Day 1 - Lets Get to Know you

 Day 1 is in the books. I am not as tired as I anticipated. My classes went well which is always nice.

My 1st Block class started slowly as students trickled in due to traffic and/or busses running late. There are not enough busses for my school, so some busses are running multiple routes meaning students who rely on them to get to school were late. How late? Many missed a 1/3 to 1/2 of the class today. I started class by covering the required material s l o o o o w l y. 

My psychology classes were asked to answer some questions about themselves and then, pair with a student they had never met to guess the answers to the same questions.  Have you ever tried to guess a stranger's favorite song? Their hidden talent? What would this person you've never met do if they won the lottery? It was a change of pace from a simple student survey. It got students talking. Step one to building a positive classroom culture is getting to know the people in the class. 

Each class listened to school policies and procedures as well as heard the safety brief. In every class. This is what Hold, Secure, Lock down, Evacuate, and Shelter mean. I did this 3 times today. Students heard it 4 times. We live in a world where first days include active shooter training now. Sigh...

My 2nd block class was asked to create a whirl-a-gig which is a colonial era toy. They cannot have their phones in class so I thought I would give them something else to focus on. You'd be surprised what you can tell about a person when they are completing a random task... well, unless you're a teacher and then, you know... A whirlagig is a spinning toy made from paper, wood, buttons, etc. In my class today, we made them out of cardstock and yarn. Students had to draw a circle, decorate it, cut it out, punch two holes in it, and thread it with yarn. They then wound it up and watched it whirl. Student success was all across the board.

In my 2nd block class, I have a student who speaks no English. He came up, typed in his phone translator, and handed it to me. I do not speak Spanish so this will be a challenge. He is a new immigrant taking US History. Luckily, another student stepped in and translated. Imagine being in a class where you do not speak the language and you are making whirlagigs that nobody has heard of before. That's a little hard to translate. The laughter and conversation was important to building a positive culture. Sometimes, education has nothing to do with subject matter.