The excitement of starting a new school year and seeing the friends you haven’t seen over summer is typically squashed during the first week of school as we simultaneously try our best to get back into “school-mode” and teachers bombard us with rules and syllabi.
I think it’s fair to say that many of us have felt confused at some point during the first week of school, because there’s so much to readjust to and absorb.
To alleviate these first-week-of-school terrors, SJHHS’s new Week of Welcome aims to change all that.
The focus will be on promoting school spirit, setting expectations, and building relationships, according to Courtney Bonner, one of a group of teachers and administrators who are leading the effort.
“The whole first week will be filled with activities to get to know each other, the teachers, and the expectations,” said Bonner.
“The role of the student is to just come in with a positive attitude ready to be engaged in activities and participate. . . Students don’t even have to bring a backpack,” said Bonner.
The first week of school is a four-day school week for most everyone except for new and transfer students. For them, Monday is an orientation with breakfast and a meeting for parents with SJHHS’s new Principal, Cina Abedzadeh.
Tuesday is dedicated to getting to know teachers a bit more than usual. For example, teachers are supposed to open up a bit more to share things about their backgrounds, interests, and what got them into teaching.
After that, classes will engage in a variety of icebreakers with their teacher and fellow students to make the focus about getting to know each other instead of a march through the syllabus, which will be saved for day 2 or even 3, according to rough plan of the week shared with The Express.
Wednesday will be about school expectations and culture using the theme of “respect and dedicate.” It means respecting differences and dedicating oneself to important goals. There will be videos and follow-up activities in each period as well as ASB walkthroughs.
Thursday will be a normal school day, called “step into instruction,” and Friday will be an instructional day but also include our first pep rally of the year.
Thanks to a lot of preparation and planning, the teachers will know what is expected each day and may choose from activities that will be provided to them according to the goals for the day. A list of activities is already being created to help build the connections between students and teachers.
“On the first day of school, I ask my freshmen students to reflect on some big questions: “What is the purpose of high school?” and, “How can we create a positive culture on campus?”
“I think these questions have to be addressed before meaningful instruction can begin. So, for me, Week of Welcome activities like goal-setting and discussing classroom culture aren’t too dissimilar from what I already do,” said Leo Spengler, English teacher.
“I have every confidence that the teachers here at SJHHS will all want to Ride for The Brand and start the year off right with a positive school vibe,” said Bonner.
