Start the Year Off Right: Ideas for Creating a Happy Classroom

My two favorite times of the academic year are the beginning and the ending, and one of the best things about working in education is that we get all summer to recharge. As I gear up to start a new school year, I've been thinking quite a bit about beginnings.

Dennis Potthoff [1], a colleague of mine, created the following list for teachers to refer to when beginning the new school year:

• Before the year starts, get ideas for your curriculum by reviewing lessons from past terms.
• Establish classroom norms, expectations, and procedures.
• When the year starts, just jump right into the curriculum.
• Motivate and excite students -- "sell" the class, the curriculum, and the teacher.
• Work on relationship building (student-to-teacher and/or student-to-student).
• Preassess your students to gauge their current knowledge, skills, or dispositions.

In the past, I've followed the second, third, and fourth ideas by discussing with the class my goals for the year, sharing my enthusiasm with the students to pique their interest, and jumping into the lessons and activities for the term.

As I share Potthoff's list with you now, I wonder how these ideas sound from the students' viewpoint. For example, would students prefer to work more on relationship building and the reviewing of previous class material? Would additional preassessments help me understand more about where my students stand in the learning process?

What do you think of these ideas? Which ideas would you use, and why? Do you have other ideas to add to this list? I'd like to hear from you!