First Day of Class teacher introduction activities ideas and icebreakers

hi teachers eric here tomorrow is the first day for public schools and universities which means that lot of teachers are worried about how they should start their first class today will show you how to create the perfect first impression and how to prepare the students for 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 so 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 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 rise out of them that's not your job you can have fun personality i'm not saying be boring but don't make that the the the base of where you're working from okay so like to start my class off by telling the students exactly what will happen in each class and it helps them to mentally prepare for each stage of the lesson so for example if it's my first class of the day will say okay hello everyone my name is eric first will introduce myself will talk about the subject will tell you the classroom management strategy what routines and rules we have and then we will do 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 question that way you are conditioning the students to wait to ask questions this is big problem see in many classrooms the teacher gets bombarded by questions and they're trying to answer each student but by telling them there's time and place for everything you are training them to be good students very important you're also showing them that i'm the leader 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 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 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 girlfriend are you married how many kids do you have where you're from many teachers greet the students at the door individually and that's fine it's better you're basically telling the students this is my space and you have to respect it prefer standing in the middle of the class waiting for the students to come in as soon as they're in wait for them and give them the instruction to sit down or i'll wait till they're quiet and then speak it depends where you're teaching and what the standards are at the school stand up straight obviously eye contact eye contact eye contact make eye contact if with your students each student for couple of seconds while you're talking and 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 they kind of avert their eyes so that the student doesn't feel uncomfortable why is that mistake because you think don't want the student to be uncomfortable but how does the student actually see it is like 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 i'm 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 students pick up on these signals these leadership signals and lot of people say well it comes down to experience the the 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 you will they will see you as stronger leader and also teacher that they respect so maintain eye contact until they look away and keep strong body position feet apart next let the students know what your expectations are tell them i'm teacher expect you to do this and how do you do that you tell them what routines you will follow 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 okay everyone will count down three two one and then once do that 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 from the beginning the first day of class set your expectations high and you can always lower it later that's one thing really want to 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 okay well they made this they did this wrong so this is what will happen in my class teach university so the students are adults only have three rules rule number one don't be shy expect them to come into into class and be conversation machine want them to talk and be open especially in korea where lot of students are very nervous come in and 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 okay very easy so if somebody does something wrong 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 say listen rule number three remember we agreed to it when one person is speaking you have to listen what would do is would immediately point at students and ask him to repeat the rules or the routines asking them so what is rule number one what is rule number two what is rule number three why do do this once again i'm reinforcing the behavior want to see i'm showing them that i'm the one in charge i'm going to ask them questions and immediately want them to give me answers you're establishing your leadership in the classroom you're saying this is what happens what is the answer what is the answer and if they do make mistake you're like okay 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 used to play the game on my first day of school would buy pack of ms and would give them to group of three or four students and then would say okay well pick an 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 and then it's the next person but this year want to try something else and ms are getting very expensive so i'm going to do pair 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 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 will ask the students follow-up question after the follow-up question will say okay your turn ask me question what's your question they asked me personal question answered that way get to know my students and they get to know me too and everybody can practice interviewing each other okay everyone that's it for today so let's do quick recap first remember be the teacher don't be clown there's difference between having an entertaining class and being entertainment for the class number two tell them what will happen today explain the schedule what you'll do so that they know 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 okay everyone so how do you start your first day of class and want to finish with one last thing remember hope for the best but prepare for the worst