Starting the New School Year with Authenticity in the Classroom

The first day of school can be a source of excitement for students and teachers. On the student’s side, you’re a year older, you’ll see friends, and you’ll push forward a new part of your identity. On the teacher’s side, you love working with kids, you’re refreshed from a summer break, and you’re excited about changes you’ve made to your curriculum. Then, the first day of school happens, and the excitement comes crashing down. On the student’s side, they are met with immediate homework assignments, the class time is spent going over a boring syllabus and all the rules they must follow and all the expectations they must meet. On the teacher’s side, they are met with new school initiatives that they have to use class time to go over and implement even if they don’t agree with them or are just learning about them. There’s no learning happening. There’s no curiosity being met. There’s no creativity being utilized.

You might think not in all cases. Some first days of classes are focused on icebreakers and activities to bring the community together. That might be true in some classrooms, but they’re inauthentic. The year of curriculum is not built on icebreakers and fun activities to bring the community together. They might happen from time to time, but they’re not the foundation for the curriculum and classroom experience.

The first day of school, and the subsequent week, should be an authentic introduction to the foundation of the curriculum and a transparent view into the daily classroom community and experience that can be expected by students for the duration of the school year. Authenticity and transparency are key for creating a collaborative and safe learning community inside of a classroom. Starting with the syllabus sends the message that we are going to learn specific things and there’s no room for your choice and voice. Starting with the rules sends the message that you are not trusted in this classroom.

In the Learn to Start classroom, we start the first day of school with individual student introductions where they use the program questions as the base for their introductions. Those three questions are threaded throughout the curriculum, portfolio, and weekly pitches. It is an authentic start to the school year.