The First Day of School

Inexperienced teachers need to knowhow to bring the class to order quickly,explain rules and procedures, find outimportant information about thestudents, and let them know what toexpect in the coming days.

lassroom teachers have alwaysbeen concerned with the im-portant first weeks of school.

We investigated thefirst day of schoolat the junior high level by videotapingand comparing first-year "brand new"teachers with veteran "superstar"teachers during their first, second,tenth, and 28th days of school. Theresulting videotapes, teacher inter-views, and student interviews have leftus with a profile of successful juniorhigh school teachers and one dramatic

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

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"A successful first day of school canliterally set the stage for a successfulschool year."

conclusion: a successfil first da- ofschool can literally set the stage for asuccessful school sear

Here's what sve discovered aboutstudents' needs. and hosw the super-stars go about meeting them

Student NeedsAdolescent students come to schoolwith specific first-day needs. Theywant to know, in sequence:

1: Are they in the right room'2. Where are they supposed to sit?3. What are the rules of this teacher?. What w-ill theN be doing in the

course'5. ilorx will thev be evaluated?6. Who is the teacher as a person?-. Is the teacher going to he interest-

ed in them as individuals'High-abillt. students are more inter-

ested in the grading practices of theteacher, while loxw-ability studentsxwant to know), about the teacher's per-sonalit- and hovw the teacher a ,ill treatthem.

Superstar ActivitiesSuperstar teachers have a simple tor-mula for effectivel beginning theschool sear This formula includestheir selection of activities. the se-quence of these activities. and theirbehavior x-ithirn the acivitiitis they se-lect. Specilicall-. thes ' I ) select activi-ties that let them meet student needs,ais well as their ow-n. (2) sequence theactivities to meet first needs first: and(3) adjust their verhal and nonverbalbehaviors sv'ithin each actiirn . consist-ent xx ith the message the\ are iruing toco mmun icate

We reconmmend the foillowing selec-tio(n and sequence of first-da! teacheractivities:

1. Call the class to order when thebell rings.

2 Take roll, organize seating, andestablish a seating chart at the sametime.

3. Explain classroom rules and pro-cedures

4 Introduce the course content andgrading procedures.

5. Solicit student autobiographicalinformation on 3x5 cards

6. Talk about yourself. your schoolexperiences. and so forth

-. Close with a previewx of whatmaterials will be needed the next davand what the content will cover.

8 Dismiss the class at the bell.

Most important is the explanation ofrules and procedures If the rules arenot reviewed or are confusing. ambig-uous, or irrelevant. the consequencescan he serious Five categories of rulesare important

I Ein-tl-Be in sour seat wxhen thebell rings

2 Interactite--Raise sour hand totalk with the teacher

3 Attention-Don't talk while theteacher is talking

- Evit-The teacher. not the bell.dismisses you

5. Classrooom--Specific rules forsharpening pencils. bathroom. equip-ment, gum. and so forth

The method of presenting rules tothe class is also important. Explainthem using a particular sequence:

1 State the rule (to communicatethat it is important enough to talkabout )

2 Provide a student-centered ratio-nale for the rule (to communicate thatthe rule is for them as well as you)

3 Explain the consequences ofbreaking the rule (to communicateaccountability)

4 Give a good example of what theinfraction looks like (to demonstrate

that you know what you're talkingabout)

The superstar teachers in our stud-ies shared common practices The-began their classes in a businesslikemanner Thev checked roll and estab-lished seating charts at the same time(overlapping). They minimized thefrequency and length of transitionsbetween activities (lag time). Theywere deliberate and no-nonsense intheir explanations of rules and proce-dures. but smiled when talking aboutcourse content and projects The oldadage 'Don't smile 'till Christmas"could probabl- be modified to "Don'tsmile during rules and procedures."The superstars maintained direct evecontact with the entire class (scan-ning) Thes- didn't play name games toacquaint students with one another.Instead. the! simply began calling outstudents' names from the seatingcharts for questions and an.sxers. Thestudents learned each others' namesby listening. 'e didn't obser'e anspublic self-disclosures from studentsin these teachers' classrooms (such as."W''hat I did on m!- summer vacation")

Not-So-Superstar ActivitiesThe less successful teachers in ourstudies also shared common practicesThey were slow to begin their classeswith an\' call to order. There was noevidence of "overlapping": thus even'-thing took longer and less was accom-plished The number of transitionswas much higher and they lasted long-er. thus providing more opportunitiesfor student disruption These teacherswere less clear and persuasive whenpresenting rules The!- used fewer ra-tionales for the rules and spent moretime just listing them Their choices ofacti ities wxere often questionableOne math teacher had her 8th gradestudents spend 1 5 minutes drawingself-portraits' These teachers tended to

MAh, 1985

D)ouglas 11 B rook.s .As-wM :ate l'r(fessor ofFElducatio. C Iter7- /or I'r(IJcs'tomal Teach-er Fduacatriol. 71' 1 1tnirerith of Tetxz at.4rlington

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play name games. quickly resulting instudent misbehavior. This preoccupa-tion with individual students dramati-callyv reduced the amount of timethese teachers spent scanning the en-tire class. One teacher smiled onlywhen she explained the consequencesfor misbehavior, and at no other timeduring the session! These teachersstruggled with their classes the entirevear

In summary, good school years be-gin with well-planned and executedfirst days that permit the teacher toestablish a cooperative learning envi-ronment and permit the students tofind out what is expected in the class-room. Effective first-day proceduresmeet teacher and student needs andincrease the likelihood of an effectivesecond dav.

Supervising the First-YearTeacherWhile some first-year teachers may beable to start off the vear-and their

careers--on the right foot, many needhelp. The following is a six-step proc-ess that can put your videotape equip-ment to good use in helping yoursuperstars help other teachers on thestaff.

1. Develop a bank of first-day vid-eotapes at each grade level. Success-ful, experienced classroom managersshould be invited to participate. Vid-eotape their first and second days ofclass. In our studies, we also tapedthe tenth and 28th days of superstarteachers

2. Review the tapes with the experi-enced teachers to identify activity unitsand transitions.

3 Create audiotapes to accompanythe videotapes Play the tapes whilethe experienced teachers are watchingthem a second time. Ask the teachersto discuss why they chose and se-quenced the activities and behaved asthey did In short, have the teachersthink out loud on the audiotapes.

4. Create a beginning teacher staffdevelopment day during inserviceweek, featuring grade-level first-dayexperts explaining, with videotapes,how they get their sch(x1l year startedThe session should result in activitv-specific recommendations for im-proved classr(oom management.

5. Supervise first-year teachers morefrequently during the first few weeksof instruction. New teachers don't al-ways recognize the early warningsigns of management problems. Forexample, new teachers often don'tknow when some student noise is toomuch student noise because thevhaven't experienced the consequence,in ,Mav, of some noise in September

6 Supervise contextually. Observehow the new teachers open their class-es, introduce expectations, managetransitions between activities, respondto disruptions, and end the class Rec-ommendations on wuhen to behave incertain wavs are alwavs easier to fol-low than simply being told how tobehave A poor opening activitr' couldexplain serious problems later thisclass session A poor first dav couldexplain serious problems later in theschooxl vear EJ

Re/'rclcex

Brooks. I) l (:lnolmunicatlng Competence luni¢ r Iligh Teacher BehavioralExpressi mn During the First Dav ofSchool Paper presented at the annualmeeting of the American Educational Re-search Aiocilatl()n. Necs- Orleans, I.a . April1984-

Brooks, I) M I he Teacher s Communlicative Co(mpetence The First l)a! ofSchoo)l In T7ieon, hlto Practice, in press

Brooks. 1) M . and I lawke. G Beginning the Instructitonal Session A Compo-nent of C(lassro()m Environmenl' Paperpresented at the S,1uthx-est EducationalResearch Aissociation. D)aila. Tex, Fehru-ar- 198i

Briooks, I) M, and MI-ers, I CntextuialAnalysis oif Seciindlar (:lassrioom ActivitySequence and structure A I.oingitudinalInvestigation Paper presented at theSouthxx est Educaltional Research A.sxK iation. )allas. Tex. Fehruar, 1981

Brooks. D I . and Shlouse. I) M Man-aging the First D)ay of Sch(tol A C(mpo-nent of Profexsilnal 'Training Paper presented at the ~nnual meeting Of theAmerican Educational Research Association, Next Orleans. Ia . April 19HA

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Copyright © 1985 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved.