They say that the success or failure of a school year is determined by the first week of school. No pressure right! This week in lab, we role-played our first day of school and it was really funny, at least I thought it was. We had ten minutes to teach some part of the first class and my classmates role played different student personalities (the sleepy-kid, always on their phone-kid, the authority pusher, etc.). We had some good laughs.
We are using a new application called Edthena to upload videos and comment/make suggestions to our classmates. Its pretty cool once you get the hang of it. Anyway, reviewing some of the suggestions from my classmates and watching myself teach, I realized that I would do things completely different on the first day of class. Here is my idea. First day of class, get the students immersed in some hands on learning. If it is a horticulture class, have them plant seeds. If you are teaching animal science, bring in animals to the lab, That would be a great first day of class in my opinion, Much better than going over the syllabus and classroom expectations.
I don't want to come across like I don't think classroom expectations or procedures are important, I believe that they are, however the very first day of class should leave the students excited to learn and discover. There will be time for going over procedural stuff and I believe that how the teacher manages the classroom actively creates an environment that is conducive to learning and respect much more than a poster on the wall.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteThere is a balance you can find. I love engaging in content in the first day right away, but what if you save 10 minute to introduce the syllabus and expectations, give it to them as a handout to take home that night to read and the next day spend time accepting amendments/questions?
DF
I think that is a great idea. I'm not sure how many students would actually read the syllabus at home, but perhaps I could think of a clever way to make them want to read it. Hmm...
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