1st Day of School

Pictured: Mr. Pacer playing an ice-breaker game on the first day.

SUMMARY:

I enjoyed my first day of student teaching.  My mentor teacher is extremely organized and enjoys his job.  He keeps a pleasant expression on his face and never showed frustration, impatience, stress, or anger and there were plenty of opportunities.  There are 23 students in his 1st & 2nd grade combined class.  I know many of the students but some are new.  I believe I will do just fine as soon as I learn the schedule.  

INSIGHT:

The students need structure and a solid schedule they can depend on.  Can I create a schedule and follow it as well as Mr. Pacer?  I'm good at creating schedules but I'm not as good following them.  

QUESTIONS:

Are there any tips for organizing the school day and organizing my school work after school?

MY DAY:

I began the day by arriving at 6:30am.  I brought 60 Otis Spunkmeyer muffins that had notes attached to each one of them.  I gave them to the School Board Chairman to hand out to the parents as they dropped off their children. The muffins were a treat for the parents, and the note thanked the parents for enrolling their children in our school and reinforced their decision by reminding them that Highland is a safe place and delivers the best Spiritual and Academic guidance available.  

Next, I attended a staff meeting where I brought the staff badges for us to wear at school.  We had worship and discussed some general school housekeeping tasks.  

When we disbanded the meeting, the teachers reported to their classrooms.  As the students arrived in Mr. Pacer's classroom, I took pictures of them at their desk.  After I did that, Mr. Pacer gave me a list of things to do.  I helped him put up a bulletin board, sharpened pencils, filed papers, etc.  

Mr. Pacer explained why he was doing things and how I should go about it when he turns the class over to me.  After school I stayed after with Mr. Pacer to help him prepare for the following school day.  After we were done, I went to my art room and began preparing for the Marketing meeting.

At the Marketing meeting we discussed a paradigm shift in our marketing method.  Instead of spending most of our Marketing budget toward new potential students, I suggested we turn our marketing inward to student retention.  The way I suggested to do this is by "Delighting" our students parents.  Doing things for them that goes far and beyond the call of duty.  A suggestion I offered was sponsoring a Parents Night Out" event where we keep the children at the school to watch a movie while the parents have a night out together.  We took the first step towards DELIGHTING our parents by handing out the muffins to parents on the first day of school.  

I left the school around 7pm and picked up more name badges at the printer on my way home.  After being home for about an hour I began wondering if I left my space heater on.  My husband and I drove back up to Portland to double check.  It wasn't on.  Other than that, it was a great day.