Episode Details

The first day of school sets the tone for the whole year. Here are 10 things to avoid on the first day of school.

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The bell rings and the students come pouring in to the first day of school. Excitement and a bit of chaos fill the air as well as some nervous anticipation – not just from the students but also from the teachers.

Yes, the first day of school is extremely exciting, but those first few hours with your students are also critically important. In fact, they can actually make or break the entire school year.

1. Let the little things go. The biggest mistake I made during my first year of teaching was letting little things go. A little talking here, a student with their head down there – no biggie, right? Wrong. When we let the little things go, we give our students the impression that we either don't notice or don't care about their behavior. And the problem is that those little things won't stay little; they'll quickly escalate to full-blown problems. The answer? Simply address the small things with a simple statement such as "Greg, please sit up. Thank you." Check out my post "The Tiny Mistake that Could Ruin Your Whole Year" for more details on this topic.
2. Lay down the law. My personality doesn't lean this direction, but I've seen teachers, in an attempt to avoid letting the little things go, take the opposite extreme. They decide they need to lay down the law and show the kids who's boss. So they jump on any small infraction and whack the kids with the biggest punishment possible to show them that they will not tolerate misbehavior. This isn't a wise approach either. Yes, you need to address the little things, but often all that's needed is a verbal correction. And if consequences are in order, give appropriate ones; don't inflate them just to scare the students. Check out my posts "Should Teachers Lay Down the Law?" for more thoughts about this.
3. Make it a "fun day." Okay, yes, the first day of school should be kind of fun and exciting. But you shouldn't intentionally make it a "fun day" or a "party day." If you do, you are setting a very bad precedent and are just asking for your students to be out of control. Instead, start off the school year as structured as possible. Then, once the students are used to structure you should be able to add in some fun activities without losing control.
4. Go over all your procedures. Please don't torture your students by spending the whole class going over a sheet that contains all your procedures. This is so boring, and it's probably also what every other teacher is doing. Yes, you absolutely need to teach your procedures, but you should teach them as they come up, not all at once on the first day. And if you have procedures written on a handout, just let your students read them for homework. (p.s. if you're wondering how to teach procedures, check out my posts "How to Teach Procedures that Your Students Will Actually Follow.")
5. Spend more th