First Day of a New School Year
A wonderful part of teaching is the opportunity we have to finish a year, take time to plan, and begin anew the next year. Teaching is like the ultimate performance assessment – everything we don’t get just right this time, we can do it again better next year! 
One of the areas I always struggle with is the first day of school. Administrators always want us to go over our rules. While I respect that concept and agree that it is important, I wonder if that makes the “first day of school” not as important as it used to be. (Can’t you hear the conversation? Teen: “Mom, I don’t need to go to school today.” Mom: “Why not?” Teen: “All they do is talk at us about rules. I know what to do. [or] I can just read the syllabus later.”)
So … while I was in a training the other day … SpringBoard & FCAT: Writing for Learning for High School … I had an epiphany. Why do I need to review my rules ad nauseum? Why can’t I start school by having students write about something that’s important to them? or better yet, …
In Tom Romano’s work Creating Authentic Voice, he talks about our voice in writing. He then tucks in this profound statement … “Sometimes outward personality works in reverse: the brash, verbal person has trouble eking out a line of writing, or the timid, reticent person uses the safety of writing to romp on the page.” (p. 6)
In Harry Wong’s work First Days of School, he shares 7 questions that all students want answered. I believe the one we often skim over the quickest is “Who is this teacher as a person?”
Idea:
Co-construct a personal/reflective essay about an experience the teacher is willing to share. (In my training, the trainer gave 3 options … “Snakes,” “Dad and a new car,” or “Grandma B.” In our training, we selected the second option.) Although I haven’t hashed out all the steps, I do see this as an opportunity for (1) students to get to know their teacher, (2) students to witness the reflective process, and (3) students to begin (or review) the writing process. So, just an overview …
1. Teacher – provide 3 learning experiences you would be willing to share and reflect.
2. Students – vote as a class
3. Students – brainstorm questions to ask based on 3 areas: incident, response, reflection
4. Teacher – record all questions, categorizing them on a graphic organizer (pre-write)
5. Teacher – at a computer or on a document camera, tell your story (students can ask questions or add to as they feel necessary … a great example from my training was in the trainer’s description of the “ugly car” … participants asked, “Why was it so ugly?” Her answer of “yellow Gremlin” wasn’t enough, so the participants asked for more … the trainer then added more details.)
6. Continue through the process … the next day if needed.
I am sure there are more areas to consider. Plans would need to be more thorough, but I’m liking the idea so far. Thoughts?
“First Day of a New School Year”