Yay! So excited to actually start contributing to the #MTBoS (Math Twitter Blogosphere) community, and to start blogging more in general! This Sunday Funday blogging initiative is the perfect excuse to set aside some me time each week and reflect on my teaching. I'm now going into my third year of teaching, and so far, each year has been in a different country, which has made each "first day" even more special. My First First DayCountry: Kazakstan Subject: Math Grade: 10 In my very first day of my very first full time teaching job in Kazakhstan (blog post here), I spent the first day getting to know my students, telling them a bit about myself, talking to them about my expectations for the class, taking selfies of all the students, and giving them some general advice about how to succeed in math class. I found that it was important and effective to start building those relationships with my students from day one, and by learning all their names as quickly as possible, I let them know that I notice them and care about them. Prior to preparing my first day lesson plans, I soaked up as much information as I could with all the resources that were available to me. I had read First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong and a few other teaching books, browsed the internet for countless hours looking for ideas and inspiration, watched this entire video by Agape Management, and looked for elements of each that I thought would be suitable for my teaching style. What didn't work, however, was the fact that I did not start the year knowing where I wanted my students to be by the end of the year. This was difficult because I didn't know much about the culture, the style of teaching that students were accustomed to, and I had never taught a class full of ELL students before (hence why nobody laughed at my jokes). Moreover, I did not have full autonomy over the classroom (it was supposed to be a co-teaching type environment but ended up feeling more like I was "guest teaching" a few times a week); my co-teachers were not fluent in English, and had different visions of how they wanted to run their classrooms, which made it difficult to have consistency when it came to expectations and rules. What ended up happening was that the first day allowed me to start building relationships with my students, but it did nothing to help me manage my classroom (because nothing was consistently enforced). If I could re-do my first day, I would spend more time getting to know my co-teachers, and specifically, these are the questions I would ask: 1. What are your classroom rules and expectations? 2. What are your beliefs about learning in math? (i.e. How do students learn best?) 3. What are your beliefs about teaching in math? (i.e. How can teachers best reach their students?) 4. Describe a typical day in the math classroom for you. I learned that it is important not to go in assuming that your teaching partner will have the same views about teaching and learning as you do, and not only that but that I needed to take the time to get to know and understand their views! Had I done so much earlier I would have discovered that hands-on activities, student investigations, or differentiated teaching and learning weren't a common tools in their teaching toolbox. The general style of teaching I observed included very fast-paced progression through the units, with lots repetition and mental computations, but very little time spent developing the concepts or looking at their applications. Knowing this, I would have modified my first day presentation to include some math activities that integrated both styles of teaching. The Second First DayCountry: South Korea Subject: Science Grades: 8 - 10 In my second year, I taught in South Korea and had full control over my own classroom, which made it significantly easier to plan and organize everything the way I wanted to. My first interaction with my students, however, was not on the first day of class. We had an "orientation day" in which both students and parents attended brief 10 minute presentations by all their teachers. I began by greeting every student and parent at the door with a handshake. I called the students by name as they walked into the classroom, which took a lot of time for me to learn beforehand, but was so worth the reactions! Prior to meeting all of them, I borrowed the previous years' yearbook and memorized the faces and names of all the students I would be teaching in my classes. Some of them looked stunned that I knew their names already, when none of them had a clue who I was yet! At the front of the room, I had copies of letter to parents and the course syllabus which I asked each student to pick up as they walked in. In my presentation, I talked briefly about who I was, my educational background, and what students can be expecting to learn this year. My primary goal was to let them know that I care about them and their learning, and that while this year would be challenging, they would also be supported by me. Then, on the actual first day of class, I had students fill out a "Get to Know Me" form, we played an icebreaker game (two truths and a lie - my favourite to this day), I talked about the rules and expectations, and I ended the day by teaching them my class dismissal routine. What I DIDN'T do (but wish I did), however, was any science, and that's about to change for this year. This Upcoming School YearCountry: China Subject: Chemistry (?), TBD Grades: 9 - 12 (?) TBD As in the past, my main goals for the first day of school are: 1) get to know my students, and 2) set the tone for the rest of the year, but how I plan to achieve them will change somewhat. 1 - Getting to know my students. Ideally, I would like to learn student names as quickly as I can, before the first day, if possible. But regardless, I would still like to use name tents with feedback, an idea that Sara Vanderwerf talks about in her blog. I think this is a great way to connect with students individually and on a more personal level. I would also like to take pictures of the students with their name tents so I have a visual record as well. A modification I will make to Sara's version of the name tents is that I will provide some open-ended prompts that the students can respond to, so that they have a jumping-off point for organic thoughts to develop. For instance: - I noticed ... - I wonder ... - I learned ... - I wish ... I also really like the Talking Points activity from MathMinds and plan to modify it to make it chemistry specific. Another idea I've been toying with is some sort of homework assignment that addresses a few or all of the 5 Questions to Ask Your Students To Start the School Year from @gcouros but my problem with this is that I don't want it to JUST be about rapport building, it needs to address or be linked an aspect of science (or science learning) specifically... to be determined. 2 - Setting the tone for the rest of the year. We will, presumably, be doing chemistry so I would like to begin the first day with a demonstration, or an activity related to the nature and processes of science. Some ideas I would like to try: Stacking Cups (Dan Meyer) - related to concepts of measurement, accuracy, precision, and estimation Candle Light Activity (Art of Teaching Science) - importance of observation (qualitative and quantitative) in science, making inferences and predictions, chemical and physical properties Ira Remsen Demo (Michael Morgan) - observation, predictions, inferences, chemical safety, chemical reactions I believe that it is important to talk about my expectations and what students can expect out of the class, however, what I DON'T want to do is just read the syllabus on the first day. A prof once suggested just letting the students read the syllabus at home and talk about it the following day so they can ask questions about what they read, or doing a quiz if necessary about the content in the syllabus. First Day Plan (rough draft): 1) Greet students at the door 2) Have an activity for them to get started with on their desk (either to quietly read the syllabus or fill out a Who I Am handout) 3) Introductions myself and the course 4) Student introductions + talking points 5) Do some science! 6) Dismissal routine Concluding thoughts
My first day experiences thus far have been pretty nerve-racking and exciting. I'm slowly learning to strike the right balance between talking about rules and procedures to relinquishing control, and giving voice to the students. This is particularly difficult in a room full of ELL students, but once they gain confidence in their ability to speak and be heard, I found that they had a lot to contribute. With international schools, it is usually the case that the students are well acquainted with each other already, so usually the introductions are more for the teacher rather than the students. Even though students may already know each other, however, my role as a teacher to facilitate a safe and positive community cannot be ignored. This was made prevalent to me in Korea when I realized that students still felt unwilling to work with particular classmates even though they had been in the same classes for years. Regardless of country, language, or culture, my biggest take away for the first day of the school year is to BUILD RELATIONSHIPS and ESTABLISH COMMUNITY. I will keep this in mind as I continue to plan for my first day of school in China this school year!
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April SooInternational math educator who writes, occasionally. Archives
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