Every teacher has a list of things that we need to cover at the beginning of the year, but the direct stand-and-deliver approach is tired and boring (for teachers and students alike). When you simply talk through a slides presentation, you can visibly see students’ eyes glaze over and they pretty much tune you out after a few minutes.
This time of year sets the tone for the rest of your time with the students. They not only learn your basic expectations, but they also get a feel for you as a teacher and begin to form expectations about your teaching style and classroom vibe. It’s time that we (teachers) start getting creative with our delivery methods during this critical time of the year. We want to start off the year strong!
I know the stand-and-deliver method has been our go-to for years, but I have three alternatives that can be used at the beginning of the year. The best part about these strategies is that they cover more than mere behavioral expectations. While those are important, there are so many more boxes that need to be checked, like getting to know the students’ names and personalities, establishing their accounts on your online platforms, and setting a high rigor work ethic from the get-go.
Here are three engaging ideas for how to begin the year:
- Stations
Make a list of everything you want the students to know about and/or do over the course of the first couple of days of school, and then create a station for each. This could include as many stations as you need, and I suggest planning for each one to take about 8-10 minutes to complete.
Each station should have a directions page that details what you want the students to do while at that station. You can have stations for everything from behavioral expectations to book previews of your first class novel.
You can certainly set all of this up yourself, or you can use a pre-made template like these First Day Stations. I also have a Back to School Bundle that includes the stations and all the handouts that go with them.
- QR Scavenger Hunt
Have students walk around the room and find the answers to a Back-to-School handout by scanning QR codes. Smartphones can scan these, but so can iPads, laptops, and Chromebooks. Use a free QR code generator like Flowcode or QRspace to make your QR links to all of your information and hang them around the room.
On your handout, you should have questions about anything and everything you want them to know. The QR codes could be linked to websites, but also to things like Google Slides with behavioral expectations or Google Docs with information which the students use to answer their questions.
If you have something you want them to do (instead of answering a question), like sign up for a website you plan on using throughout the year, the handout could just say, “Scan the QR code and follow the instructions given.” Then that code would take them to a Google Doc with their instructions.
This strategy may take a little more preparation than some others because you have to create the handout and QR codes, but it would totally pay off!
- Take a Road Trip
This one can be super fun! You set it up similarly to how you would set up stations, but instead of having them all in one classroom, you set up stations around the school building. Depending on the age and maturity of your students, you could have small groups travel around on their own, or you can just travel together as a class and have the whole class complete each station at the same time.
Each station could be themed based on their locations. For example, students could sign up for your digital platforms in the school computer lab, they could do a book preview in the Media Center, or behavioral expectations outside of the front office (or the ISS room, lol). Get creative!
This strategy could take a little coordination with other adults in the building, but it has potential to be ultra-engaging if done right!
No matter how you decide to deliver all of that important information at the beginning of the year, you’re off to a great start by researching and reading things like this blog post! Your students are in good hands!
Comment below and share your Back to School ideas!
If you like this post, you should also check out my other blog posts at trickedoutteaching.com, and join my mailing list here to never miss a new post!
Feel free to email me with any questions you may have at [email protected]. Please also check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store for more free and inexpensive resources!