First Days of School

What you need to succeed on the First Days of School


What you do on the first days of school will determine your success or failure for the rest of the school year.  You will either win or lose your class on the first days of school.  (Wong, 1991)

The effective teacher establishes GOOD control of the class in the very first week of school.  

Control does not involve threats, intimidation, or dictatorship.  

Control means that you know

(1) what you are doing,

(2) your classroom procedures, and

(3) your professional responsibilities.

It is imperative that your students know that you know what you are doing!!!

Preparation for the first day.


1)  Make a seating chart.


You always want to have a seating chart for the first several days of class because it helps you memorize students names efficiently.  It eliminates the opportunity for students to sit with friends which will challenge them to stay on task.  Once you know the students, you may begin to move their seats around to meet your needs.  After a few weeks in school, if students behave throughout the week, you might have free seat Friday.  Free seat Friday allows students to sit wherever they would like in the classroom.  It is a great incentive and a fun way to end the week.


2)  Write names of students on note cards and tape to the corner of the desk.


Writing students names on notecards will help the students know where to sit which will speed up the time it takes for students to find their seat on those first few days of school.  It is also very useful to the teacher because when you walk around the room it will also help you memorize their names faster.


3)  Create a syllabus for your class.


A syllabus will provide students the following information:

• What they will be studying
• How you plan to grade your assignments
• What tools/materials they will need for your class
• Contact information for parents and/or students

4)  Create a management plan that you intend to follow throughout the year.


A management plan needs to short and simple.  The main purpose of the management plan is to let students know the basic rules and what will happen if those rules are broken.  A management plan will not work if you do not stick to it! ENFORCE, ENFORCE, ENFORCE the plan.

5)  Determine the procedures for your classroom.


Make sure you have thought about what, when, where, how you want students to interact in the classroom.  Students are no different than adults, they want consistency.  If you want students to turn assignments into a basket, ensure that is what they do every time.  If you want students to raise their hand to get out of their seat, ensure that is what you expect of them every time.  If you want students to wait to ask to go to the restroom until you are done actively teaching, ensure you explain that process to them and expect them to adhere to that procedure.  Make sure you think about every detail that could occur and know what you want the students to do every time that situation arises.  I strongly encourage you to write all of the procedures down and make sure it is in your substitute notebook.  Explain to students that procedures are still in place even when you are absent.


One of the best resources for any teacher especially new teachers is "The First Days of School: How to be an Effective Teacher" book by Harry sand Rosemary Wong.  Most libraries have this book and you are more than willing to borrow mine at any time.  Remember, "What you do on the first days of school will determine your success or failure for the rest of the school year".

The Flipped Classroom

The latest buzzword in education today is flipping the classroom.  What exactly does that mean?  It starts with teachers recorded themselves and having students watch the 10-15 minute lectures outside of class and leaving the assignments and projects to be completed inside the classroom.  As with all new concepts there will be concerns.:

• what if students do not have internet at home?
• what if students have to work and can not watch the videos?
• how do you know if students are really watching the videos?

The first issue can be resolved rather easily.  Teachers can download the videos onto flash drives, cd's, iPods, kindles, nooks, etc, so students can watch the videos if they do not have computer access at home.

The second issue is the same issue that teachers always had with students completing their homework assignments.  I believe since students are so technologically savvy, they are probably going to find a way to watch the video.

The third issue is a great question?  Teachers can incorporate edmodo questions into their video to see if students understood the concept.  Once students arrive to class teachers can use Senteo clickers assignments to quiz students on the video assignment and then determine how

There has been a lot of interest in the flipped classroom.  Here is an attempt to define what the Flipped Class IS and what it is NOT.

The traditional definition of a flipped class is:

• Where videos take the place of direct instruction
• This then allows students to get individual time in class to work with their teacher on key learning activities.
• It is called the flipped class because what used to be classwork (the "lecture" is done at home via teacher-created videos and what used to be homework (assigned problems) is now done in class.

The Flipped Classroom is NOT:

• A synonym for online videos. When most people hear about the flipped class all they think about are the videos.  It is the the interaction and the meaningful learning activities that occur during the face-to-face time that is most important.
• About replacing teachers with videos.
• An online course.
• Students working without structure.
• Students spending the entire class staring at a computer screen.
• Students working in isolation. 

The Flipped Classroom IS:

• A means to INCREASE interaction and personalized contact time between students and teachers.
• An environment where students take responsibility for their own learning. 
• A classroom where the teacher is not the "sage on the stage", but the "guide on the side".
• A blending of direct instruction with constructivist learning.
• A classroom where students who are absent due to illness or extra-curricular activities such as athletics or field-trips, don't get left behind.
• A class where content is permanently archived  for review or remediation.
• A class where all students are engaged in their learning.
• A place where all students can get a personalized education.

The Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. They are a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.

All of the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology.  The Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.

Students can make use of our extensive video library, interactive challenges, and assessments from any computer with access to the web.

Teachers and coaches can access all of their students' data. Teachers can get a summary of class performance as a whole or dive into a particular student's profile to figure out exactly which topics are problematic. The class profile lets coaches glance at their dashboard and quickly figure out how to best spend their time teaching.

Are you willing to flip your classroom?

21st Century Learning

When you hear 21st century skills, what are your first thoughts?
The first answer that most people use is technology.  Most people, however, think of technology in terms of artifacts:

• computers
• software
• cell phones
• aircraft
• microwave ovens
• video games

But technology is more than these tangible products. 

"Technology includes all of the infrastructure necessary for the design, manufacture, operation, and repair of technological artifacts, from corporate headquarters and engineering schools to manufacturing plants and maintenance facilities. The knowledge and processes used to create and to operate technological artifacts -- engineering know-how, manufacturing expertise, and various technical skills -- are equally important part of technology. 

Technology is a product of engineering and science, the study of the natural world. 
Science has two parts: 

• (1) a body of knowledge that has been accumulated over time and 
• (2) a process-scientific inquiry-that generates knowledge about the natural world. 

Engineering consists of a body of knowledge-in this case knowledge of the design and creation of human-made products-and a process for solving problems. 
Science aims to understand the "why" and "how" of nature.
Engineering seeks to shape the natural world to meet human needs and wants. Engineering, therefore, could be called "design under constraint," with science-the laws of nature-being one of a number of limiting factors engineers must take into account. In short, technology necessarily involves science and engineering."
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How are teachers suppose to make instruction relevant to students?  
What exactly does 21st century life skills look like?

These skills include:

• leadership, 
• ethics, 
• accountability, 
• adaptability, 
• personal productivity, 
• personal responsibility, 
• people skills, 
• self-direction, and 
• social responsibility.

Teachers have to be able to demonstrate the relationship between the core content and 21st century content that includes global awareness; financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; and health and wellness awareness.

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There are so many tools to use as a teacher in todays classroom.  Teachers have got to learn how to adapt their teaching style to meet the every changing demands of students.


Our students need us to use:

• prezi
• wiki
• glogster
• quizlet
• wordle
• twitter
• schoology
• edmodo
• moodle
• Skype

Teachers need to stay current on the newest form of technology applications to help students to stay abreast and continuously move forward in their ever-changing world.  We can not sit back and say, "Well, this is how it was done when I was in school."  That time has passed.  We, as educators, have to understand that everything is changing in an exponential format and if we don't change with it, we as EDUCATORS,  WILL BE LEFT BEHIND.

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References


http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_technology#ixzz1xFp57grq