I’ve started a 180 day blog so if you’d like to read a more detailed description of the week’s activities you can go move the cursor and click on the link. If you’re exhausted like me then save your energy and read below.
The first week was pretty much filled with getting to know you, team building and collaboration activities. I have a good group of students but I already knew that. About half of them I had last year when I taught 6th grade. The week’s highlights included:
Day 1: Learning about each other. Students completed the Who I am worksheet that Dan Meyer posted, then I asked them to write a paragraph regarding their feelings about math. As a team, we teachers are spending quite a bit of time on mindset through literature. Since I teach one section of lit, my students discussed the growth vs. fixed mindset using a card sort.
Days 2-4: Creating your own graphing stories and finishing up the graphing stories. Students needed more time to process than I had anticipated, but some of their stories were cute!
Then we moved to jigsawing the mathematical practices.
Followed by:
Day 5: Marshmallow Challenge.
Like you I’m fried.
I wish everyone a safe, Labor Day weekend.
Curiouser and Curiouser 
Thank you for your first-week experience. I am about to begin student teaching and am looking forward to teaching in my own classroom next fall (pending a good interview and a hiring). I have actually had dreams about how a first day and first week are supposed to go. I know that there is no typical first day of school but it is so nice to get an inside look at an established teacher’s first day of school. I also enjoy the get-to-know-you activity even when you are familiar with many of the students. I feel that the students will appreciate that you want to learn more about them or see how they have changed over the summer. Also, the creativity you incorporate into the classroom is interesting. Thank you for being open about your professional life and letting us get a peek at your world.
Best of luck to you, Zach! Your student teaching experience is sooo important! Learn as much as you can from your cooperating teacher, university supervisor, and your reflective self. Thanks for commenting and Happy New Year!
Hi Zach! Best of luck with your student teaching. Learn as much as possible from both your cooperating teacher and your university supervisor. The most important part of the first days of school is creating a culture of learning and building a relationship with your students. That may not have been expressed in the post but it’s so important. Sometimes I find myself falling into the trap of concentrating too much on the content. Luckily, I’m surrounded by some great colleagues who remind me that WHO I’m teaching drives is more important than WHAT I’m teaching (AKA relationships). And that WHO I’m teaching drives WHAT I’m teaching (AKA differentiation). Thanks for taking the time to comment.