Sunday, June 29, 2014
Hello Everyone! Welcome to my blog! I just found out that I will be teaching an older grade (3rd-5th) next year! I am so very excited and thankful for this opportunity, but nervous because it will be very different from teaching 1st Grade! I would like to discuss on this blog any tips, pointers, or tricks that you may have for those first few days of school. Thank you for anything you have to offer. :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Kelly, I am teaching fourth grade next year, so I will be checking back to your blog for ideas that people offer! One thing that I did when I taught 8th grade was to create a social contract. You first group the students and then have them write down how they want to be treated in class by the teacher and their peers, how they think their peers want to be treated, AND how they think the teacher wants to be treated. All groups will share their ideas and one person will write down words describing these feelings, such as respect and kindness. Every repeated word will have a check mark put next to it. After the contract is completed, each student who agrees with the terms will sign it. No one is forced to sign that first day, but the ones who don't will sign later! I was surprised the times students stayed after. It gives the students ownership over the rules and makes them more likely to comply. It definitely creates a classroom community. This social contract is by the Flippen Group http://flippengroup.com/education/index.html. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteWow! What an excellent idea! I think giving students ownership is a great way to create a safe classroom environment. You should watch The Ron Clark Story. He allows his students to create their own classroom rules. Plus it's a fabulous movie. :) Thank for the tip!
ReplyDeleteI actually have! It's so great! And so inspiring.
DeleteMary Beth, thank you so much for sharing this with me! It is so great to get tips and tricks from seasoned teachers. I really love that the students get to say what type of teacher they like. This way, the teacher can try to fit the needs and wants of their students. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis upcoming school year will be my first year as a classroom teacher. I do not have any experiences I can share with you but I have seen several teachers do a social contract the first few days of school like mentioned in the previous comments. I have also seen teachers do different ice-breaker games for everyone to introduce themselves. Here is a website with different ice-breaker activities.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kinderart.com/across/icebreakers.shtml
This is an excellent use of a weblog to encourage collaboration with colleagues and the sharing of information resources.
ReplyDelete