First Days - Game Changer

I know many amazing teachers who get nervous on the first day of school no matter how long they've been in the classroom.  I get nervous three or four days later when students start to get comfortable.  Even then, I heavily rely on what I said the first few days of school to keep us moving, which brings me to my golden rule.

GOLDEN RULE:  Whatever you say, do it.   

So those first few days are key, because we're in front of the class making a big stink about what we want.  Whatever stink we make, we need to make sure we follow through on every part of it.  Fairness and trust are so important to teenagers.  I keep it simple so that on days three or four, when students start to settle in and test boundaries, I can continue to build their trust in my expertise and guidance throughout the school year.

Secondary Solutions

I came across this on Pinterest, and it's a simple yet fail-safe list of what to cover those first few days .  If there's anything I prioritize it's these same 7 things:

1. Entering the room
2. What to do right away upon entering the room
3. Bathroom policy
4. Cell phones/music
5. Turning in work
6. Late work
7. Class expectations (like grades, cold-calling, syllabus, signing up for Remind101, etc.)

Deciding the specifics of each of these expectations requires finding the right balance between your personality and school requirements. 

Here's what I mean: Bathroom passes are a school-wide issue.  I don't have leeway there.  It is what it is.  However, late work has no school-wide policy.  I have room here to make decisions about the way I want it to work.  I tell students during day one that I accept late assignments, but I give cut-off dates throughout the quarter so I'm not swamped with thoughtless last minute submissions.  These dates are communicated. I don't grade every single night, so if I'm not grading with militant urgency why would I expect that from my students?  I give students absolute deadlines when I need their work to get my work done.  The only exceptions are large projects/papers.   

I'm not going to implement a perfect system where X many days late equals loss of X points (I've tried).  I'm not going to deliver an absolute punishment with no chance of recovering in some way to a student for making a bad choice (I always rescind for someone).  I'm not going to alienate a student or family (I must be a negotiator and partner).  This isn't to say I'm not firm in my expectations, but I don't have an elaborate system that takes more time than it's worth to track and traps me into situations where I am inconsistent.  This fits my teaching style.  The goal, is to be clear in communicating whatever the expectation is and then following-through.