Hi teachers,
Eric here.
Tomorrow is the first day for public schools
and universities,
which means that a lot of teachers are worried
about how they should start their first class.
Today,
I will show you how to create the perfect first impression
and
how to prepare the students for
a successful year of learning.
First impressions count.
The students are nervous and they're coming into the class
and you want to make them feel comfortable,
but this is also your only chance
to set your expectations
for what they have to do for the rest of the year.
So, it's very important to start well.
Okay.
First,
mindset.
Many teachers want to be the fun teacher,
the cool teacher.
They want students to interact and laugh and
be one happy family.
When, in fact,
they should start thinking of it as what is the
best possible way for these students to learn and in
in an environment that's controlled.
There's a difference between having an entertaining class
and being entertainment.
You can have fun activities,
you can do fun things,
you can have interesting content,
but you shouldn't be the focus of that.
You shouldn't be the clown dancing around making kids laugh,
making jokes,
trying to get a rise out of them.
That's not your job.
You can have a fun personality.
I'm not saying be boring,
but don't make that,
the,
base of where you're working from.
Okay,
so I like to start my class off by telling the students exactly what will happen in
each class and then it helps them to mentally prepare for each stage of the lesson.
So, for example,
if it's my first class of the day,
I will say,
OK,
"Hello everyone,
my name is Eric."
First,
I will introduce myself,
I will talk about the subject,
I will tell you the classroom management strategy,
what routines and rules we have,
and then we will do a fun activity.
Tell the students to think of any question they want to ask you.
But tell them to keep that question until later,
where you'll give them an opportunity to ask it and you will also ask them a question.
That way you are conditioning the students
to
wait
to ask questions.
This is a big problem I see in many classrooms.
The teacher gets bombarded by questions and they're trying to answer each student,
but by telling them there's a time and a place for everything,
you are training them
to be good students.
Very important.
You're also showing them that I'm the leader,
I will decide when we do what
and they will fall in line.
So, this is your very first way of
actually conditioning the students for good
behavior.
Introduce
yourself.
I
tell them what my experience is.
I've got 10 years of experience,
I've taught this,
this and this.
I've trained that,
but I don't give them any
personal information.
I'll leave that to later so that they can actually ask me those questions,
you know the questions,
how old are you?
Do you have a girlfriend?
Are you married?
How many kids do you have?
Where you from?
Many teachers
greet the students at the door individually and that's fine.
It's you're basically telling the students,
this is my space and you have to respect it.
I
prefer standing in the middle of the class waiting for the students to come in
as soon as they're in.
I wait for them and I give them the instruction to sit
down or wait till they're quiet and then I speak.
It depends where you're teaching and what the standards are at the school.
Stand up straight obviously,
eye contact,
eye contact.
Make eye contact with your students,
each student for a couple of seconds while you're talking.
And
I think one of the mistakes many teachers make
is that once they make eye contact with the student,
they don't want the student to be
scared or nervous,
so they make eye contact and then they move on.
They
kind of avert their eyes
so that the student doesn't feel uncomfortable.
Why is that a mistake?
Because you think,
"Oh,
I don't want the student to be uncomfortable."
But
how does the student actually see it?
It's like,
"Oh,
is this teacher afraid of even making eye contact with me?"
By establishing your base and making eye contact,
keep it,
until the student looks away.
It shows that
I'm,
the leader in this classroom
and
I'm not scared to look into your eyes.
I'm not afraid to make eye contact with you.
This is my space.
And you know what?
The students
pick up on these signals,
these leadership signals.
And a lot of people say,
"Well, it comes down to experience."
You just have more experience with students,
which is true.
But if you can learn these leadership qualities or these
small adjustments you can make,
they
will see you as a stronger leader and also a teacher that they respect.
So, maintain eye contact until they look away and keep a strong body position,
feet apart. Next.
Let the students know what your expectations are.
Tell them,
I'm a teacher,
I expect you to do this.
And how do you do that?
You tell them what routines you will follow it in class and what rules you have.
What routines?
Every classroom should have routines.
What do you do when they walk in,
when you want to start
class?
If
they're doing an activity and you want them to stop,
you can say,
OK,
everyone,
I will count down 3, 2, 1,
and then once I do that,
I expect you
to be quiet.
So, set those expectations clear and early.
It's very difficult
to start routines halfway through the year.
Start it from
the beginning,
the first day of class,
set your expectations high
and you can always lower it later.
That's one thing
I
really want
to talk about is
don't be afraid to be stricter
than you would normally be.
So, set the rules
and if the students don't obey the rules,
these are the consequences.
Don't get emotional about rules.
It's just the students know,
well,
they
did this wrong,
so this is what will happen.
In
my
class,
I
teach university,
so the students are adults.
I only have 3 rules.
Rule number one,
don't be shy.
I expect them to come into class and be a conversation machine.
I want them to talk and be open,
especially in Korea where a lot of students are very nervous.
I come in and I say listen,
remember the rule of the classes you can't be shy.
So,
that's the first one,
second one,
respect everyone around you.
And
then third one,
if someone else is talking,
let's listen.
OK,
very easy.
So, if somebody does something wrong,
I can just say,
"Listen,
you're supposed to respect your friend,
remember that's the rule."
Or
if I'm speaking and someone else speaks at the same time,
I say,
"Listen,
rule number 3,
remember?
We
agreed to it
when one person is speaking,
you have to listen."
What I would do is
I would immediately point at students and ask
them to repeat the rules or the routines.
Asking them,
so
what is rule number 1?
What is rule number 2?
What is rule number 3?
Why do I do this?
Once again I'm reinforcing the behavior I want to see.
I'm showing them that I'm the one in charge,
I'm going to ask them questions and immediately I want them
to give me answers.
You're establishing your leadership in the classroom.
You say
this is what happens.
What is the answer?
And if they do make a mistake,
you're like,
OK,
who can help them?
By doing that,
you will start feeling more powerful and they will also follow what you're saying.
Okay,
then
game
or activity.
In the past,
I used to play the M&M game on my first day of school,
I would buy a pack of M&M's, and I would
give them to a group of 3 or 4 students and then I would say,
OK,
well,
pick
an M&M.
And if it's blue,
talk about family.
If it's red,
talk about your favorite food.
If it's yellow,
talk about your favorite
place.
Whatever it may be,
and then they have to talk about it for 30 seconds or minutes
and then they can eat the M&M and then it's the next person.
But
this year I want to try something else and M&M's are getting very expensive.
So, I'm going to do
peer interviews.
So,
student interviews their partner,
they write down all their answers,
interesting things about them,
their hobbies,
whatever it may be,
and then
they have to introduce their partner to the class,
almost like a hype man,
you know.
And
you'll find the students always try and
find something interesting to say about their partner.
Once they introduce their partner,
I will ask the students a follow-up question.
After the follow-up question,
I will say,
OK,
your turn,
ask me a question,
what's your question?
They asked me a personal question,
I answer it.
That way I get to know my students and they get
to know me too and everybody can practice interviewing each other.
OK,
everyone,
that's
it for today,
so let's do a quick recap.
First,
remember,
be the teacher,
don't be a clown.
There's a difference between having
an entertaining class and being entertainment
for the class.
Number 2.
Tell them what will happen today.
Explain
the schedule,
what you'll do so that they know
are
this is where we're at,
this is what we're doing next,
next,
next and next.
Introduce yourself.
You can just tell them your experience,
what you're doing.
Body language,
have strong body language.
Don't be afraid to make eye contact and maintain it.
Take up space.
This is your area.
They are our visitors.
Five:
Set your expectations clearly.
Tell the students what the routines are,
what are your class rules?
Six:
activity,
it could be anything you want to do,
any type of icebreaker to get to know them.
OK,
everyone,
so how do you start your first day of class?
And I want to finish with one last thing.
Remember,
hope for the best
but prepare for the worst.