Get Schooled

By Marta

August 5, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

Academics should begin on day one. Classroom policies and rules should be briefly reviewed, and both teachers and students should get to work. (Besides, don’t most high schools have an orientation program for freshmen during the last week of summer?) I think the mom who wants her kid to “ease into things” needs to let her kid grow up.

By lyncoln

August 5, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

I see no reason not to start in on new material on the first day. Since everyone is ‘college prep’ now the students might as well get a taste of college style classes. My collge classes all seemed to take 10 minutes to discuss the syllabus and then lecture for the remainder of the first class period. Most of my high school classes were the same way. I would’ve enjoyed a slack first day of class, but I never expected it.

If the parents are having problems with homework on the first day or school, I worry what they would think about summer reading lists for English classes.

By Steve

August 5, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

This just goes to show that teachers can not win for loosing.

By Stacey

August 5, 2008 10:33 AM | Link to this

My second grader had homework yesterday and while we didn’t necessarily expect it, my husband and I welcomed it. As it is, the first couple of weeks of school (in lower grades anyway) is spent reviewing and doing remedial work so the teacher can see what level the students are on. When you add that to the classes are out for some kind of “Student Holiday” and/or “Staff Development Day” every month, weeks spent preparing for CRCT, etc; there are only a few days left to teach new material.

I was enrolled in Honors and AP courses in high school (20 yrs ago). At the end of the previous school year we were given a list of books to read over the summer (we could either get the from the public library or buy them) and the we had to turn in book reports on the first day of school.

By jim d

August 5, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this

The teacher that hits the ground running gets my vote of approval.

By mystery poster

August 5, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

I always hit the ground running on day 1. On a block schedule, we have only 88 days to teach the entire content of the course (less time lost for this and that). How can you possibly spend one of them just going over expectations?

By SET

August 5, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this

If the teachers want to be loved they should have become comedians. It’s nice if they like you, but it’s purely optional. The parents can be told from the beginning that they don’t call the shots in the classroom, the faculty does. If Baby Huey can’t keep up, the family should be referred to whatever additional assistance is available, beyond that, they should consider other options.

Never explain or apologize for doing your job or maintaining standards. Just let them know that this is the way you run your classroom and to expect more of the same.

By Hey!

August 5, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this

Teachers & students alike should get right down to the business of education day one. Kids are fresh from the lazy days of summer and teachers haven’t seen these angels since May… playtime is over. Kids don’t go to school for happy-fun-social hour.

Go over the rules of the class the first hour (if that long) for the new kids and wait for the nosy parents to stop waving through the door, then as Kool and the Gang said… get down on it.

Time to stop coddling, babying, and cajoling kids to do what adults need. Either do it or get out. That’s what MY boss would say and that’s what I tell my kids. This world isn’t run by slackers or cry-babies.

I cuddle, kiss, rough-house, and give my kids “nougies” on the weekends, but M-F we have an understanding. School is their JOB! I pay them every Saturday an allowance just like I get paid every two weeks. I EXPECT a job well done or pay will be affected just like my job. I EXPECT attendance everyday just like my job. I EXPECT them to show up dressed and ready for work just like my job.

I’m not expecting anything different than my boss expects of me and quite frankly, the principals and superintendants need the same philosophy. Unfortunately, they don’t.

By just a teacher

August 5, 2008 3:18 PM | Link to this

Well, here it is, folks: the end of the world. I completely and totally agree with SET.

By Teacher

August 5, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this

I teach middle school - and it honestly totally depends IF a teacher can teach new material on the first day of class.

For teachers like elementary teachers who have students the entire day, then absolutely, they should be able to go over the rules for part of the day and then move into instruction. However, for middle and high school teachers, this might be completely impossible in some schools. Some periods in certain schools last only 50 minutes, and by the time you introduce yourself to the students, meet the students (so you can learn their names and maybe a little about them) and then explain the make up of the class and your expectations, class is over. So it’s impossible to begin new material until the second day. However, schools that are on block schedule might be able to spend half the class doing the introducitons/expectations and then spend the second half beginning material. It totally depends on the makeup and organization of the school. Don’t judge a teacher on what he/she does on the first day of school…you might not know the specifications of that particular school.

By Ich bin ein Beginner

August 5, 2008 4:45 PM | Link to this

This just goes to show that teachers can not win for loosing.

I believe they already have.

By Bob

August 5, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this

My child is in the Clayton County School System. I’m just hoping they will learn him how to steal a car or dig a hole or something.

By Perkle

August 5, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this

My stepson starts school on Aug 11. I suspect he will have classwork and homework immediately. He has had 2 reading assignments to complete over his summer vacation. He is in all honors classes though so I don’t know if that makes a difference. I don’t see anything wrong with easing into it on the first day. Give the kids a chance to get to know a little about each other and what the teacher expects.

By catlady

August 5, 2008 5:38 PM | Link to this

We hit the ground running. First day: 240 minutes of reading, 100 minutes of math, plus all the other usual stuff. Plus show the 3rd graders the bathrooms, lunchroom, etc. Last year we TESTED kids on the first or second day of school!!! Some folks thought that was a bit too much, to test when they did not even know their teacher’s names.

Will they have homework? I don’t know. We have a rule now for k-8 that says no more than a half hour TOTAL homework (all classes put together) per night. Seems that one of our top administrators’ grandchildren has a hard time doing his homework so his central office grandparent put the limit county-wide on how much can be assigned. Anyone else have a limit like that?

As I recall, we always had SOME kind of homework the first day, even if it was something really easy. I think my own kids always had something as well. Next thing you know, that mama will be demanding that school start at 10 so her child can “ease in” to school hours again.

SET, could you be in charge of schools in my county? I love your “my way or the highway” approach. Instead, we crouch and whimper when parents tell us how wrong we are.

By Old School

August 5, 2008 5:48 PM | Link to this

We just completed our 3rd day with our students. Friday was the day for getting the reams of forms out for reading/signing, covering the basic class rules, orienting new students to my lab operations, and just getting to know their expectations of me and the class (ED&D). Monday was an introduction to safety, emergency procedures, dealing with a myriad of schedule changes, and getting some reading materials going (my classes read 15 minutes at the beginning of each block and this year we’re logging what they read and “reflecting” on it.) Today I introduced some of the basic skills they’ll need to be successful in each of the 4 different levels/areas of my class. It was a circus but the kids were great and we are off to a grand start. Only one issue with attitude (football player) but it was quickly handled and we all moved on.

It’s gonna be a great 35th year for me!!!

By JustMe

August 5, 2008 6:12 PM | Link to this

I’m opening a brand new school in cobb county…21st century school….I HOPE they start doling out the work the first day….I think we should go to year round schooling and the kids would truly benefit, as would the parents, oh and let’s go to uniforms too!!!…my opinion only…don’t criticize the punctuation…I never said I was a teacher :o)

By Tony

August 5, 2008 7:05 PM | Link to this

“Ease into school” Wow! It’s no wonder we are in the mess we are in. I’m sure that out there somewhere is a principal that would support the parent, too. But not in my school.

By the time kids get to high school, there must be some rigor involved in the work required for learning. “Ease into school” is an attitude that flies in the face of reason if we truly expect our kids to accomplish great things by the time they finish K-12 schooling.

Before becoming a principal, I taught chemistry and physics. Yes, you had homework on the first day of school!

I’m glad that at least one of the parents your referenced was upset about not having homework.

By Lee

August 5, 2008 7:42 PM | Link to this

I’ve got to side with Teacher’s common sense approach to this one. If you’ve only got the kids for an hour class, doesn’t leave much time after roll call, handing out textbooks, introductions, etc.

Now then, this will really p** off the “drill’em till they drop” crowd:

My daughter’s private school has a short schedule the first day. After lunch, they will have a field day complete with various competitions. Let’s them get the socializing out of the way, meet their new classmates in a setting other than sitting in a classroom, get to know their teachers better, etc, etc.

Day two, they get down to work.

Seems to work well for them and by the way, rigor of curriculum never seems to be a problem either.

By SET

August 5, 2008 11:08 PM | Link to this

I don’t think my position on running a school is anything new. At least 4 generations before me in my family taught in all-black schools going back into the 19th Century. Not just my parents and grandparents - their cousins/siblings (college level - HBCs, High School, Middle School) But Great-Grandparents (primary and secondary school). These people were mainly “back east” and only settled on the West Coast in the last half of the 20th Century.

I grew up with (public secondary school) black teachers as relatives and close family friends. These people had crocodile smiles and the bearing of drill instructors - and perfect diction. And my primary schools teachers were Irish and Italian Nuns in CA.

So I just don’t get it where anybody ever thought that if teachers let the students and their families walk over them things would ever work out. Perhaps it was because in our line, the teachers generally had higher social status than the students and their families - maybe that’s not the case now - I don’t know. The Nuns sure weren’t in need of external approval of the way they ran anything, even the priests were afraid of them.

In grade school both the black teachers and the Nuns - not to mention the white teachers - corrected grammar in your face, made you write “sentences” if you annoyed them (100 times “I will not …), made you re-do any classwork if they didn’t like the penmanship. They ignored nothing and made everybody behave. In High School the intimidation and control was more like Aromatherapy and Stalinism. Our parents didn’t complain then either. They had their own lives to deal with.

It’s just not in my experience ever to have parents publicly complaining that Baby Huey is being worked too hard by Teacher. Where I come from they paid extra for the service (The Parents took the Nuns along on vacations to snap the whip on us - we went along with it because we got to bring a friend to share the joy…So with 6 kids an Irish Nun and the parents everybody had somebody to play board games with.)

The rowdiest boys in my schools became cops. Everybody worked and made it through - even the dumber students. The old ways eventually produced better adults. Now these kids aren’t even housebroken.

Teachers have enough to do without having the families whining about Baby Huey not having a good time. Maybe if the teachers made this clear early and often things would improve for everybody.

By SET

August 5, 2008 11:15 PM | Link to this

I don’t have a problem with the teacher deciding to use the first day of class for academic work or social work or a compbination of the two. My only problem is a teacher having to put up with parental interference with their lesson plan decisions because that parent would have done things differently and wants the teacher to hear about it. Just hand the complainer a job applications and tell them to apply for their very own class…. then they get to have an opinion…

By Megan

August 6, 2008 5:47 AM | Link to this

By the way, whoever said that in college classes, all teachers lecture after going over the syllabus in 10 minutes is not correct.

At LEAST half of the teachers go over the syllabus on the first day and then end class. That’s it. Not true of everyone, of course, and especially in the music department at my University, the professors like to lecture. But it is common knowledge among my fellow students that the first two days of class each semester are filled with very little lecture and a lot of 15-20 minute class sessions.

By Ebaby

August 6, 2008 7:20 AM | Link to this

When I was in AP in a Cobb COunty public HS, we would have a test on the first day over our summer reading requirements. I dont remember much of the rest of the classes. The tests pretty much over shadowed any other memories.

In college, it was RARE to have a first day class last more than the time it took to hand out the course syllabus and take care of basic introductions. I probably remember ever professor that didnt follow this norm and still hate him/her :)

By connelly

August 6, 2008 7:30 AM | Link to this

Megan, maybe your college profs are slackers, but at an elite college, class starts day 1. I have vivid memories of walking into my freshman chem class and having working through a derivation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in all its glory. Day 1 set the tone.