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First Day of School Possible Plan
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11 thoughts on “First Day of School Possible Plan”
Here is my 90 minute plan so far this year. I think it’s important for us block schedule people to work together.
1. Bell work- 3 Qs from CWB last class
1a. Review CWB acting like you forgot what the kids did- praise those who remember
2. TPR- 4 action verbs with word associations and directors cues
3. 3 ring circus
4. Review of artwork from OWI from last class. again act like you can’t remember any of it
5. Cloze reading of storywriter’s work from last class with some Q & A
6. New OWI, trying to stretch into story (math brakes to bail out if needed)
7. Students write 2-5 sentences about OWI while I type it up.
8. Reading by student volunteer in ENG, then HW they all have to read to mom.
9. Quiz
3 full classes, haven’t even begun the “Introductions” that I’m supposed to be on day 3.
Ha! Jeff!
“3 full classes, haven’t even begun the “Introductions” that I’m supposed to be on day 3.”
HOw ridiculous “introductions” vs. the amount of language your students have engaged in in just 3 days, finding out about each other, creating unique characters via OWI, listening and reading, various student experts emerging in the community.
Or…you could have spent 3 days on “hola me llama Jose!” Hm. 🙂
oops autocorrect “me llamo”
Thanks Tina and Jeff. I’m with you as a block person, though my blocks are only 80mins. I have a question about the “housekeeping” stuff, announcements, daily welcome and check-in routines. Last year (first year in a new school after a whole lifetime in another one) I began each class with a bit of me roaming around the room checking in with kids, how was your night, how’d you do in the volleyball game, etc using Spanish or English according to the kids comfort level and readiness to engage using L2. I did this after trying to do this as a group and then realizing that the level of social unsafety in the building was sky high and so kids even in my “safe” space did not feel free to be themselves. After the check-in / announcements I had “chime time” which was a short space of silence or guided attention practice.
While I met with some resistant kids, for the most part this was a nice way to start class so I intend to keep that in there. I just met yesterday with 2 close friends who teach in a neighboring district that is very similar to mine in terms of the generational poverty and trauma. I feel in my situation that I need to do a lot of very intentional community building as part of my day. Our work IS by definition community building, and over time I expect to simply let that evolve as the energy of that takes over, but right now it seems like I need to do a short activity to start each day that breaks the ice dams that build up during the rest of the day. They gave me lots of ideas, most of which I will eventually be able to do in L2.
Thoughts on this? And also closing routines / rituals? Self-reflection, etc? Do any of you carve out time for that. I would like to establish some simple start and end routines so that I don’t get caught by the bell and have them scurrying out of the class. I plan to use student jobs to help with this, like a timekeeper, etc.
jen,
I’d so much rather get caught by the bell than have 20 minutes left with no plan. I love to chat the kids up in English to get to know them. The first three weeks are hardest for me because I can’t remember any of their names and it’s embarrassing. Ben was talking about the town hall meeting at the beginning of the invisibles. you can work that in to your L1 ice breaker.
I like to quiz as they leave. Kahoot sometimes. Thank my artist/writer and tell them they are amazing. Lately I have them write in their journals 2-5 sentences about our OWI, because my quiz ends with 5 minutes left mostly.
The thing is you either try to stretch the activity out and bore the heck out of them or you cut it short when interest wanes and you have no activities left.
Got to go to class. Bye!
jen,
I also work in a school with high poverty and trauma. This will be my first year using comp. based instruction. I’m wondering what strategies you use at the beginning of the year to break the ice–TPRS or otherwise? I know most of my kids are relationship based and I won’t be able to get far unless I really work to establish community and relationships. What have you found especially useful in the first few weeks?
I have done Restorative Justice circles with students in the past (in L1). I’m still on the fence as to whether or not I will continue that practice this year. I’m thinking the town hall meeting really serves the same purpose so I’m going to give that a try instead once we begin working with the invisibles.
Hi Elena,
I don’t have a set of activities. Last year I was totally flying by the seat of my pants and was in way over my head. First semester knocked me to the ground. Second semester I lightened up on my rigid “but this is how CI works” mentality and tried to find ways to build community.
One thing I did consistently was “chime time” which was a moment of silence or a short guided relaxation. I was able to do this in Spanish with some groups.
Some things that worked well are basic CI activities and I can see down the line that I’ll be able to stay WAY more in L2, but I noticed toward the end of the year that kids resisted even saying si / no and I realized it was that they did not want to open a single inch of the door for potential ridicule.
I agree that the town hall meeting is key and I plan to use the first 10 min or so of our time together in this way. I just met with 2 friends/colleagues from a similar district (guidance counselor and health science teacher in the vocational program) both of them use “ice breaker” “team building” activities daily. One of them changes her seating chart every day also, so that kids never sit in the same exact arrangement twice. She has the kids remain standing and then calls out “sit in order of birth DAY from 1-31″ etc. a different one each day. I don’t know if I am organized enough to do that, but maybe I will do weekly?”
Maybe we can start a thread on the forum for short and simple team builders? I have a few but could use more. I plan to get ideas from kids too…one example is last year a girl taught us a game they use in theater class. Another was an activity that the field hockey girls taught us. I may have a student job called “community leader” or “activities coordinator” where that kid would have a note book to write down the various games etc and they would be the leader or at least “prof 2” for that area.
“basic CI activities” like OWI, CWB, 2 truths and a lie, star of the day, find 3 interesting “facts”(can be invented) about your partner, etc.
one powerful thing I did (in English )was a writing activity I’ve done many times when I taught at writing camp and “art blocks at my old school. It’s adapted from an activity in Hannah Hinchman’s book “A Trail Through Leaves.” I call it “Place of Refuge.”
I did this activity on Earth Day, so it was April!
I can describe it for you if you send me your email address. It has a visualization component, drawing, writing and then sharing with a partner. When I did it this year it brought me to tears watching them share with partners they never would have spoken to otherwise. I saw them animated and listening in a way I’d never seen. Super cool.
Eventually all of these can be done in L2, but not yet for my groups!
Jen said:
…I did this after trying to do this as a group and then realizing that the level of social unsafety in the building was sky high and so kids even in my “safe” space did not feel free to be themselves….
This is strong. A “sky high level of unsafety”. Wow.
I like the truth here because it defends my current position on the ACTFL 90% Use position statement. We can’t address the real needs of kids in our classes in an increasingly poor America (for most Americans) and still act like the language we are teaching is the topic when it’s not and when, rather, the kids are. If we can reach the kids in L2 even half the time with some really nice uninterrupted flowing input and spend the rest of the time in L1, it might be best for them. Let’s give up on this thing that we are here to get best gains via best practices. All that is out the window now in the new America and all bets are off. It’s not about us and how effective we can be in the classroom. It’s not about gains any more. It’s about kids trying to survive. It’s about the kids being able to find shreds of real things in their screened in lives before it’s all too late.
Thank you both jen and Ben. I have always struggled with how to balance 90% with community building in L1. In schools where students’ most basic needs are not yet met, it just doesn’t seem equitable or appropriate to begin the year when kids are “trying to survive” as you say Ben, without really intentional, heavy-duty community building. jen, I’d love to try the activity–elena@lclark.edu
My old master teacher who may still have bad pedagogy was able to develop a cool class dynamic. She would let anyone in French class go to French club trips. She would set up the fundraisers into order for it to get paid. She would also put inspirational videos from the third world. And because she had that tough love type of approach she would have students reach out to her. She had a crazy mix of high achieving kids (both affluent and poor) and poor low achieving students.
She even had them play soccer and volleyball to teach sports vocab.
Sure, no CI but there was community building.
Community building is where I need the most help. Luckily we have a special counselor at my school who is dedicated to improve communication and relationships (climate and culture) via a system called restorative practices.