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Monday, August 26, 2013

First Day of School: Talking Back to Harry Wong - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

First Day of School: Talking Back to Harry Wong - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

First Day of School: Talking Back to Harry Wong

I can remember clearly the hour I stopped laying down the law--the rules, guidelines and procedures--on the first day of school. At our faculty meeting the previous day, my middle school principal said, "If I stop in your room tomorrow while I'm making the rounds, I want to see you reading the students your classroom rules. I want to see them posted on the wall and kids writing them down." He suggested we give our pupils a quiz over our classroom routines, stressing the cost of non-compliance, making kids' scores on that quiz their first grade of the year.
And for many years I did just that. The principal ran a tight ship--too tight for some parents' liking, in fact--but it was a good place to teach. I am pretty sure that was not the result of our annual Day of Rules, but because it was a small community full of two-parent families who cared deeply about their kids' education.
I hated spending Day One on procedures and systems. The first couple of classes weren't bad, as kids' curiosity and first-day good behavior kept them listening. But after lunch? I tried to think how I'd personally feel about spending six consecutive hours listening to rules, guidelines, procedures and the consequences that would rain down if I stepped over the line. Some teachers made their students practice procedures: putting their rules quiz in a special