Match this number to the number on your table.
Hi
Match this number to the number on your table.
Welcome.
All right.
Thank you for going straight to your desk, everyone. Here you go.
On the first day of school to assign students a seat, I give them an index card
with a number on it.
And so there now they need to walk in and match that number to their desk.
And so I do that to show them that it's not a free for all.
There is structure as soon as they walk in there, structure in the room,
and they do have an assigned desk.
So our learning intention for the week is that we're getting familiar
with expectations.
So we're learning our class expectations
and we're getting to know the people in our learning community.
My goal
for students on the first week of school is to create a comfortable environment,
a friendly environment where they feel comfortable in.
And so I really focus on PBiS
and making sure that they establish a sense of community in my classroom.
I believe in this room.
We are a community right now because we have at least one common goal,
which is to pass this class right?
We have that goal.
It is my goal to help you.
So that's a common goal we have.
So it already makes us a community, but we can be a stronger community
if we get to know each other's values
our attitudes and each other's interests.
The first community building activity was for them to create a name tent,
and so that was actually their "do now".
As soon as they walked in, they put a common interest
on the back of the name tent and so that was their first community
building activity was for them to share that.
And I do that in a very structured way.
Their seats are not just numbered with their seat number,
but they actually have a number one through four.
And so I'm able to control who goes first.
I'm able to say, OK, number two goes first, and then it's number three turn.
And so that encourages all students to speak
and they also keep each other accountable because they can see the number
and they can share. OK, it's your turn.
One of my hobbies is usually going outside and playing with my dogs or playing softball.
I went to J Hugh Middle School
On my free time.
I would I like to play Elden Ring.
and the middle school I went to is Curtis Middle.
To teach procedures, I don't teach them all in one period.
I intertwine them throughout the week.
And so I - the very first procedure is how to enter the classroom.
And so they walk in the first day and then that's
the first thing I tell them is how do we enter the classroom?
And I also talk about how we exit the classroom.
And I let them know that and we'll practice at the end of the period.
And so we continue all week.
I keep reminding them and we continue to practice.
And if you feel ready, your area is clean, your floor is clean,
your materials are put away, you may stand behind your chair, push your chair in
so as soon as the bell rings, you are free to go.
Tomorrow we'll talk a little bit more about the syllabus.
All right.
See you guys tomorrow.
I hope you had a wonderful first day.
Good afternoon.
Don't forget your name tents everyone.
Hi.
How are you today?
Good, good. Hi. Welcome back.
Come on in.
Hi, guys.
How are you today?
All right.
Good. Nice. 100% of you with a paper.
So on the paper, I want you to write
two truths and one lie about yourself.
So I gave you an example.
The example is about me.
So, for example,
there's three statements up here.
One of them is a lie.
OK, so I said that I have three kids.
I met Snoop Dogg at Applebee's, and I've lived in Spain.
For the second day.
The community building activity was two truths and a lie.
And that's always a fun day
for students to be creative
because they have to come up with a lie of their own.
And it's also a fun day for me to share something fun about myself.
And so it helps them to see that I'm human.
It help, and it also gets them
to have a little bit of fun as they try to guess what the lie is.
I hear you guys being so analytical like why would Snoop Dog be at Applebee's?
Right. OK, so this is a science class.
I always have evidence. And I have evidence that I met Snoop
Dog at Applebee's.
So let me tell you the story...
By spreading out community building throughout the first week,
I think it really is
it builds a stronger community. By having it just one day
I think the next day
the students may come in and forget what we did the previous day.
And that sense of community is not being built.
It takes time to build a strong community.
So that's why for me, it's important
to take the entire first week and build the community.
I think that you did
two years in school in Mexico is a lie
That's true?
Wow. What years were they?
Fourth and fifth. Fourth and fifth.
Is it different?
Yeah.
How different - was it - what's the one thing you remember?
Good afternoon.
Hi. I love your earrings, they're so cute.
Good afternoon.
I was saving this for next week, but I think you are already OK.
So far, you've done community circles with your your peers at your table.
I want you to meet people from other tables.
I think you're ready to expand your little community.
So this what we're going to try today.
So you will be sharing three things
from your interest survey with someone from a different table.
Here is how: I will play music.
So on the third day, I had
the students enter an interest survey as their "do now",
and they use the interest survey to then find a partner around the room.
So this time it was someone else other than at their table.
So it was nice for them to expand their community.
It wasn't just their table so then they met someone new or others
around the room and they were able to share three things about themselves.
And again, our goal I told them was to build community
and to learn common interests from everyone in the room
Last period of the day.
You made it. We're almost done with our first week. Huh?
We're almost done with our first week. Can't believe it.
No. It went by fast, huh?
Hi. Welcome.
I think it's important for a teacher to be at the door greeting our students
because we're introducing ourselves the first week of school.
And so I always want my students to find me approachable.
So I'm always friendly at the door.
And then I also get to know them.
I do my best to learn names and greet them by their first name.
So that's practice for me.
And then it also helps me start
kind of reminding them of the expectations and the procedures as they're coming in.
I remind them to put their phones away or take off their hats
and so that establishes our classroom norms even before they walk in the door.
Hold on. Make sure you end your conversation
are real quick, and then you can come in.
Here you go.
These are the
expectations as your teacher that I have for you, OK?
This is what my perspective, what I expect from you.
So to be respectful, please make sure you're using academic language
because we're all professionals.
As your teacher, I'm a professional.
I'm, you know, I'm an educator.
I'm here to help you learn.
And your full time job is to be a student.
So be a professional student and use the academic language
remember to maintain a positive attitude throughout the learning process.
Chemistry is not easy.
OK, just being transparent with you guys, it can be difficult
but we're going to maintain a positive attitude when it gets challenging.
Now, let's talk about you and what you want for each other.
So you already, underlined ten values.
I want you to look at those ten values.
Just those, don't look at all the other ones.
Of those ten,
I want you to circle five
that are most important to you.
So I should see five circles on your paper.
So those ten, circle five.
OK, out of those five,
OK, so now just look at those five you circled.
I want you to put a star next to your top three. I know it gets harder.
You're narrowing it down.
Put a star next to those top three
On Google Classroom.
You have two new things on here.
I want you to click on the one that says Mentee Meter
and there will be a link. That link when you open
it's going to ask you to enter your three core values.
OK, those top three, you're going to enter them and submit. OK,
as your words come in, they start to propagate this word cloud
and the words that we most
agree on are larger in size
or larger font.
And so the ones we most agree on so far are what?
Honesty
Trust
Loyalty
I see love for family.
So to make my social contract focused, I use our school-wide
expectations our be respectful, be responsible and be safe.
And so I use that as an outline. I ask the students, how are you respectful?
How will you be safe and how will you be responsible?
And so it was very structured and so they got to brainstorm
their own ideas. From there
they got to speak to their community at their table and decide on one.
And then as a whole community as a class, they got to do a class vote
and so that way
they have ownership on the expectations that they built for their class period.
Let's see what the last one was
be prepared
for everything and own up to your mistakes.
I like that.
I will I will practice that too.
I will own up to any mistakes.
If I make a mistake, I will make sure to address it.
Come on in.
Hi. Welcome.
Don't forget to take off your hat hon.
Thank you for taking it off.
Hi. Welcome back.
It's nice and fresh inside. It's nice and fresh inside.
To wrap up the week in our last community
building was a Quizlet and so what's really neat about Quizzlet,
I randomize teams and it is very competitive.
It forces the students to speak to each other.
So even if it's someone they haven't met already,
they start to work together and they have that common goal of winning.
So that is some community building.
And rather than having them take a quiz on their procedures or take additional
notes and procedures it's a neat way for them to review before we get started
for the next week.
Materials, sharpened pencils,
appropriate, like when she's talking.
Like do it after she finishes.
So you don't dis-disrupt her.
You only get six restroom passes per semester.
Chemistry is notoriously known for being a very difficult subject.
So by building community and helping my students feel safe and helping them
feel like they can rely on each other and create a team work environment,
it really helps them bring that self-efficacy
so that when it does get challenging,
they are OK asking questions and they know it's OK to ask questions.
And we're in this together and we're learning together.