The first day of school is what sets the tone for the rest of the year, and you don't get a second chance on the first impression that you make on your students. Do you want to be perceived as strict, laid-back, or some sweet spot in between? These are the things that we had to consider for this week's teaching lab.
This lab required that we introduce ourselves, do an ice breaker with our "students", and review our procedures, expectations, and consequences. We had ten minutes to get all of this done, which seemed impossible at first. When I timed myself at home during a practice run-through, it took me a little over the ten minutes to get through everything. I was so worried about getting all of it done that I sped through it during class and ended up having four minutes left over. This made me realize that I need to be more conscious of how fast I'm speaking.
Getting to watch everyone else's take on this lab was a great learning experience and I took a lot away from it. Megan introduced us all to slidesgo.com, a great website to find fun templates for google slides presentations. Maddie showed us an awesome ice breaker called "connection"! I loved Michaela's idea of allowing the students to create their own poster with expectations for their teacher. Everyone else from the #psuaged2021 cohort had great examples from their procedures, expectations, and consequences that I definitely am going to take some inspiration from for my own classroom.
Alyssa, I loved your blog on our First Day of School lab! This lab was definitely a great one to help us prepare for our actual first day in the spring. I agree with you that time goes by so fast, especially when you are introducing yourself and having your students introduce themselves to you. You are so correct when you said that first impressions mean everything and it is going to be so important to have a great start to our student teaching experiences.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, I loved your ice breaker activity with the numbered ball! It was fun and super interactive. As you mentioned, timing of lessons is something that I too feel I need to work on. Dr. Ewing suggested always including flex activities in your unit plans. I found that writing out what I would do if I found myself running short/having extra time is very helpful.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, your first day of school lab was fantastic! I love how you tied in our blogs to help move throughout your blog, that was a great touch. Also, don't stress about how fast you are speaking! We all get jittery and we are navigating teaching with masks. Take a deep breathe, you've got this!
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