A Change and a Thought
This week was a good week for figuring some things out. First of all, I see now that my UbD unit is quite a bit too large to complete right now. I understand that I need to break it down into more manageable chunks. I will now concentrate on the first week of teaching for my next school year. I’ll bypass some of the introductory stuff and just start the unit for this class.
An idea that I’ve found works very well at the start of the year, and saves me many questions later in the year, involves the new students getting to know me and their classmates. I work with 8th graders now. They are quite interested in what their teachers do outside of school, and ask lots of personal questions throughout the year. I tell them what I want them to know about me on the first day of school, which really decreased the number of these questions I have to answer later.
I start with 5x8 note cards and ask the students to fill out the answers on themselves. I do the same thing. The questions involve things like favorite things in the world, fav foods, hobbies, dislikes, siblings, trips, birthday etc. Students are given the opportunity to introduce themselves to the class, using only what they feel comfortable telling the others. I usually have at least a few extroverts who like to do this. I also read through the student responses, which gives me something to talk to the kids about in the hall, before class, or when I’m cruising through the cafeteria visiting with the students. It’s also useful when we get new students in the district. I have them fill out the same thing and I can get them introduced to others with the same interests.
I follow that with my answers to the same questions. Some years I also show a short “about me” power point. This introduces the whiteboard, laptop and projector to the kids in an environment that allows me to answer questions about it before I try to use it for a science topic. I find that these introductions ease the students into my room, seriously cutting down on personal questions and kicks off my school year in a positive manner.
mark
2 comments:
4th graders are the same. I also try to do some introduction the first day along with classroom expectations. This is the day they are most willing to listen!
Sounds like a good plan.
Linda
I also had students fill out note cards on the first day of school and tried to talk to them about those things later. In my online teaching this year I asked my students the questions on their first phone call with me and then posted all of my answers in the course announcement page. Then when I called back a month later (have to call once a month) I would ask them about things they told me about the first time. It worked great. My favorite question is what is your favorite and least favorite thing about math. I love learning my students math joys and phobias ahead of time. (I liked learning about their hobbies and interests as well).
-David
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