To Do and NOT to DO- First Days of School: Relationships over Nuts & Bolts

Paloma, 8th Grade, 1st Day at CTL Academy Global/Soccer IQ Institute

Making an impact the first days of school is essential for kicking off the year right- especially this year- some may say this is the first ‘normal year’ post the pandemic that caused total havoc in education and beyond. This school year schools have the opportunity to re-set norms and expectations and win back students (and families) setting a positive tone towards an amazing year ahead.

For schools who have yet to start you have an advantage as school is in full swing here in Los Angeles. Driving around on the first day of school I saw a high school marching band in front of the school, balloon arches in place and the admin team in front of the school greeting all the students and families entering- such a scene leaves one feeling pumped and excited about the start of the year. I know another school rolls out a red carpet and has a DJ playing uplifting tunes with the student council and admin team out high-fiving students and parents. Powerful energy and positivity emitted. As a parent and seasoned educator it is difficult for me to not to observe effective and ineffective practices.

I had the good fortune of starting a new school program this year with SoccerIQ Institute and CTL Academy Global. CTL is providing the academics online and SoccerIQ Institute is providing the physical environment, the learning coach and soccer related programs afterwards. The program is designed for daily 2 hours of synchronous instruction followed by 2 hours of asynchronous work time and currently is serving a handful of middle school students.

To kick off the program the teachers online did some get to know you games then one teacher gave an interactive lesson on metacognition with the goal to teach the students how to learn and give them an understanding of what happens in your brain when you are learning. They had the students contribute their thoughts on a shared Google Slide deck building a sense of ownership and creating a safe place to be vulnerable. Kids loved this new information on their FIRST day of school. Following this mini-lesson the teacher then kicked off their first project- SPACE-

Designing A Space Mission Patch

Have you noticed that the shuttle astronauts all wear a special mission
patch in addition to their NASA patches? Have you seen photographs
of the Apollo astronauts wearing their distinctive patches?

Each space mission, whether it is a human mission or a robotic
planetary mission, has its own special mission patch. Who designs
these mission patches? Usually, it is the people involved in the
mission.

The patch is designed to represent the mission. If you had the
opportunity to work on a NASA mission, what type of mission would
you want to experience? What type of patch would you design?

Kids ended their first session with excitement and enthusiasm- learning mattered, they connected with each other and their teachers- Now CTL Academy will need a plan to keep up this kind of energy.

On the flip, I had experience with two other school starts- also different educational programs in that both are hybrid. The first school sent out conflicting emails so it was not clear what time the students were actually starting school. It turns out that the school has two programs- one that is more traditional and one that is considered independent study requiring students to attend one day per week and another day for 90 minutes for study hall. The second day of the program students were asked to attend a 45 minute in person advisory; 24 minutes after it started messages to the parents were sent out that they ended early. How does a program that only meets 1 day/week end early- imagine the amount of energy it takes to get students to school, pick them up and keep them inspired about the learning experience- to end early is a LOST OPPORTUNITY. Making the in-school experience powerful is key; first impressions speak volumes about what to expect for the rest of the year.

The second school had an orientation scheduled for almost three hours- giving students an opportunity to meet their teachers, their classmates and collect their chromebooks …. Similar to the first school this orientation ended 90 minutes early- again WHY? Schools need to embrace the value of the face to face time with their learners- ending early especially in a school where all the students have to commute to as it is in an industrial area does not benefit anyone. The positive is that this school has proven to have consistent communications with families that is clear and regular- every Sunday an email goes out to give families a glimpse of what to expect for the week ahead and beyond. This consistency helps to sustain communication and eventually build community.

For Schools Yet to Start:

PLEASE- school is not prison and students (and staff) should feel uplifted from their engagement with institutions of learning i.e. schools. Teachers- prioritize building connections with your students first then roll out the rigor and nuts and bolts afterwards. Students who have a connection are more likely to succeed and be part of the community.

For Schools Who Have Started:

Recommit to building connections with students and families- put them at the center and find ways to promote organizational values that align and promote student excellence. There are lots of ways to do this. Kyle Wagner, an amazing educator, author and coach wrote a fabulous article about ways to frame the first day. (His new book– Where is the Teacher, 12 Steps to Student Centered Environments is a great read and would be a fabulous book for staff to read collectively.) Edutopia has many fabulous articles that provide ideas for how to frame school culture with specific actions schools can take.

My ask is that schools and teacher TAKE ACTION by considering what they want their students and families to experience day 1/week 1/month 1 in their educational journey. We can’t roll back the clock for a re-do; instead we must look forward and be intentional in our actions and plans for how to leave students with a level of excitement towards learning and school.

What do you think? What are YOU doing to engage and make the experience of learning positive for ALL of your students?