Got this excerpt from a Blog by a Teacher
Heather Wolpert-Gawron:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/checklist-back-school-night-heather-wolpert-gawron
As you think about preparing for Back to School Night, here a few good tips to think about:
A great Back to School Night can really go a long way towards the success of your upcoming school year.
So I think hard about what would make my room inviting and
informative. Welcome to my classroom on Back to School Night. By opening
up my room to you, I hope that it might give you some ideas to help
make your own evening a successful one.
5 Must-Haves for BTSN
# 1. Sign-ins on every table: I admit it. It only took me 15 years to figure out that I need to have sign-ins on
every
table and not just at a single station at the front of the room. That
way, there isn't a bottleneck at the door, and all families can hear the
schpeel from minute one.
# 2. Brochures: I always design a brochure so parents don't
have to take notes based on my Powerpoint. The sections include: about
me, where to find the classroom website, the standards covered,
materials students need, contact information, classroom slogan, and a
few other things.
Photo credit: Heather Wolpert-Gawron
# 3. Classroom Constitution:
I really try to have this completed by BTSN. The classroom constitution
is a document that all students have a hand in creating. It sets the
academic and behavioral standards that they want to see in the
classroom, and it becomes a goal-setting document for me to help make
that environment happen. They then all sign it. This year, it was easy
to have completed by this night because I had all the table groups from
each of the periods contribute ideas to a Google Document. I then edited
it, combining repeating themes, making multiple simple sentences into
compound sentences, and formatting it to fit the poster. This poster
hangs in my room all year and I copy and paste the text from the Google
Doc onto my classroom website. By having it hanging up in time for BTSN,
you're also already proving that the learning has begun.
# 4. Powerpoint/Keynote/Google Presentation: I have this
running behind me as I do my 10-minute presentation. This includes an
about me slide, a slide on the 4Cs and Common Core State Standards, a
slide with a live link to my classroom website so I can walk them
through the menu bar, contact information, and a slide begging for
donations. Typically, I beg for the following: tissues, hand sanitizer,
crayons/markers/highlighters, and reams of paper. Reams of paper are
gold on my campus. Any teacher with paper becomes instantaneously
popular. Incidentally, every year, I scramble trying to find the
computer I created my last presentation on. Was it my personal laptop or
my school desktop? This year, I created it using Google Presentations.
Never again will I have to scramble!
# 5. The classroom environment: Even though it's early in the
year, I still make sure that I set up an environment I know students
will like, will engage them, challenge them, and make them think about
what's to come. It works that way with parents as well. They want to be
able to picture their own kids learning in the room. The environment
itself can play a role in their yearlong support. The effort to get it
ready is vital.
Good luck with your own Back to School Night. May all your parents
walk away with trust in you and excitement for their child's school
year. Share with us your tips and ideas for this special night in the
comments section below.
Nick's thoughts: There is a lot of misinformation out there about Common Core. The information and the misunderstandings around it can cause a lot of suspicion and consternation among parents. As you address Common Core with parents keep it simple: CCSS are merely a set of grade level standards that many other states decided to adopt and then give an example from Math and ELA. Explain to parents how you break these standards down into units and daily lessons and give them a short lesson snap shot with student work examples. This simple connection has the possibility of re-informing families and demystify the work in the classroom.
TEACHERS: What other ideas, tips, and strategies are you planning for your Back to School Night! Put your
