Would any teachers out there like to share their lesson plans for the first few days of school? Procedures and icebreakers and whatnot? Last year, I was told another teacher would co-teach with me on the first day and not to worry or plan anything, but those of you who were reading last September will recall everything I was promised at that school was a lie. I have a few ideas and I'm making a PowerPoint as we speak, but I'm more than a little nervous about getting off on the wrong foot again.
Labels: work
7 Comments:
I don't have a lesson plan per se, as I always find myself teaching different classes and different levels..
I think the main rule of thumb, for me, is to get going with something fun/active/interesting. Don't spend time going over the sylabus/policies unless there is something you really need them to know for the next class - they will be doing this in all their classes, and it is the most tedious thing ever.
Set some simple class norms - either developed together, or ones you present. Then get into a name game and an icebreaker, and even some interesting math problem (one that all students would have some access to, no matter what, like some of those patterning ones, or getting across a bridge with various conditions, or the handshake problem, etc.)
Other procedures, rules, materials and so forth can be gone over in the next few days - no need to cram it all in on day one.
Here are a few good icebreakers, which you may have seen before...
1) "Group Being", used for establishing class norms. On a piece of butcher paper, all students trace a hand, linking with other hands to form a circle. Students write down in the center things they would like to get out of the class, ways they would like to be treated, ways they should act. On the outside, they write things that they would not like to see or have happen in class. This can be posted, and you can boil it down to create a list of class norms.
2) Common Ground - Break students into pairs and give them a few minutes to introduce themselves and come up with 3 things that they have in common. These things may not be skin deep (i.e. obvious physical characteristics) or boring (i.e. we are in the same math class, huh huh). Points awarded for strangest/coolest/most interesting, etc. Variation - find as many things that you have in common in 3 minutes, without the same restrictions. At the end, have students introduce each other to the class and present what they had in common.
3) Letter writing - come up with a set of questions you'd like to know about your students (academic and non) and ask them to write you a letter. They will love you if you respond individually, though it's a lot of work.
4) Big Wind Blows - they love this one, I'm not sure why.. Arrange chairs in a large circle with all students facing in. One student is "it". She or he stands in the middle, and says "Big wind blows for everyone who..." and adds something to the end, like "is wearing black shoes" or "likes hockey". Whoever it is true for must stand up and run to a new seat, and not the one next to them. The "it" tries to get a seat. Whoever doesn't get a seat is the new it. They can play this one forever.
5) Sheet name game - Bring in a bedsheet. Break students into two groups. Set up two chairs for students to stand on; they hold up the sheet like a barrier between the two sides so no one can see across. Set up two chairs facing each other, with the sheet between them. One person from each team sits in the chairs. The kids holding the sheet drop it, so that the students in chairs are facing each other. The first one to correctly say the name of the other one wins a point for their team. Set the sheet back up, and two new students sit down. Of course, this only works if there has been at least a nominal chance at knowing each others' names already.
6) Snowball - can be used in many situations. All students are given a sheet of paper and asked to write something on it, but not their name, then crumple it up and toss it in the center. It can be as simple as "what did you do this summer" or deeper "what are you worried about this year". Depending on the situation, students can reveal themselves or not. This can also be good for getting shy students to ask questions.
There are a million more, but I'm drawing a blank right now.. good luck!
By
Dan Greene, At
6:54 PM
Awesome! Thanks so much! I was thinking of doing general expectations on day 1 and the nitty gritty "procedures" on another and glad to hear someone confirm that's a good way to go.
Now, other teachers better not say they can't follow Dan Greene ;) Keep 'em coming por favor!
By
jen, At
7:05 PM
I don't have a firm "plan" yet. Aside from handing out textbooks, we'll be discussing my two expectations: 1) Be Prepared 2) Be Present. Hopefully we can generate a nice list for each of those together.
Also, I think my classes of seniors will be a bit different than those with the freshmen. I have the freshmen 8th period- need to cover things like how to catch the bus home, getting your locker open again, ... more intro to school/anxiety reducing type things.
I'm working on some type of questionnaire/activity for the cherubs to fill out on that day too.
By
Jackie Ballarini, At
2:14 PM
Hey Jen,
Is there an RSS feed for comments? If so, I'm missing it.
By
Jackie Ballarini, At
6:30 AM
Is this one of those limitations of Blogger I keep hearing about? I don't subscribe to comments myself, only blogs, so this is not a feature I've considered. Hmm. I will put it in the Long Queue.
By
jen, At
10:12 AM
Thanks! (and you may want to consider subscribing to some comment threads here and there - you may be missing out on some great discussions)
By
Jackie Ballarini, At
4:11 PM
Dan has some great suggestions.
Last year I took my 2 6th grade classes on a walking field trip to a nearby park where we did team building activities. I found the activities by Googling "team building activities." I'm not sure how beneficial this was - after a few weeks the kids have no problem being social; if anything, the social drama interfered with learning. It may just have been this particular group of kids...
I have only one rule: "Make sure your actions in class help create an environment that benefits your education and the education of your peers." It's purposely written positively (not "don't do anything that prevents yourself or others from learning") and in sophisticated vocabulary (let them learn some new words).
I have a TON of procedures, which they get printed out in a packet. Things like, they can drink water in a clear covered bottle, but nothing else, in class. These need to be gone over, drilled, modeled, reviewed etc. Last year on the first day I had them play a board game where they got to move if they knew what the correct procedure was. I did this before they saw the packet, and they really enjoyed it. It gave them a reason to want to learn the procedures.
I found Harry Wong's book "The first days of school" to be really practical and useful.
This year I want to be more consistent in enforcing the procedures. I also want to require polite manners, which is something a fellow teacher at our school does. I'm very tired of hearing kids say, "Huh?" when then mean "Excuse me?" and of rarely hearing thank you.
If you'd like more details on any of this, let me know.
By
Hillary, At
9:20 AM
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