Madeline Smith

My first week of classes would not only attempt to set the tone and standards for my course, but
would work to familiarize my students with my personality, my expectations, and the general
function and goal of our year. I would work to promote positive student-teacher relationships as
well as create a community of respect amongst peers. I would work to learn not only my
students’ names, but to learn about their way of life, their family, and their values. The first week
of school will be the foundation of a positive year of growth for all people involved.

This specific outline is geared toward my future seventh grade English classroom with a 50-
minute period. The students would have one year of middle school under their belt, but will now
take a step up as they become more involved in extra-curricular activities beyond their regular
school day.

Day I: Get to Know Everyone

 (Pre-class) Start the day by welcoming everyone to my classroom. I would have
preassigned seats with name tags on them for convenience of finding a seat.
 (5 minutes) Once the bell had rung, I would introduce and teach our routine for taking
attendance. Here I would outline Rule #1, specifically emphasizing the bell as the cue for
taking attendance. If the students are not in their seats as the bell rings, they will be
counted absent, unless they have a note from a teacher explaining their tardiness. In this
way, I will emphasize student responsibility and taking ownership for themselves.
 (10 minutes) Next I would introduce myself to the class and share a short PowerPoint
about myself. Among other things, I would talk about my family, my beliefs, my
background (particularly middle school so they can easily relate), and why I chose a
teaching career. I would briefly allow them to ask questions at the end.
 (20-25 minutes) Next, I would have the students break into partners or small groups to
learn about each other. (I may use a baseline similarity to group them such as similar
favorite colors or something to that effect). I would have a document with several
questions for the students to choose from, and they would take turns asking each other
questions. After the 5-7 minutes, I would have each student introduce their partner or one
group member by sharing a little bit about them with their classmates.
 (5 minutes) Next I would go over their first homework assignment. I would send them
home with a short letter to their parents, explaining who I am, my classroom type, etc. At
the bottom would be a part with a place for the parents’/guardians’ names, contact info,
and a place for them to sign. The students would need to bring this back with them the
next day.
 (5 minutes) In the last few minutes of class, I would very briefly go over how to leave the
room. (staying in your seat until the bell rings, pushing in chair, etc)

Day II: Setting the Tone

 (Pre-class) Start by welcoming again. Take attendance.
 (5 minutes) Ask the class to give a self-assessment over how well they completed
Rule #1, showing me through the Fist-to-Five Strategy. Briefly review rule. (Ask kids to
act out one good, one bad.)
  (15-20 minutes) Go over Our Class Rules #1-5 (document may be seen listed on the
original “Organization and Leadership page on my professional website). To engage the
kids, randomly draw out a name to act out a good and bad. Tell them that if they have a
problem with any rule, come talk to me after class.
 (10-15 minutes) Open with a fun English activity focusing on descriptive words. Split the
class into two big groups. Show an image on the screen, and give each group a minute to
write down as many descriptive words as they can think of. Once the minute is up, come
back together and compare the two lists. Each word unique to one group gets one point.
 (5 minutes) Conclude by collecting the paperwork filled out by their parents from the
previous day. This would be the perfect time to introduce the routine for collecting
homework.

Day III: Dipping Our Toes into English

 (5 minutes) Take attendance. Open with a bell ringer. Have them write down one rule
that they remember. Ask for volunteers to share.
 (5-7 minutes) We will start class by handing out textbooks and briefly going through the
essentials of the book. I want to familiarize them with how it works for the benefit of the
future assignments.
 (15-20 minutes) I will take the class through the “syllabus” or at least some of the basic
plan for the class. I want them to know what they should expect from the class. I will
remind them of homework expectations, and I will also show them some of the books we
will be reading, as well as covering AR and they’re stipulations. I want it to be as lively
as this sort of work can be. I want them to be at least semi-excited about the class.
 (10-15 minutes) Next, we will dive into our first presentation on English in general. It’ll
be a pretty baseline presentation as a sort of introduction to the subject involving the
benefits and pertinence of its application to life.
 (5 minutes) In the last few minutes of class, I will prep the students with the short pre-test
I will be giving them tomorrow. It won’t be graded. As the exit ticket, I want them to
write down one thing they are excited about this class, and one concern or worry they
may have. They will hand them to me as they leave the room. I will have a space on the
document for suggestions for activities that they would enjoy doing. (I can also collect
any extra paperwork for those who may have forgot.)

Day IV:
 (2 minutes) Have a quick bell ringer of fist-to-five assessment of how prepared for class
they were that day. (Did they have the right materials, were they in their seats, etc.)
 (8-15 minutes) I’ll give the students the pre-test. It will be very short.
 (5-10 minutes) I’ll take the students to the library to allow everyone time to check out
their first AR book. This will ensure that they have no excuse toward not getting started
on achieving their points.
 (30 minutes-can be adjusted depending on length of pre-test) We’ll start the descriptive
language unit via PowerPoint. After the introduction of the information, we’ll dive into a
creative activity involving descriptive words. I’ll split the class into small groups, and
we’ll play a game called Chinese Pictionary. Here is a brief explanation of how the game
 works. Everyone writes a very precise, descriptive sentence about something. The groups
pass to the left. The next person reads the sentence, flips the paper over, and draws an
image to represent what they read. Pass to the left again. The person looks at the image,
and writes another descriptive sentence based on what they think they are seeing. The
process repeats itself. In the end, the students can look at how they’re story progressed to,
potentially, an entire different story. This activity has many meanings. It can be applied
as a way to get the kids actively using descriptive language. It can also serve as a way to
touch on how people’s perceptions of things can be very different, which could be tied
into a reminder to be respectful of all interpretations and opinions in future class
discussions.
 (5 minutes) As a wrap up, I will pass out small pieces of paper, each with a single
sentence on it. The assignment will be for the students to take the sentence and write a
paragraph of a story. It must incorporate the sentence somewhere.

Day V:
 (5 minutes) Have the students write down a different rule that they remember as a bell
ringer. I will take attendance and lunch count.
 (5-7 minutes) I will assign the students their official table partner. This will be the person
they go to quickly whenever I say turn to your table partner. I will briefly walk them
through this procedure to ensure they know my expectations. For this class session, I will
have them share their paragraph with their partner. At the end of these few minutes, I will
ask for volunteers to share.
 (30 minutes) Next we’ll go into today’s lesson. It will be a continuation of the previous
lesson, but go further in depth. I’ll use this lesson to incorporate the student’s own lives
in order to learn more about them. Their task will be to write a brief summary of their life
that touches on a few very specific details about them that others might find interesting.
They are to write it from a third person perspective. I’ll give them time in class to get
started brainstorming potential fun facts about themselves to incorporate into the
narrative. They must have a written assignment, but the format of presenting is pretty
open. (As in bringing props, playing a song, etc)
 (10 minutes) I will remind the students of their assignment to finish this short narrative of
themselves by the following Monday. I will wrap up our first week with some sort of
relax time or game time, and give them time to ask any questions they may have about
how this class is going to run in the future. I will end by sharing a short narrative of
myself to hopefully peak their interest in how this might be done.