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Shawnee Despain

First Week Jitters

School started this week and I was just as nervous as I thought I would be. I knew my classroom was ready, I knew what my plans were for the week, & by the request of my mom, I listened to Harry Wong MULTIPLE times. So what advice would I give a first year teacher for the first week of school? Keep scrolling to find out!

Teaching High School aged kids is definitely not for the weak. These kids are filled with hormones and fueled by caffeine and TikTok. With that being said, they are also the reason why I went into teaching. They are amused by videos of Calf Scrambling and amazed by the free pencils I have available. But how do we keep these kids engaged and interested their first week of school? This is something we don't really talk about in college. And SURPRISE no one tells you what to expect when that bell rings at 7:45 am so let me tell you.


The first week of school is always a mass confusion of "I don't know what is going on". The students are still learning their schedules and your name. They're trying to figure out if they like this class or not and if they want to drop. Most of their other classes are already getting into the content for the year but as an elective teacher, I decided not to go that route. I decided to stretch my Syllabus, Get to know me, and Employability topics for three days instead of the one or two days. At my school the schedule changes happen the following week so my classes are either filled with kids wanting to drop or missing the ones they will add in. Take this week to get comfortable with your students and really get to know them. You have the rest of the year to cover the content and only the first week to make a good first impression.


At the recommendation of Harry Wong, I stood outside my door and greeted my students as they walked in. Although this sounds cheesy, I will say it works. By the third day I was able to recognize which students were coming into class with a different attitude than normal and that helped me navigate how to interact with those students.



Every teacher dreads the "Get to know me" activities but this one was actually fun. I did a Get to Know Me Flower and let the kids run wild with the design. I first did my Google Slide Presentation with my info & then assigned this to the students. Kids are very nosey so get ready for questions of every kind. I put some music on and let them use the crafting carts. This project is easy to make accommodations for because they aren't required to write anything. They can draw pictures or even fill in the petal with a solid color to represent their favorite color. Bonus: if you hang the completed flowers on the wall, they get excited to see their work displayed. I even had some kids ask to take the flower home to add more details. After they finished their flower I did ask that each student share their name and two things from the list of categories I let them choose from. This way I can learn a little bit more about them.


So for the first week, expect confusion, a lost voice, a lot of blank faces and get ready to repeat the same things over and over and over again. But also expect to be reminded why you chose the job. I definitely had my moments when I knew certain periods were going to be rowdy but that is expected. Then you will have the students that make it all better. I think it is especially important to remember that these kids are still trying to figure out their futures & classes like ag can help with that. Be the teacher with a listening ear and that will always gain their respect.


Below is my activity that I did for the second day! Enjoy!







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