My first week of school as a brand new teacher was an utter disaster. I had just finished my student teaching but had never actually practiced the first day of school. I hadn’t really thought about what 8th graders need on the first day of school. So I did what I thought I was supposed to do: I handed out a copy of my 3 page syllabus (facepalm) and read it to them (double facepalm). After I finished, I looked at the clock and my eyes grew wide… I still had 20 minutes left of class and nothing to do. I looked out at the glazed- over eyes of my 8th graders and tried to think fast. The only thing I could think of was two truths and a lie. It went okay, but the kids were onto me. Unfortunately, that first day of class set the tone for my ENTIRE year. No matter what I tried, my students were uninterested and unengaged. I won’t say every moment was like that, but looking back at my first year of teaching I can’t really think of any moments when I felt a connection with my students. If only I knew then what I know now: build a positive classroom culture first to make the rest of the year so much better!
1.Teach Expectations
Students crave boundaries. They will seek them out and test them to make sure they are solid. Before the first day, create a list of no more than 5 non-negotiable boundaries students can expect in your classroom. Make sure they are clearly and positively stated, and be sure to teach them to students explicitly. Additionally, make sure that they are visible in your classroom, included in your syllabus, and referred to DAILY.
Notice how I avoid saying “No cell phones,” “Don’t make rude comments,” etc.? First, expectations need to be positively stated so that students know the behavior you WANT to see, instead of giving them ideas on what they shouldn’t do.
These expectations are just the basic things I want to see my students doing. Additionally, each class will end up creating their own contract within the first few days of school that I post in my room and refer to daily. I also use this to praise students. For example, I might say “Jose, I really appreciate how respectful you were to Kevin by offering him a pencil. That was so kind.” Students don’t get praised enough for being good kids, especially once we get to high school! It sounds cheesy at first, but the more you do it, the more natural it will become and the easier your behavior management will be throughout the year.
Make sure though, that you hold fast to these expectations. When students are not following them, you need to remind them of the expectation, and then give them an opportunity to correct the behavior. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to follow up with fair and appropriate consequences. You can always ease up on this as the year goes on, but it is MUCH harder to maintain a behaviorally sound classroom if students figure out you won’t reinforce the expectations or hold them accountable.
2. Develop Routines
Whether you teach kindergarten or high school, you need to have and teach routines for every situation. When you and your students encounter a new situation, take a minute or two to explain and practice the routine you expect. For example, the first time we prepare to exit the room on the first day, I’ll stop class a couple of minutes early, and explain how I’d like to see them exit the room. Then, we practice it. The next day, I’ll offer praise and note any piece that needs to be practiced again (i.e. I noticed a couple of chairs weren’t pushed in yesterday, so let’s look around and make sure all chairs get pushed in before we leave today.” For some routines, like independent work, I remind students of the routine each time we do it, and I usually have it posted on my whiteboard while students are working so that I can refer back to it as needed.
Here’s a short list of some situations you should have routines for:
- Entering/ leaving the class
- How to go to the bathroom or get a drink
- Turn in work
- Finish early
- tardy/ absent
- Transitions
- Whole- class instruction
- Small group work
- Individual work
- Taking notes
- Taking a quiz/ test
- Using technology
Each class and teacher have different routines, so we can’t expect students to just know how things should be done. Spend the time up front making sure students know the expectations, and it will save you a lot of time and headache the rest of the year.
3. Get to Know Your Students
This seems obvious, but it is also critical. One relationship building activity is not enough. One of my favorite things to do is, while looking over student interest surveys (one of the activities I do), I hand write a note to the student on a piece of colored cardstock. The next day (quick turnaround on this is most valuable) I hand them each their note. Most students keep these tucked away in their notebook throughout the year. During the pandemic, I had one student send me a picture of his at the end of the year with a kind thank you. Another student showed me how she’d kept hers taped to her bedroom wall. It seemed trivial to me, but it really made an impact on my kiddos.
Whatever you choose to do, make sure that you layer on the relationship-building. Make it make sense for your teaching style, but also make it meaningful. Frontload this to get buy-in from the students and allow them to see you as more than the scary rumors they’ve probably heard, and regularly work the keep developing the relationships. In her book, The Joyful Teacher, Berit Gordon has some excellent strategies to make sure you are building relationships with every student. Even as a veteran teacher, these were incredibly useful to me.
Keep in mind, though, that you need to be their teacher first. I have seen a lot of young teachers ( myself included) who worry too much about students liking them, or who want to be the cool teacher. Students will love you only if they respect you first, and that doesn’t come from being their friend. Keep every interaction within a mentor-mentee, trusted adult-student boundaries.
4. Let your students get to know each other
It’s not enough for students to get to know you; in order to create a truly tight classroom community students need to get to know each other as well within your space. I love to have students introduce each other, present a little bit about themselves, and do a little STEM team building. This builds a strong foundation for students to feel comfortable participating in class discussions, working in groups, and supporting each other later on in the year.
One of my favorite team building games goes like this:
Group students randomly, no more than 4-5 per group. Give each group a pack of 3X5 notecards and 10 minutes to build the tallest structure. I keep the notecards to use for other activities throughout the year, so nothing is wasted.
5. Start Slow to Go Fast Later
Remember that it’s not a race to see which teacher can get to content the fastest. It’s hard to imagine when you’re brand new to teaching, but the more time you take in the first few weeks to build in routines, expectations, and relationship/ community building while gradually increasing content, the better the rest of your school year will be.
The first few weeks of a new school always make me anxious, but reminding myself to slow down and take it one moment at a time with these 5 steps always helps to ground me. Especially coming out of a year of pandemic teaching, it will be more important than ever that we re-teach students what school should be like, and take the time to do the things we couldn’t do last year.
What are some expectation setting and relationship- building activities that you do in your classroom? Let me know in the comments!
