It's HERE!

The First Day of School

• Be a team player. Many schools are designed using a team approach and you will have to be flexible.
• Get to know the secretarial staff. They will be invaluable as sources of information.
• Get to know the media staff. They control the multimedia of the school and can make your life much easier.
• Ask questions of those around you. They were once new, too.
• Have an agenda on the board before the students arrive. An agenda gives you a plan and creates an atmosphere that things are going to happen in your class.
• Have an icebreaker activity for the first day. This will allow your students to get to know each other and enable you to learn some valuable information about them.
• Fill out your gradebook as soon as possible. If your records are not kept up from the beginning, you could very well be overwhelmed the entire year.
• Create and post a grading system consistent with school policies.
• Create a restroom pass system that follows school policies while making your life easier.
• Have high expectations. Students will achieve more if you expect their best.
• Be at your door to welcome students. If you act like you don’t want to be there, how can you expect them to want to be there.
• Learn their names as quickly as you can. It is much easier to control a class if you can ask ‘John’ to stop talking, rather that ‘You with the black shirt!’ One strategy is to learn just a few names the first day, and use them the next. This will get the students attention.
• Try to keep a positive attitude. There will be many ups and downs but you are in a truly noble profession.