传媒 time helps our kids explore options across a wide variety of texts and build engagement and motivation.
4. Read aloud every day.
There are several important studies showing the many of reading aloud to your students, including the development of vocabulary skills, grammatical understanding, and genuine connection to texts. It is hard to believe how rich its benefits actually are sometimes because reading aloud is so much fun. Kids should be read a wide variety of topics and genres based on their interests and passions. There are enormous benefits to reading both simpler and complex texts aloud to children. The benefits of the simpler texts include how we value the act of we love, being able to talk about the text in higher-level ways, and modeling the pure joy of reading. The benefits of reading complex texts are the immersion in and grammar, and complex ideas, and introducing children to the idea that no text should be one to fear.
5. Forge new literacy connections with families.
This is a new era for relationships as a whole. No longer should we be using Back to School Night as the main way to connect with families. Technology gives us many ways to be in touch with our kids鈥� families, to honor them as full partners along this journey of raising super readers. We can create weekly messages for our families, complimenting student growth as readers. We can set up class blogs and sharing sites to showcase students鈥� work as readers. We can invite parents to virtually experience a reading celebration, or to join a read aloud using Skype or Facebook Live. We can invite parents and caregivers to share their family stories in the same kinds of ways.
Let鈥檚 make the 5 Super Reader Commitments to make this year one we will never forget. Our children deserve it. And the time is now.
Response From Kevin Parr
Kevin Parr is a fourth grade teacher in Wenatchee, Washington and a 2014 :
The importance of the first days of the school year can not be understated. Teachers and students need to get to know each other, learn to work as a team and begin the year鈥檚 learning in a short amount of time. Here are a few ways teachers can accomplish this:
Let kids ease in: Teachers understand the importance of creating strong relationships with their students and therefore want to learn as much about their students as soon as possible. Although some students are eager to articulate all of their likes, dislikes, dreams and other rather personal information immediately upon entering the classroom, others are more reserved and need to establish a little trust before they do so. By giving kids a little time to feel comfortable, teachers can often get more valuable information than they would on day one. Teachers also need to keep in mind that not all summers are created equal. Asking students to write about what they did over the summer might be welcomed by those students fortunate enough to have summers filled with family vacations or camps, but disheartening for less fortunate students.
Focus on community and teamwork: Perhaps nothing is more important to student learning than feeling comfortable with their community of learners and having the skills to work with them productively. Teachers need to begin the year by modeling and practicing these skills with students. An effective way to begin is through non-academic activities like design challenges or teambuilding games. In this way students can focus on the necessary collaboration, communication and decision-making skills without worrying about additional complicated academic skills.
Start with a Bang: 69传媒 come to school every fall excited for a new year. Our job as teachers is to harness and build upon that excitement; not ruin it. Instead of filling the first weeks with administrative tasks and pre-assessments, it is important we get students involved in a meaningful, real-world project as early as possible. To truly set the tone for the year we need to show students the type of thinking, learning, assessing and reflecting they will be doing throughout the year. It is much easier to build pre-assessments and administrative tasks into an engaging project than it is to make those tasks engaging.
Thanks to Roxanna, Dave, Ekuwah, Matt, Pam and Kevin for their contributions!
Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
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Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog -- along with new material -- in an ebook form. It鈥檚 titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.
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Look for Part Two in a few days....
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