First Day

 First, the jumbled chair situation....

First class, one group of about 6 girls clumped some chairs together in a small circle.  Most other students just moved a chair enough to have space to sit down, but independently of anyone else.  A couple people stood, apart from the group.

A couple students acknowledged that they were uncomfortable or confused.  So we talked about how we need to be aware of our responses and think about how we're going to navigate through them.

Second and third class all stood and waited.  The first person in stood, and everyone followed suit.  "If the first person had started unstacking them, we would have joined."  

One person sat down but got back up since nobody else was.

Fourth class, everyone waited, until one student broke "ranks," got a chair and sat down.  I had come in the room, and didn't stop this.  Thereafter, everybody got a chair.

Fifth class, same as fourth, though only some got a chair, and some remained standing.

We had interesting conversations about conventions, expectations, "normal," my role, their "getting in trouble," and more.

I'd say it was a useful way to start. especially when I could connect back to book.

Second activity was the paper football folding...

I showed them how to do it, then had them try.  When most students struggled, we stopped, I restarted and demonstrated as we went.  And I helped whoever needed help.

The intent here was to demonstrate that I need to be intentional and planful about how best to show, model, teach, and they need to be engaged with what we're doing.

Third, I "proved" to them that they like not knowing things more than they like knowing things.  

What's next in this sequence?

A, M, J, J?

After giving them a few chances, I added...

A, M, J, J, A

Then...

A, M, J, J, A, S

Finally, I said, "April, May, June, July."

We finished through to March.  When I ask if we should do it again, somebody always Yes!, so I had that student come up and restart.  About 8 or 10 seconds into the restart, most students are talking with neighbor about completely unrelated things.

I said, "What about this pattern?  

O, T, T, F, ?"

Everybody got quiet and attentive again.

Point proven?

(Oh, it's One, Two, Three, Four, etc.)

Exit Ticket--  

A lot of good responses to this.  Large number of references to the football folding, which I said I would allow.  But plenty of other thoughtful responses.  Here's a non-exhaustive sample.

• Hanging out is a gathering
• School is a gathering
• Social experiments are weird
• People work well together
• Boredom is sometimes good
• The brain likes NOT knowing things (several responses)
• Our job in school is to initiate and participate
• My teacher sounds like a therapist
• I know that school has a better impact than phones
• People tend to follow what others do (a few responses)
• Our actions affects others (a couple)
• We like new things
• We have short attention spans (several)

Good first day!