The First Days of School

My column, "The First Days of School", published in today's Yuma Sun.

The First Days of School

When substituting for a teacher, I always came in early to learn the lesson she left for the class. If she had her own library I might glance at it to see if any of the books touched my interests. A number of them did and I’d buy my own copies. One book found in a Yuma High computer class was “The First Days of School: How to be an Effective Teacher”, by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong. “First Days of School” turned out to be one of my best buys.

What’s it about? It was written to help teachers “jumpstart” the new school year by beginning school successfully, no matter what the grade level, or the experience of the teacher, whether first year or a veteran teacher..

Here are a few things I picked out of the book, as we are close to our first days of school:

Celebrate the First Day of School

The more the school, the family, and the community are joined as partners in the cause of educating young people, the greater each child’s chance for success. I’ve seen celebrations like this at our Yuma high schools; a school band, cheerleaders, banners out welcoming the new school year.

On that first day, have the school clearly mark what building is where so no new student gets lost. Guide them as you would a foreign exchange group. Make them feel valued. Make them glad to be there.

Think of the first day as more important than Graduation Day. Bad first days may not lead to a good graduation day.

School is a concept, not a place.

What’s meant by this? School is not just a place where students come to listen to lectures, fill in worksheets, and endure a gauntlet of boredom. See school as a concept, a way of thinking, where students are welcomed to listen and enhance the quality of their lives without fear of intimidation or harm, guided by hospitable and caring people in a clean and orderly environment. Brought to understand life in school should prepare them for life in the world. Like a customer in need of this product, the student is treated as a growing person in need of the best guidance you as the teacher can provide. As poetess Maya Angelou put it “People will often forget what you’ve said, but they never forget how you made them feel.”

You are treated as you are dressed.

Judgments are made from the very first days of school. For the adults especially, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. No salesperson looks like they’ve rolled out of bed—even if they’re selling beds! We ask the students to dress appropriately. Devote pages in a handbook on how they should dress and regularly enforce it. The teachers are the role models. What’s asked of the students should be practiced by the teachers.

The advantage of looking professional from Day One is it keeps the teacher from self-destructing in the first few seconds before the students make any hasty judgments about you. It brings respect, credibility, acceptance, and conveys authority. All of which helps in classroom management.

Imagine a commanding officer addressing troops while dressed like going on vacation. It doesn’t work.

100% of the time when I go to school I am in a shirt and tie. The students know what to expect and it gives them comfort.

Make it Positive

“First Days of School” wraps up with positive expectations and good classroom management. This is not wishful, glossy eyed, fantasies. It is essential that the teacher exhibit positive expectations towards all students, every single one. Your classroom should be a time to eagerly anticipate, not a prison sentence to run out. Second, classroom management which assures instruction can take place and learning can occur. Believe it or not, this is not just a matter of discipline. The example in “First Days” is a store. You don’t discipline a store; you manage it. The same is true of a classroom. The teacher must establish a productive and cooperative working environment beginning on the first days. In my substitute teaching, accepting assignments in fifty separate subjects, I’ve seen classes moving like clockwork, and some crashing like bumper cars. It’s not just a matter of a sub in the house. It’s the management environment set in motion. Students who work without the teacher present are like workers in the company doing their jobs without the boss present. I’m happy to say I’ve had many positive experiences.

I recommend teachers and parents get “First Days” as an aid in creating the best first days of the next school year.

Mike Shelton

Yuma City Councilmember

And Substitute Teacher