First Day: Huzzah!

Well, I survived another first day of school... and in a new corporation. 

Being on block schedule helps somewhat.  My mouth isn’t as parched and paralyzed as it would have been if I had spoken to six or seven classes today instead of only 4 and a shortened homeroom.  And I was able to implement a few slick tricks that made my first day terrific.

First was the fantastic seating chart idea that my former colleague Kristi Shipley shared via Shawn Churchill.  It takes a little time initially, but, boy, does it save time in the long run.  I'll be using it all year.

The basic idea is to use small sticky notes with each student’s name on the blank seating chart.  Then when several students don’t show up, or someone transfers out of your first period section and into your third, you can simply peel off the sticky note and replace it on the other seating chart.

The second really cool trick relates to the interest inventory I administer every year to uncover my students’ strengths, challenges and interests.  This year, because my students have 1:1 devices, I created the survey using Google Forms, part of Google Drive. This program allows you to create a survey, and then it collates the answers into a spreadsheet.   My first questions asked students to enter their names and which section they had my class.  Then the questions about preferences, work and study habits, and interests followed.  Because the students had entered their names and their class period in the form, I can easily sort their answers on the spreadsheet and have all the responses from a single class within seconds.

What a handy way not to have to shuffle through sheaves of paper, and to sort information or create groups to differentiate in my classroom!

Because the diagnostic writing assignment is posted on My Big Campus, I brought home very little work today.  I will simply access it online tonight or tomorrow before I see the class again.   

IMHO, that is where teaching is headed: Teachers will be investing more careful prep time up front in pretesting, and designing purposeful tasks and activities that help students achieve in new media as they work their way through material and inquiry projects in flipped versions of classes.  This approach allows for more individualized pacing and scaffolding.

What new approaches are you using during the first days of school?  How are you using the flipped classroom model this new school year?   What successes or challenges can you share?