5 More Things I Did To Start My School Year...plus one!

Last year I wrote a post about 5 things I did differently to start my school year than in years past.

Last year I:

1) Used Flipgrid for introductions for Students and Parents (I got a total of 2 this year...twice as many as last year)

2) Used Google Forms to collect student data, most importantly parent email addresses. So I could...

3) Send a welcome email to parents

4) Set up a Remind "class" for parents so we could communicate easily

5) Expanded my PLN using Twitter

I continued each of those this year plus I:

1) Talked to students on Day 1 about a Growth Mindset and the power of the word "yet". I even made a poster by hand (instead of having it made professionally) to hang in the room. I told my students that I would not let them give up on themselves and phrases like "I can't do this" will be edited to include the word "yet"

We also talked about failing. Not failing a test or a quiz, but failing forward. We did a cup stacking challenge where the students had to create the tallest structure they could out of cups without touching the cups with their hands. If (more like when) their structure fell, not a single group gave up!!! I told them this was the kind of failing I expect and welcome.

2) Created a class hashtag (#ManzoMath) and invited the students and parents/guardians to follow on Twitter. Some of them think its "dumb" but some of them love it. I had a group of girls that asked if they could be the first ones to appear! I asked their permission to share this picture on social media

3) Did NOT hand out any paper on the first day. Instead I created an info-graphic that outlines the course. I shared it via Google Classroom and within my welcome email to the parents. The students loved it. They read through it in a matter of minutes and we moved on to the next thing. I teach the last three periods of the day. All these kids heard on the first day of school was teachers talking at them. I just can't do it anymore.

4) Did math on the first day of school. Thanks to Sarah Carter (@mathequalslove) we did the Two-Nines Challenge. Even the students who walked in saying "Ughh....I HATE math" participated and were successful at this task. The student worked well in their teams, they didn't complain and they even asked to do more!!!

5) Had the students participate in activities that revealed a lot about who they are as a student. All of the above mentioned activites were done on the first or second day of school. We are going 1:1 this year and since my students haven't received their ChromeBooks yet, I had to improvise a "Which One Doesn't Belong" Activity that I would normally do using PearDeck.

I put some tape down in middle of the room to make quadrants. Students had to move themselves to the quadrant of the room that corresponded to image displayed on the SmartBoard that they believed didn't belong with the other images. Once they made their decision, we discussed their reasons. Some of them came up with reasons I never would have though of. It is such a great activity to get to know students, their personalities and how they think!

And the plus one is the set up of my room. I got rid of the rows and columns we are so accustomed to and went with this...

I am already liking the collaboration and conversations the students are having. I gave them the opportunity to choose their seats the first week. Assigned seats may be in their future though...

My first days of school look nothing like they used to and I am proud of that. Thank you to my PLN for making this possible... I wouldn't have had the courage do it without you!