There are two mindsets going into the first few days of school. After day 1 of getting to know your students, some people jump into curriculum, while others continue to build community. I’ve personally done both before! A new teacher, or just new to the grade, may be wondering which one is best. My thought is…why not both?
Depending on your district, you may have a pacing guide that tells you when to start teaching. The good news is you can start content BY focusing on community building! First, let’s look at the why.
It’s no secret to teachers that positive relationships can help many students engage better into the academics. The American Psychological Association has an article that speaks all about this! You can read more here. We all know that there are exceptions to the rule, but generally, students try harder in school when they feel comfortable in the classroom. This doesn’t happen in one day.
There are tons of books, blogs, and research that give plenty of ideas on how to build community. For the first day or two, consider focusing on the “Get-to-Know-You” games for the class, while putting yourself into the mix! Make sure they are getting to know you, while also getting to know each other. In my opinion, students buy in more when they feel like their teacher cares! They want to know you just as much as you want to know them. We also want to focus on routines and expectations in the first few days. These are essential to building and maintaining a strong relationship. The bottom line is – if students know what to expect from you, there’s no room for the “what ifs” or questioning authority. As a 5th grade teacher and mom of a toddler, I know there are times where you just want to say “OK FINE!” and budge on something, especially if it doesn’t seem worth the battle. We all do it sometimes, but the more this happens, the less they know what to expect. My teammates and I like to say – Boundaries Are Love!
So, what happens after we know our students and they know what to expect? Some of us want (or have) to jump right into curriculum teaching. If you don’t have community building built in, you may have to get creative. If you haven’t already, make sure you have gone over and practice the routines of each subject. So much modeling has to keep happening through the first month (or months) no matter what grade you teach!
We use the term “workshop” for reading, writing, and math in my room. So, we focus on what the workshop is and how that looks, sounds, and feels like. For me, that comes before any curriculum, but can and should be modeled with the first few lessons very explicitly. Here are some ideas on what curriculum and relationship building could look like:
- Reading Workshop
- Many resources start the year off with review and/or fluency. Try to pair these lessons with a read aloud. This year, I’m starting with “Frindle” by Andrew Clements. Students can relate to the characters in the school setting, so it’s a good way to immediately engage them in the reading process. During read aloud and while teaching lessons, we will make those connections together as a class. Focusing on how students connect to themselves or other texts can help build the group together!
- If you have some days to play with, you should start the reading unit off with an interest survey and lesson. This does multiple things: finds out what students enjoy reading, lets them make connections to others in the classroom, and reviews genre type! My lesson might sound like students sharing verbally their favorite types of books, reviewing genre types with good book examples, then having student write their favorite genre(s) on a sticky note and placing them somewhere assigned around the room. Now they’re up and moving, thinking about reading, and seeing others who like what they like! If time allowed, you could have groups or individual students write down some of their favorites in the category as suggestions to others. Now that we’ve made the connections, encourage them to pick their favorite genre to start the year with! We want them to branch out eventually, but starting with comfort helps them buy into the reading.
- Recap: interactive read alouds, making connections, starting at a comfortable place
- Writing workshop
- Most writing units are going to start with a day or two of figuring out what to even write about. Most of us are probably starting with narratives as well. If you teach upper grades, you’ll know that students have been writing their same story over and over again. There’s only so many exciting things that can happen to a kid! I think writing has so many natural relationship builders that lend itself to the lessons. For me, I am starting with a pre-write, where students write their story in one block and with concise directions (I.e. “write a true story with a beginning, middle, and end. Don’t forget to check grammar and spelling along the way). Then, I’m skimming through these to gauge the following: topic, organization, grammar and spelling. After making note of strengths and weaknesses, I’m partnering students up with someone who can help them (I.e. student struggling with grammar but great in organization is with someone who is good with grammar but struggles with organization). Bonus points if they are with someone who has similar interests! Pairing these students is for academic reasons, but I believe that students having one partner for each piece or unit is incredibly helpful. Now they have someone who is expert on their own work, as well as their partners! They’re talking about topics and telling stories. They know what’s happening in their partners work and can help add to it without rereading everytime.
- Using partners takes routine and expectations, but in those beginning days, students benefit from having a “go-to” person to get help. Let them talk, brainstorm, tell stories, and listen to others! So much sparks for ideas, but also in student relationships.
- Lastly, I’m always modeling work. Letting students pick a class topic for me to model is a great way to get them talking about their shared experiences.
- Recap: let them talk!
- Math workshop: now this one is trickier.
- Many districts vary in their math instruction and curriculum. Some have structure and workbooks, others have vertical boards and inquiry, and some have a mix of both! Regardless, students need to know how to talk to each other during this time. Their comfort in math, whether it comes easy to them or not, is what builds the community in your class!
- In my room, we don’t use the “E word” (easy). We have a discussion on day one of workshop on how everyone has different academic strengths and different things they need to work on. Even in just math, a student who excels may still find a topic that is a struggle. So, we don’t ever exclaim that something was easy. It’s great if it was, but if your neighbor disagrees, now they don’t feel so great. Instead, we focus on terms like “I understand this” or “I’m enjoying this” instead. This conversation lends itself to partner work and helping others as well. If we understand that everyone has different strengths, we encourage partnerships to have patience and helping in a “teaching” way, rather than a “telling” way.
- Again, if students are comfortable to learn and even make mistakes in math, your classroom becomes a safe place for them.
- Also, if you use vertical spaces or a specific routine for group work, start the year off with games at these spaces! Helps learn the routine while also having fun. If you have to jump into math work, have your warm up be 5 minutes of a math game on the board or a review skill. Or pose a challenge question with some silly factors to get them talking to each other.
- Recap: positive partnerships = good relationships!
None of these ideas are ground breaking or even my own. These are things I’ve gathered and practiced over the past few years that have helped my classes. Now, I am the first to admit that this is not the key to having the perfect classroom and many of these things may not break through for some students. If you can prioritize relationships and model how to treat one another, you are building community!! Some students may not vibe with your community and that’s ok! As long as you are trying. While your relationship with students is essential, so is their relationships with each other. I truly believe that many students buy in when they see that you care.
First days of school! We know there’s work to be done, but tying in conversations, connections, and comfort is a game changer. In addition to setting expectations and following through!
Best of luck to all and hope this helped!
References
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Relationships. https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/relationships
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