Several teachers reveal to us what they spot in the class from the first day … and how they manage these situations.
Back to school day is stressful for students and teachers. While a new year begins, both observe and gauge each other. The feverishness is present in both camps. On the teachers’ side, some scan the class from the first day, others, on the other hand, prefer to observe and take the time. This is the case of Sybille, French teacher in Burgundy, who refuses to put his students in a box on the first day. “”I accept them as they are. I really try to be without any judgment of any kind, without a priori. I prefer to see as you go “, she explains.
Alban, a mathematics teacher in Paris, sees things a little differently. “”On the first day, they are generally placed in alphabetical order. It makes it possible to identify potential disruptors, but also those who do not seem to go well“, Indicates the teacher. However, as he observes, rare are the students to release the big game from the start.”It is rare to have to move students from that day: in general, the “painful” are discreet on the first day. They prefer to go unnoticed and hit later, when you start working … “he adds. Anna, a history and geography teacher in the Paris region, has taken over the years a very developed technique. “”The first hours are strategic and often students fall into the different “traps” that will help us categorize them. For example, there are a whole bunch of small rituals that allow us to assess the general attitude before they even arrive in class: the rowing, the attitude and especially the sound level on the path of the classroom and finally the choices of places in the room when you leave them in freedom “she explains.
Precisely, the choice of places is very evocative. “”Personally, I let the students settle to better know them: in some classes, the installation is very gendered, I know that it is one of the subjects that we will have to work in EMC (moral and civic education) “, observe the teacher. Students often think that their teachers only see fire, and yet. “Some students lack finesse: they settle in the first hour next to a boyfriend or a girlfriend and cannot refrain from chatting, they sign their final separation … at least during the hours of lessons!”indicates Maeva, SVT teacher.
Marianne, German teacher in Brittany, does not give them the choice of placement, in order to “neutralize” the disturbing elements. “The day of the start of the school year, I place them directly to quickly learn the names. They know that it is me who decides and that’s all”she explains. This allows him to identify talkative students, but also those who will be comfortable with being in a foreign language, and those who are a little less.
Students and teachers learn over the year to get to know each other better, with always in mind for teachers the idea of keeping control over the class and rebutting the cards if necessary. “The plan classifies it, I change it after each school holidays, once I know the students better”, concludes Marianne.
