good luck!

Personally, I am a firm believer of teaching procedures. It doesn’t matter what grade level or subject area. Teachers need to teach the procedures they want their students to follow…So on the very first day I make sure the students know my five most important classroom procedures…

I just made a post about this on my blog. You can read the whole thing here: http://www.Teaching-Tips-Machine.com/blog

Once students know the procedures of the class then I can start my activity on the “classroom rules”.

Next, I always make sure to do some type of goal setting activity during the first week.

And, since I teach history, I also spend time during the first week discussing why it is important to study history.

At the end of the week, I give a quiz that includes questions on classroom procedures, classroom rules, and why we study history…

Hope that helps…

Adam

here’s what i do: i teach art so my turnover in the first couple weeks can be as high as 50%. so i keep my assignments very small. 1-2 day stuff that a new student can pick up very quickly. for you maybe wait to dive into a 700pp novel until your numbers are steady. start with small essays and short responses. all related to the course but not so overwhleming that a newbie would have trouble keeping up.

Also try easy assignments