The first day of a new school year is a singular event. After the first day, all days are school days. The first day is different; it is show time for children and adults. Carpe the first day. Show time is a magical and essential moment. Make the most of it.
All eyes are big on day one. For some, the first big eye is when a child gets on the school bus. For all others, the first big eye is walking in the schoolhouse doors. On day one, children cross a threshold of bus and/or school and become students. This labeling matters. During the summer, they are their parents’ children and the community’s kids. In school, they are your students.
For teachers, the big eye is when students walk into the classroom. A teacher without students is a professional educator awaiting the moment to teach. The instant students enter a classroom teachable time starts. The same is true for all instructional support staff. The moment they engage with students, summer is over, and the school year is afoot. Carpe that first moment with genuine positivity toward each student and a voracious learning about them as a class.
For custodians, food service, secretaries, transportation personnel who have prepared for weeks and days for day one, the first day of school shifts all work from preparing to serving the school. Floors are polished, snack and lunch menus are planned and published, school materials are ordered, delivered, sorted, and distributed, class lists are printed all in anticipation of day one. When children become students, all of these and hundreds more tasks become actions repeated and maintained for a school year’s time. Day one matters to everyone in the school.
Carpe the day, don’t squander it. A smile and calling a student by name (pronounced correctly) as they cross thresholds tell a child “I see you. Your success as a student in our school is important to me. I am prepared for you. We start right now!” When we begin day one with the message “I see you and you are important”, we initiate a respecting of each other that pays dividends for months to come.
The swell of a summer’s planning and preparation for principals does not peak on day one, but continues to a crescendo somewhere into September when the benefits of planning and preparation are observable facts in the work of the school. Day one exemplifies the historic role of the school principal as the school’s principal teacher. Carpe the day. As a teacher greets students to a classroom, principals greet students to a school. As teachers carpe day one to build respect for all in the classroom, the principal carpes day one to build a respectful schoolhouse. When parents delivering their children to school see the principal “out front”, a principal reinforces the parent’s perception that this school is a good place for their children.
We know from recent polling that more than 80% of students look forward to the first day of school for social reasons – they will be with their old friends and will make new friends. Carpe that by observing these very visible networks. On day two you will know better about student grouping – who wants to be with whom and who needs to be integrated into the web of students.
We know from polling that more than 35% of students prize school for its athletics and activities. On day one we assist student/athletes and student/actors and student/leaders and student/musicians to optimize immediate motivation opportunities to facilitate new learning. The area of school that less than 25% of students look forward to is deskwork. Carpe that low anticipation with highly engaging moments, glimpses, and previews of what they will learn in the next weeks. Carpe all that you can learn about your students on day one and sew what you learn for reaping during the school year.
The first day of school comes but once a year. It is a significant day for everyone in the school community. Carpe the day and reap the benefits of your seizing all that day one is. Day one is gone on day two.