Day One: Ideas for the Opening of School

Tomorrow the kids arrive and a new year begins.  I’ve been given an amazing opportunity, and it has me excited, engaged, and to be honest, nervous. 

I’m piloting a model classroom this year.  Many of the posts on this blog will feature the ideas and lessons that I plan on implementing, but also whether or not they are successful.  The goal is to create a living document that I can use for reflection and development.

The class will be an 8^th Grade Language Arts “A-Level” class, which is code in our district for “Standard” or “College Pre” level.  The students that have been selected all are on the bubble, students that have consistently scored between 10 points above or below proficient on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK).  Many of these kids have had difficulty forging connections between their school lives, and their lives outside of education.

The goal for the year is to strengthen those connections, to allow them to see that their lives include both their academic pursuits as well as the pursuit of their interests, or to get Foundational, their happiness.

The class will provide experiential lessons and activities that will provide metaphorical and literal translations into their academic lives.  The class will have an open door policy, allowing teachers and administrators, parents and community members, to drop in and participate in the work we are doing.  Fostering this sense of community is one of the hallmarks of the class.

Before any of this can take place however, there has to be a groundwork of trust that is created, which leads me to my activity for the first day.  I’ll be taking the students outside (weather permitting) as a physical removal from the school environment, and starting with learning their names and getting everyone familiar with one another.  I will then introduce the class rules, and hold a discussion about each, inviting students to share their previous experiences at our school.

Here are the 4 Class “Rules”:

Your Words Matter

Too often, students arrive in the 8^th Grade believing that their academic future is “fixed”.  That there is no possible way to transcend the difficulties that they have had in the past, whether they are academic, behavioral, or social.  It’s important on the first day that I let them know that they will be judged only by what they say and do from this point forward, and that when we communicate, their words must be clear and precise.  Their words will define their character, they are not something cheap top be thrown about, devoid of meaning.

You have a Voice, USE IT

As a by-product of this, the importance of their words is tied to the use of their words.  Not speaking up opens up the ability for others to speak for you, to assimilate their ideas as yours.  Not questioning, or probing deeper into the things you are struggling with, robs you of the instruction you are entitled to in our system.  Learning to speak for yourself will be an important part of the class.

We Can’t Do This Alone

No one works in a vacuum.  Many of the things I will ask you to do require collaboration, the ability to work well in a group.  Use the resources around you to develop yourself, to enrich yourself, to strengthen yourself.  When we do this well, we all become stronger.

 Life isn’t about FINDING Yourself, it’s about CREATING yourself.

I first saw this on a mug at Barnes & Noble, and I have no shame in saying it changed my life.  This ties into the first rule.  Students tend to think that there is some perfect self out there, and that after they wander through their education and life enough, they will discover this perfect self.  We know that this is not true, and we owe our students the knowledge that every experience, every challenge, every triumph, and every failure is a piece of the person that they are creating.  We are all in a process of becoming, of working towards becoming the person that we would like to be.  To that end, we need to be mindful of the things we do, the choices we make, and the road we travel.

Suffice to say, I’m pumped to start this year.  There will be roadbumps along the way, but the new tactics and personalization that I plan on providing my students has me completely energized. 

How are you starting the year in a unique way?

What are you going to do that will change lives in your classroom? 

Please let me know, and I’ll get back to you this weekend with how it all went down!