I am a first year teacher, what are some ideas for the first day of a high school biology class?

Answer 1

We did this project the first day in my College Biology Class that was interesting. It might be hard to get the supplies. We split into groups and were each given some kind of termite. We placed the termite on a sheet of white paper and watched it moved about. Then someone drew a circle on the sheet with black ink. The termite was placed in the center of the paper and then when it got to the circle it would trace around the circle. We were then led through the scientific process finally creating a hypothesis of why the termite traced the circle. It was quite fascinating.

Answer 2

oooh biology....one of my favs! OK... here we go!
1. get to know eachother: as you call roll the student must give a biology related word that begings with the same letter as their name...anus Amy Photosynthesis Phil...etc. and as you go down the list the person must say everyone's word and name before his so that at the end the last person will say the whole long list! It is also a good way to get an idea of what topics the students may be familiar with
2. explain how scientist need to be good observers.....put everyone in a circle (make sure everyone's legs can be seen by eachother...but do not tell them this...) You have a pair of scissors you go around the circle to each student and ask them closed or open...they must merely guess untill enough observations have been made to know whether the scissors should be closed or opened....the trick is that whoever you ask..if their legs are crossed the answer will be open (like an X) and you will open the scissors. If their legs are uncrossed the scissors are closed...eventually someone may figure out how you determine the answer

Answer 3

You may be required to do rules/syllabus/seats/textbooks/procedures etc.
This is also the best time to get contact information for the kids (parents' names, e-mails, cell phones, work phones etc.)

If you aren't required to, it is a good idea to do at least some, and then have something more interesting planned--if I remember, one of the first things in bio was the definition of life? Maybe you could put them into groups and have them come up with a definition of life--put some weird things that are hard we laypeople to see as alive, such as coral. This might make a good argument. Kids love to argue.

As a first year teacher, you don't want to be too friendly. Pleasant, kind and businesslike, so while an experienced teacher might get away with a rock song, you'd better stick to your subject. If there are other bio teachers at your school, asking for advice will not only help you with the kids, it will help you get in good with your fellow teachers--and the kids go away after a year, but your colleagues are there forever.

If you have been assigned a mentor teacher, this is also something to discuss with him/her. (Although I'd have some ideas when I talked to him/her. She/He also has to prepare for the first day.)

Answer 4

You will probably have plenty to do just to distribute textbooks and syllabi, and doing seat assignments. Have an activity for the students to do while you're performing these administrative details. This could include filling out forms with contact information. Another activity would be doing a pre-test of their knowledge of biology and of their knowledge of the uses of biology knowledge. You will also want to CLEARLY DEFINE behavioral expectations. My kids are recent high school graduates, and many teachers send home a paper defining behavior expectations, asking parents to sign it. The students get credit for returning these signed papers to the teacher. Another topic to cover on the first day of a biology class are expectations for lab activites. Are students provided with gloves when they're disecting animals, and if not, are they allowed to bring them to class? How about the assignments of lab partners? What is the consequence for students who are too squeamish to do dissection?

Answer 5

A lot of students are interested in kineseology and criminal investigation thanks in part to CSI. So perhaps you could create a crime scene of biology and make the students figure out what happened.

You could separate the class into teams and have basic biology questions that the students have to answer to get a clue. This would be ideal because it would help the students get to know each other and it would be light hearted and fun for the first day of class.

Answer 6

DO NOT DO the boring get to know you, get to know eachother, get to know me... Nobody likes that in high school.
Be sure to grab their attention by doing something out of the ordinary and "UN-Teacher" like. Such as playing a classic rock song as class starts and interconnecting that with the subject.

Answer 7

Ask what people know already about biology. Then just talk about the basics and what the biology course will cover

Answer 8

Show them all the places they use biology every day! Explain what biology is-- the study of life. "bio" means life, and "-ology" means the study of. Tell them about all the different places it's used and all the places they apply it every day! How they interact with other living organisms, like plants and bacteria and everything else!

Answer 9

try and show them a movie or something fun that will attract their attention. Also let the movie or game be about what the class is going to be doing in the future. try to make in something that will not bore them or else u are going to be starting in a bad way. good luck,your going to need it, high school is tough to teach.

Answer 10

First of all...congratulations. I'm not a teacher, but if I was you I would use the first day having everyone introduce themselves. Remember that it is their first day too. Let them know that you expect participation from them. You learn from participating in class.