Things to have ready for day 1:

The first day of school can be highly stressful. If you already know how to handle these situations before kids show up, you will be better prepared for dealing with the incredible amount of responsibility that will land on your shoulders before you realize it. Note, these suggestions are from a science teacher's perspective and refer to a high school setting. That is not to say that it is not applicable to people who teach middle school, another discipline, or not in CA. If you have suggestions you want to see added here, email me with your ideas and I will add them. Please tell me who you are so I can credit you appropriately.

Connect to day 1 part 2

Stuff to consider before students show up

In no particular order:

A. Where will the students sit?

There are three decisions for seating:

1. You decide where they will sit.

If you know your students' names before they show up, then you can make seating charts before they come in. You can decide if it will be alphabetical to make it easier to learn their names, or if it will be random.

Advantages to you making the chart:

It sets the teacher as the authority figure before the students show up.

Disadvantages to you making the seating chart:

Students not on your roster will have to be assigned a seat on the spot, which can be overwhelming on the first day of school.

Disadvantages to alphabetical order:

These students have probably been sitting in alphabetical order for much of their school days. Students already know the person whose name comes before or after theirs very well and are either already good friends or good enemies. You may be setting up a sceanario that is inviting management problems because their friendship is much stronger than you setting the authority figure stance.

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2. They decide where they will sit with your assistance

This is what I used to do and am therefore a fan of this method. If I am not clear about why I like this method or how to execute it, just send me an email or post a question on the message board. I taught chemistry, physical science, biotechnology and a few variances of those classes so I used element symbols and their names to help the kids figure out where to sit. Before the students come to class, I tape the name card to a seat and hand out the symbol to them at the door. I tell them to use this to help them find their seat. It is great! They walk around the classroom looking for the name that matches the symbol, admit to me that they don't remember anything from middle school, and find the periodic table on the wall and refamiliarize themselves with it.

Click here to see an example of cards.

Click here to see another example of cards.

Click here to see a set of cards you can print and cut out. Suggestion: if you don't want to cut these out, use index cards. Write the name on one half, the symbol on the other half. Cover with clear contact paper or laminate, then cut in half.

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Advantages to this method:

• I find out who will follow my directions.
• I figure out who is not afraid to walk around the room looking for their place to sit.
• I figure out who will want to manipulate me by sitting in the wrong seat so they can be near their friends.
• I figure out who will try to con me by swapping cards with someone else so they can sit with their friends.
• Often students who are in a location they hate will let me know immediately- either too far back in the room, too close to the front, or too squished in the middle.

Disadvantages to this method:

• The cards can get mangled
• You have to remember to collect them during class. This was not usually a problem since I would visit each student individually to check them in to class. I would just grab the card when I visited them
• You have to remember to pass around a seating chart skeleton for them to write down their names where they are actually sitting, but this starts to build trust with the students.

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3. They decide where they will sit.

   Advantages:

   • You don't have to do a thing to set it up.
   • You find out who is friends with whom
   • You find out who tends to want to sit in the back and who wants to sit in the front

Disadvantages:

• You have no control over them while they do this- you are allowing the students to have control of the classroom from the very first minute. This is not good if you are teaching students who need structure, which most of them do.
• You don't know their names yet, so when they are talking with their friends catching up on summer things, you don't know their name yet to call on them to be quiet.
• You have to remember to pass around a seating chart skeleton for them to write down their names.

B. Now that 3 minutes have passed for the students to find seats...now what?

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