Chapter 9: The First Day

What I Believe About
Preparation for the first day...
Assigning seats and learning names...
Meeting parents on the first day...
The first day's activities...

I've been dreaming up different ways to conduct the first day of the school year for years now.  The first day is crucial for setting the tone for the year, but I still have to figure out how that fits with who I want to be as a teacher and what exactly I will do to set that tone.  Will I focus more on classroom routines?  Or will I jump right into instruction to show them I don't want to waste any time?  Is there a way to successfully mix the two?

Other questions I worry about are how far in advance will I get my curriculum?  When do I get to set up my classroom?  Will I even have my own classroom or will I be a floater?

I already know I will assign seats, but not alphabetically.  I just don't know what layout the seats will be in, yet.  Learning names as quickly as possible is critical for credibility.  The first few days, students will have to say their names before they speak, to help me remember them and to remove any questions about proper pronunciation.

I don't think I will likely meet any parents on the first day of class--I can't think of any reasons why I would.  This seems like something that would be more likely for an elementary school teacher.

And the activities will depend on the curriculum.  I know that my exit slip for the first day, though, will be asking the students for suggestions about places I should go and things I should do around town, since when I am teaching for TFA, I will be new to the Newark area.  Others I have considered are autobiographical poems based on the personal info cards I ask them to fill out about themselves, asking them to make assumptions about me (teaching inference skills), and expectations setting (me of them, them of me, them of each other).

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In what ways, if any, has the chapter changed my beliefs?

I hadn't realized how looked down upon assigned seating is.  I had been planning on assigning seating, but this chapter has me questioning whether or not that is necessary.  It suggests that allowing students to choose their own seating is one way to put the responsibility for the education in their own hands.  I am struggling to remember what my own teachers did when I was in high school.  I'm sure different teachers had different ways of handling it.

Questions I Still Have . . .

Will I be able to pull it off?
Lots of others...

Chapter 4: Classroom Organization and Management

What I Believe About
Designing my classroom environment (furniture grouping, accessories, bulletin boards, etc.)...
Establishing classroom climate...
Establishing routines and procedures (exits, entrances, materials use, bathroom, wastebasket, water, etc.)...
Using monitors...

There are so many variables in a classroom. I feel pretty confident about my ability to establish a classroom climate, and in my methods and other courses we have discussed classroom procedures at length. Out of these topics, the actual physical organization of the desks is probably what I am least certain about. I have no idea what types of desks or tables I'll be given. I know that I want to do a circle discussion one a week or once every other week on Fridays, but that doesn't help me for the rest of the week. My guess is that the first year will be a lot of trial and error, and hopefully I have students who are patient with me.

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In what ways, if any, has the chapter changed by beliefs?

I really appreciated a lot of the organizational advice from experienced teachers in this chapter. The ideas of having color coded work and binders for different periods is a great way to stay organized. I'm fond of binders, so I think that procedure will come naturally to me.

I already have some posters and things that I want to hang in my classroom, but the idea of actually doing themed bulletin boards (almost like those I'm used to doing as an RA!) wasn't something I had considered. Bulletin boards in classrooms, in my mind, are for announcements, hanging student work, class rules, etc.

The checklist for the furniture layout is great, and I will definitely use that when I am actually figuring out how I want my students desks to be set up.

Questions I Still Have . . .

Can I really have a pet in my class? I'll have to ask my administrators about that...
If I have room for a small reading center in my class, how do you determine who gets to use it since all the students couldn't fit together?
What are my personal beliefs about bathroom passes/water breaks? How much will those procedures depend on the age of my students?