Brownbag Back to School Blog Hop

Welcome Brownbaggers!  Yep!  It's that time of the year again.  July is coming to an end and August is just around the corner.  It's back to school time already! Can you believe it?!  Teachers around the country are already planning curriculum, designing materials, and collaborating with others.  Some of us never even stopped!

Well we want to help you out with that awkward first day of the semester.  What should teachers do for their first day back?  How do we make it interesting without losing our own sense of pedagogy?  This blog hop will give you a great list of First Day of School Activities that can be put to use in all different classrooms for all different content areas!

So what am I doing you might ask?

I like to start my semester off with some reflection and future telling!  I'm not a big PowerPoint person.  I don't do a ton of front-of-the-classroom teaching as I don't find it conducive to my own teaching style.  Enter Michael Scott's take on PowerPoint.

However, I do like to have a visual of what we will be covering... and no, not just me pointing at them!  So here's a layout of what I cover in my Welcome Back Interactive PowerPoint!

1.  Reflection:  It's important to me that my students are able to reflect on past experiences in similar classes.  I want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly!  

2.  Connection:  So why do those past experiences matter for this class? Because they know how they learn best!  As a class we can draw on this knowledge for activities, policies & procedures, and so much more!

3.  Examination:  What do they need to know today?  Together we check out the syllabus and the room set up.  We go over the meatiest info - we like to call this part "Syllabus Day" in higher ed.

4.  Analysis:  Even though we just read through the syllabus, it's important that my students can see the value in it for them at that exact moment.  I have them pick out the 3 most important skills they will learn and argue which will be most useful for them.

5.  Questioning:  I want my syllabus ingrained in my students' heads.  I want them to know how many essays they're writing, what the grading scale is, and what my policy is on late work.  So we make a game about it!  Students testing students!

Want to get your hands on my Welcome Back Interactive Powerpoint?! 

(click me!)

-> Like my Facebook page and you'll see a tab on the top that says "Freebie Grab Bag!"  (If you don't, it's either because you haven't liked the page or you'll find it under "More").  Click the Freebie Grab Bag tab and you'll be rerouted to free content just for my followers!

Check out what other teachers are doing on their first days back to school by clicking the links below!  You will get PLENTY of tips that you can implement right away!  You'll see the links right below the link up information!

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Link Up Info