Sophomore's most mentioned activities

Of the several activities that I did in class the first three days of school, the sophomores mentioned two the most.

They really liked the norms we did in class. Normes are the classroom guidelines that the class creates. Many students mentioned that felt they had a more relaxed classroom after creating the normes and that they had some ownership. It is a three step process: 

1. Brainstorm
2. Clarify (make sure each norm is understood by all)

3. Come to a consensus.

The other activity that was mentioned frequently was creating quotes for their groups/ class. My sophomore class will have home groups. They had to come up with a quote for both their group and the class.  I would love to see a collaboration develop with the students where they root for their classes, but can also appreciate other's work as well. Maybe we'll try for a bit of competition. Both activities invited them to feel more like team players both in their individual groups and in their classes.  It is my idea that both activities will be able to sustain themselves. I want the classes to be able to remember and re-adjust the norms to where they are good for all participants. I hope that they are maintainable. I will readdress both these topics later to reflect over the effect of these strategies in the classroom. I would be very interested to hear of any first week stories especially if something was done to get the kids more involved.