Ainsley Davis

Starting the School Year

10th Grade Honors Option

Get to know my students:

 Icebreaker – Snowball fight
o Lesson plan 1
o Purpose – break the ice, fun way to get students and teacher to know more about each
other with questions such as – something you did over the summer break, one of your
yet-to-be accomplished lifegoals, something you are looking forward to this school year

 Student interest inventory

o Lesson plan 1
o Purpose – help me get to know bit about students, to see their interests in English, school,
and out-of-school so that I can better differentiate my instruction and curriculum and to
help me assign them to base groups

 Where I’m From poem

o Lesson plan 2
o Purpose – help me get to know bit about students

 Writing territories
o Lesson plan 2
o Purpose – help me get to know bit about students, their backgrounds, interests, dreams,
struggles, etc. to help me connect with students on a personal level and inform my
instruction

Community building:
 Home court activity (Steineke, 2002, p 19)
o Lesson plan 2
o Purpose – to make expectations clear that students need to avoid using put-downs or
insults and make sure to support each other and create a community where everyone is
comfortable participating

 Assign students base groups and community building within group

o Lesson plan 3
o Purpose – create a smaller community amongst the larger class; encourage students to
work together, push each other, hold each other accountable
o Sample bonding activity – share highs and lows of first week; share favorite part of their
choice book so far; mindfulness gratitude activity

 Collaborative learning technique: active listening

o Lesson plan 7
o Purpose – to build on classroom norms and respect everyone’s voices in the classroom by
modeling and practicing how to invite more voices into discussions

 Personal narrative gallery walk

o Lesson plan 12
o Purpose – show respect for other people’s stories and learn more about our peers in order
to build trust/respect/community
Convey expectations and develop routines:

 Show daily schedule written up on board: list objectives, essential question, agenda and
homework
o Lesson plan 1
o Purpose – provide students with structure and a routine for each day

 Technology routine
o Lesson plan 1
o Purpose – setup expectations for tech use in the classroom so everyone is on the same
page and focus is on educational pursuits. Also, will explain consequences to eliminate
surprises.

 Break time routine

o Lesson plan 1
o Purpose – setup expectations for 3-minute choice break time during 90 block period.
This routine also builds community as I will play a student’s favorite song during this
time and is a time for students to engage socially with me and their peers.

 Setup routines for getting attention and using restroom

o Lesson plan 1
o Purpose – routines that allow class to run smoothly and efficiently

 Setup reading routines – booktalks, choice books, create reading record, create reading list, SSR,
read choice book for 30 minutes for homework each day
o Lesson plan 1
o Purpose – to foster book love and lifelong readers, to establish accountability for reading
expectations, to provide a clear routine for SSR and for homework

 Setup writer’s notebook

o Lesson plan 2
o Purpose – organization, notetaking skills, efficiency, writing routines

 Exit ticket
o Lesson plan 2
o Purpose – collect diagnostic and formative assessments quickly and easily

 Brainstorm and set classroom norms with student input

o Lesson plan 3
o Purpose – setup norms to support learning and allow the classroom to run efficiently and
respectfully and to build collaborative norms for discussion and interactions

 Setup routine for literature circles

o Lesson plan 7
o Purpose – to facilitate collaborative learning and small group discussions about texts; to
increase student autonomy

 Setup routine for writing workshop and conferencing

o Lesson plan 8, 10, 11
o Purpose – give purposeful feedback and have a conservation about student writing (also
helps build relationships and a positive community with the students)