So much importance is placed on the first day of school, especially if you are a new teacher. The first day is the one opportunity you get to set the tone of your classroom. It really determines whether you are going to have a class full of clowns ready to entertain or students ready to learn.
Even if you are not an experienced teacher, the first day is important as you too will have to deal with new students who are not familiar with you and the way you run your classroom.
There are a few steps that you can take to ensure that your first day is a success:
- Have copies ready. Copy your rules and procedures and be ready to distribute to students as they enter the classroom. Do not misplace your handouts. Know where you have placed them and be able to locate them when needed.
- Seating charts should be created ahead of time. Be ready to seat students as they enter. An even better idea is to put a seating chart on the SMART Board and let students seat themselves. This will free up your time to deal with other first day issues that arise.
- Be firm on the first day. Students will see that you mean business.
- Provide students with the opportunity to ask questions.
- Let students know that you are glad they are here and that you look forward to teaching them.
- Spend a lot of time going over your expectations as well as your classroom rules and procedures. If necessary, you may even want to ask students to volunteer and demonstrate how students are to turn in their papers, etc.
- Briefly touch upon the course content.
- Tell students the consequences for breaking rules.
- Review school policies.
- Let students know how to act for a substitute teacher.
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