The First 20 Days
What do you do with your first 20 days as a Freshman Academy?
In our current setup, our team convenes for 45-minute meetings on a daily basis. The team consists of a math teacher, an English teacher, and a biology teacher. I often join these meetings as well.
Here is the plan we put together over the summer to attend to the first 20 days:
Days 1-4:
Establish seating charts for each class.
Emphasize the importance of rigor and respect.
Cast a vision for what students will learn.
Introduce students to the high school experience with a Google Slideshow.
Focus on scheduling, including discussing whether Speech is a good option for freshmen and avoiding CTE courses in the first semester.
Begin transferring teacher rosters to the team database.
Start thinking about study and lunch schedules.
Spend time with the database, including reviewing test scores, attendance, and other relevant data.
Assign and collect an assignment from students.
Review and edit the Mission to Goals booklet.
Day 5: Academy Day
Conduct a staff development and program development meeting led by the Freshman Academy Coordinator.
Day 6: Attendance Day
Communicate with counselors, parents, and freshmen regarding attendance issues.
Initiate contact with parents of students with attendance concerns.
Schedule table meetings for students with attendance issues.
Day 7:
Ensure that all students have access to the Infinite Campus platform during study hall.
Day 8: Academy Day
Identify and discuss top student leaders.
Distribute applications for freshmen to tutor during study hall.
Address the top five concerns within the team.
Select the two additional intensive days for the year.
Day 9: Attendance Day
Continue addressing attendance concerns with parents.
Create a list of students not attending study/lunch and talk to them.
Schedule table meetings for students with concerns.
Day 10: Algebra Content Intensive Day
No team meetings; it's an intensive day focused on algebra content.
An Intensive Day consists, in this instance, the four algebra teachers meeting in a conference room for four periods. In their respective classrooms, the other Freshman Academy teachers and the Freshman Academy Coordinator cover their classroms at no additional cost to the building.
This has proved to be a powerful use of our team time. This will happen three times for each content area over the course of the school year.
Day 11:
Hold a freshman assembly during study hall to set the tone for the year using a Google Slideshow developed by Freshman Academy teachers.
Day 13: GIFT Study Starts
Initiate the GIFT study, with different subjects covered on different days (Biology, Algebra, and English).
Day 15: Biology Intensive Day
An intensive day focused on biology content.
Day 20: Homecoming happens to fall on the 20th day this year! . . . So we moved our English Intensive Day and celebration to Day 25.
Day 25: English Intensive Day
Another intensive day, this time focusing on English content.
Lunch together to celebrate the end of the beginning.