Hatem Radwan
Sep 7, 2018 · 2 min read

At the start of a new scholastic year new expectations are set and new challenges arise.

Here are some general tips to plan for the first week.
- When you need to know your students and introduce yourself, do not make it formal, avoid starting your first period with a “speech” about yourself. Instead, start with an ice breaking activity or discussion and you will get to know each other.

- Before sharing your expectations with your pupils, listen to their expectations.

-If the course you are teaching is an elective course, ask each student why they chose this course, then discuss with your students about your expectations of the course and how much it is important to understand it well.

- Instead of asking your students about their average in the subject in previous year, ask them “what have you learned?” Let it be a discussion so that you will end up making a brain storming and revision. If the subject is very new to the students, give them time to think about it, and what does it talk about, if your students have their devices, let them make a small research about it.

- Show the students that grades and marks are a result not a target. You need to introduce a new mindset to your students, and let them believe that their target is always how much they acquire as skills and knowledge rather than marks.

-Don’t introduce your instructions and rules as a bunch of sentences !! Let it be some “directions” to build an effective learning environment where everyone is respected, happy, and satisfied.

Throughout the first few weeks you need to work on the following as well:
-engagement and motivation of the students
-setting the routine of all what you need your students to do.

Binjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember, engage me and I learn”
You students are going to forget everything you tell them if they are not engaged!!

This is a rule you need to keep in mind in all your lessons and instructions, engagement means learning!

I hope we can launch a community discussion about how can we overcome the challenges and what new approaches and ideas we can implement in our classrooms.

In further discussions let us share the applications and online tools that we use which help us integrate technology in an effective manner.

Please share your ideas and effective instructions, and tell us how are you going to start with your students.

Let us learn from each other, and always remember to SHARE your best practices.

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