The first day of school. There is nothing quite like it. When I think back on my time in school, this was always (whether I liked to admit it or not) my favorite day of the year.
Who do you plan to hit the ground running?
For me, the first day of school is my time to shine. I have to sell my ass off for the kids. As cliché as it sounds, you never get a chance at a first impression. So I make sure to go all out on the first day of class.
I refrain from going over the syllabus and class rules. In my opinion, that’s not an effective way to start. If you were 16 again and excited to be back to school, is that how you’d want to spend the first hour or so of class?
Hell. No.
So I shock my classes a litte.
I shock them by putting my rules up on the board.
Rule #1 – don’t suck.
Rule #2 – see rule #1.
That usually gets some laughter and grins. Or it terrifies a few folks. That’s exactly what I want.
I want them to think, whoa. This is unlike any other class I’ve ever had. This is going to be a blast.
The trick is trying to maintain that moment. That’s what the second day of school is for.
At the end of the year – after I’ve handed out my senior letters – I usually get half a dozen or so thank you letters from students. In every single one of them, the students talk about how the moment they walked into class, they knew it was not like any other class they’d ever been in before.
That’s exactly what I’m going for.
They also thank me for working hard to engage them right away instead of just going over the syllabus and rules and boring them.
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