It’s that time again to meet the teacher, and we curated this guide to help you make the best first impression on your students. When your students ‘meet the teacher’, it’s an important part of the first day of school. Those first few moments with your new students will shape the rest of the year for your classroom. What are the things that are most important for your students to know about you? What will they resonate with and what about you will best serve them throughout the year? Give your students a fair chance to meet the teacher and start building that important bond with them from the start.
Of course, this is likely to happen after your school has hosted an open house night where you’ve been able to meet parents (and some students). This means you can get a little more creative this time around. Your students will be with you for the entire year, so it’s important that you put in some genuine thought about how your students meet the teacher that will guide their students all year long.
Get creative with how your students meet the teacher
Think about what makes you the fun and bright teacher that you are. Is there a specific theme that you use around your classroom that ignites the inspiration in you? Share that part of you and let your students be part of the inspiration that you experience. Do you horseback ride? Have a dog named Sal? Or maybe you run marathons every quarter to support a charitable cause. Whatever it may be, this is a great way for your students to meet the teacher by sharing with them why these things are special to you. A fun tip would be to invite them to share something that is special to them once you’re done sharing. Getting to a students’ heart should always be the first thing you aim to do in the classroom. It always makes getting to their mind that much more accessible.
Play a game with your students to help them learn about you
Games are always exciting and inviting for the new students entering your classroom who will meet the teacher for the first time. You can get things going with a quick guessing game where students meet the teacher through guessing about the things that you love most. There are plenty of games to choose from out there, so pick the one that best suits you and your meet the teacher goals. Maybe you play a game where students stand if they like the same thing that you do and share about their experience with it. Are you fond of ice cream with chocolate drizzles? Let a student who feels the same way stand and share why they also love ice cream with chocolate drizzles. This is a fun way to not only meet the teacher but find similarities and connect you to them.
Make a creative poster that lists out simple and memorable facts about you
We’ve seen things on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest with great ideas on how to design a small poster board with interesting facts about you that you can share as your students meet the teacher. Make it pop, just like your personality. Incorporate your favorite colors and invite your students to add some of their favorites to the poster board as well. Better yet, make it a class activity where your students can also make small poster boards all about what makes them special and then have them share it with the classroom. You can make meet the teacher a classroom activity where the students can also meet their new classmates!
First impressions matter
When students meet the teacher, they are being introduced to an entirely new person. This is the person that they will see five out of 7 days a week, and who they will likely come to know just as well as their own parents throughout the school year. First impressions are important, so don’t slack when it comes to your meet the teacher approach. This could very well be the one and only chance you have to shape your students’ perspective of you in a positive way.