First Day of Class! Sooooooo Many Emotions!

That's right, it's the first day of class, and there are so many different emotions and thoughts running through peoples minds!

Excitement to see friends again, nervous for the school year, wondering what the cafeteria is serving for lunch, confused about the new bell system, and so much more. As I was preparing for this lab to simulate the first day of class, I was thinking two things:

1) The teacher is just as nervous and excited for the first day as the students!!!
2) WOW, there is a lot going on the first day, how can we effectively start the school year, set procedures, and start to cultivate the classroom culture that we want?

Pretty big stuff right!?


RECAP:

For my lab, I had the students start out right away with a bellwork activity, because that is one of my expectations for my students for the year. This activity allowed them to draw pictures that represent themselves on their name tent. Additionally, the students were told to write 1-2 goals for the year on the inside of their name tent. I wanted to show the students that we have fun in Intro to Agriculture (i.e. drawing!) but that this is also a serious course where the students will be challenged and will learn a lot ( i.e. goal setting!)

Then, the students played a little activity to get to know each other and get up and moving. The activity involves four possible answers, and the student chooses the answer they most agree with and goes to the corner of the room associated with that question. After introducing themselves to each other, they try to convince other students in the class why their corner is better. For example, I asked what their preferred pet was (Dog, Cat, Bird, or No Pet at all!) This fun and casual game gets the students moving and helps them learn each others name etc.

After this, we did a Go Get It E-moment to get color coded note cards from around the room that had the classroom expectations, procedures, and consequences written on them. We then discussed the importance of these, and what they mean, etc.

Finally, the students were given a sheet with the procedures, expectations, and consequences outlined that they and their parent/guardians would sign.

REFLECTION

My biggest goal for this class was to create a positive learning environment. I think that this was achieved through the fun activities. However, I also was appropriately serious while talking about the classroom expectations, procedures, and consequences. I really enjoyed talking through the expectations in order to "Cultivate our Classroom Culture." I also think that my transitions were good (not necessarily as smooooooth as I wanted, but they worked!)

Some opportunities to improve:
- Time management, I went over the 15 minute mark! We were just SO EXCITED for the first day of class!
- Clarifying instructions! I can practice giving instructions with friends not in my class etc, and see if they understand what I am trying to convey
-Watch my speed!!! It's not a race SB!
- Watch the filler words, like, hmmm, what's an example, ummmmmmmm can't think of one, but ahhhhhhhh maybe I'll get back to you guys on that!?
-Stop fiddling with the watch! Huh, you would think I would have better time management with how much I played with said watch ;)

Goals for next lab, and how I can achieve this!

1) Watch speed! Practice speaking, and maybe give lesson to some friends
2) Watch filler words. This probably happens partly because I UMMMMM am not sure what to say next, so Practice & Prepare
3) Clarity of instruction. I can achieve this by planning, and practicing!

Well thanks for reading folks!

-Sb