Hi everyone!
I’m a first year math teacher middle/high school. I don’t have a permanent position yet but have been on two interviews and have more scheduled for next week. I have done two long-term sub jobs (no lesson plans and either sink or swim) which were both about three months long. Since I will be starting this year new, and having never been in the classroom at the beginning of the school year much less the first day, how do I determine the order of the first day’s lesson?

This is what I have come up with so far:

1. Take attendance by calling names (After day one, I usually take attendance from the seating chart while students are doing bell work).
2. Teach the Class-yes
3. Do a getting-to-know-you activity that helps me remember their names (any ideas on this would help)
4. Teach the five rules
5. Assign the 1 & 2 groups
6. Teach-OK
7. Go over Scoreboard (or should I move this up?)
8. Get agreement to rules
9. Teach procedures for coming in tardy, for turning in papers, and what to do when returning from an absence.

Now somewhere in there I assign textbooks and teach a lesson that covers math. Whew! How have you structured your first day of school?

Thanks for the help,
Here I am, nail biting in anticipation of a job in Pinellas County, Florida

Maybe try it like this:

Day One
1. Take attendance by calling names.
2. Teach the Class-yes
3. Do a getting-to-know-you activity that helps me remember their names.
4. Teach the five rules, explain how they work, get agreement, and have the kids teach each other.
5. Assign textbooks
6. Teach a math lesson.

Day Two
1. Review Class-Yes, and 5 Rules
2. Introduce Scoreboard Game
3. Assign the 1 & 2 groups
4. Teach the Teach-OK, use this to reinforce the math lesson you taught the day before.
5. Teach procedures for coming in tardy, for turning in papers, and what to do when returning from an absence.

You do not have to everything all at once. You may find that some classes will pick it up this fast, while another class may need an extra day or so to really assimilate it all.

I hope that helped.

Yes, thank you. That helped. I find I want to do everything all at once. It is one of the things I try to work on.

A great tip we got today at the conference was that for the first day, or maybe week, the Scoreboard should be focused around just one rule. So you're still noting the other rules, but only keeping score for Following Directions Quickly. Week 2, you keep score for Rules 1 and 2. This introduces them and cements them more with the kids, and also keeps you from being overwhelmed by new things to keep track of for yourself.