How Teachers Can Ease Students First Day Jitters

How Teachers Can Ease Students' First Day Jitters As elementary school teachers, we can sometimes find ourselves easing our young students through times of transition. For some children, the first day of school brings anxiety and an intense desire to cling to parents. This is known as First Day Jitters, and its a natural occurrence that we may even have experienced ourselves when we were children. Beyond whole class Ice Breaker activities, its important to be aware of the following simple strategies that teachers can employ to help young students feel comfortable in their new classrooms and ready to learn in school all year long. Introduce a Buddy Sometimes one friendly face is all it takes to help a child transition from tears to smiles. Find a more outgoing, confident student to introduce to the nervous child as a buddy who will help him or her learn about the new surroundings and routines. Partnering up with a peer is a practical shortcut to helping a child feel more at home in a new classroom. The buddies should stay connected during recess and lunch for at least the first week of school. After that, make sure the student is meeting lots of new people and making several new friends at school. Give the Child Responsibility Help the anxious child feel useful and part of the group by giving him or her a simple responsibility to help you out. It could be something as simple as erasing the whiteboard or counting out colored construction paper. Children often crave acceptance and attention from their new teacher; so by showing them you rely on them for a certain task, you are instilling confidence and purpose during a critical time. Plus, staying busy will help the child focus on something concrete outside of his or her own feelings at that moment. Share Your Own Story Nervous students can make themselves feel even worse by imagining that they are the only ones who feel so worried about the first day of school. Consider sharing your own first day of school story with the child in order to reassure him or her that such feelings are common, natural, and surmountable. Personal stories make teachers appear more human and approachable to children. Make sure you mention specific strategies you used to overcome your feelings of anxiety and suggest the child try the same techniques. Give a Classroom Tour Help the child feel more comfortable in his or her new surroundings by offering a short guided tour of the classroom. Sometimes, just seeing his or her desk can go a long way toward easing uncertainty. Focus on all of the fun activities that will happen around the classroom that day and all year long. If possible, ask the childs advice for a certain detail, such as where best to place a potted plant or what color construction paper to use on a display. Helping the child feel connected to the classroom will help him or she visualizes life in the new space. Set Expectations with Parents Often, parents exacerbate nervous children by hovering, fretting, and refusing to leave the classroom. Children pick up on parental ambivalence and perhaps will be just fine once theyre left on their own with their classmates. Dont indulge these helicopter parents and allow them to stay past the school bell. Politely (but firmly) tell the parents as a group, Ok, parents. Were going to get our school day started now. See you at 2:15 for pickup! Thank you! You are the leader of your classroom and its best to take the lead, setting healthy boundaries and productive routines that will last all year long. Address the Whole Class Once the school day gets started, address the whole class about how were all feeling jittery today. Assure the students that these feelings are normal and will fade with time. Say something along the lines of, Im nervous, too, and Im the teacher! I get nervous every year on the first day! By addressing the whole class as a group, the anxious student wont feel singled out. Read a Book About First Day Jitters: Find a childrens book that covers the topic of first-day anxiety. A popular one is called First Day Jitters. Or, consider Mr. Ouchys First Day which is about a teacher with a bad case of back to school nerves. Literature provides insight and comfort for a wide variety of situations, and first-day jitters are no exception. So work it to your advantage by using the book as a springboard for discussing the issue and how to deal with it effectively Compliment the Student At the end of the first day, reinforce positive behavior by telling the student that you noticed how well he or she did that day. Be specific and sincere, but not overly indulgent. Try something like, I noticed how you played with the other kids at recess today. Im so proud of you! Tomorrows going to be great! You might also try complimenting the student in front of his or her parents at pickup time. Be careful not to give this special attention for a long while; after the first week or so of school, its important for the child to start feeling confident on his or her own, not dependent upon teacher praise.

The U.S. Occupation of Haiti From 1915-1934

The U.S. Occupation of Haiti From 1915-1934 Responding to near-anarchy in the Republic of Haiti, the United States occupied the nation from 1915 to 1934. During this time, they installed puppet governments, ran the economy, military and police, and for all intents and purposes were in absolute control of the country. Although this rule was relatively benign, it was unpopular with both the Haitians and the citizens of the United States and American troops and personnel were withdrawn in 1934. Haiti’s Troubled Background Since gaining independence from France in a bloody rebellion in 1804, Haiti had gone through a succession of dictators. By the early twentieth century, the population was uneducated, poor and hungry. The only cash crop was coffee, grown on some sparse bushes in the mountains. In 1908, the country totally broke down. Regional warlords and militias known as cacos fought in the streets. Between 1908 and 1915 no less than seven men seized the presidency and most of them met some sort of gruesome end: one was hacked to pieces in the street, another killed by a bomb and yet another was probably poisoned. The United States and the Caribbean Meanwhile, the United States was expanding its sphere of influence in the Caribbean. In 1898, it had won Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spain in the Spanish-American War: Cuba was granted freedom but Puerto Rico was not. The Panama Canal  opened in 1914: the United States had invested heavily in building it and had even gone to great pains to separate Panama from Colombia in order to be able to administer it. The strategic value of the canal, both economically and militarily, was enormous. In 1914, the United States had also been meddling in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Haiti in 1915 Europe was at war and Germany was faring well. President Woodrow Wilson feared that Germany might invade Haiti in order to establish a military base there: a base that would be very close to the precious Canal. He had a right to worry: there were many German settlers in Haiti who had financed the rampaging ​cacos with loans that would never be repaid and they were begging Germany to invade and restore order. In February of 1915, pro-US strongman Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam seized power and for a while, it seemed that he would be able to look after US military and economic interests. The US Seizes Control In July of 1915, however, Sam ordered a massacre of 167 political prisoners and he was himself lynched by an angry mob that broke into the French Embassy to get at him. Fearing that anti-US caco leader Rosalvo Bobo might take over, Wilson ordered an invasion. The invasion came as no surprise: American warships had been in Haitian waters for most of 1914 and 1915 and American Admiral William B. Caperton had been keeping a close eye on events. The marines that stormed the shores of Haiti were met with relief rather than resistance and an interim government was soon set up. Haiti Under US Control Americans were put in charge of public works, agriculture, health, customs and the police. General Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave was made president in spite of popular support for Bobo. A new Constitution, prepared in the United States, was pushed through a reluctant Congress: according to a debated report, the author of the document was none other than a young Assistant Secretary of the Navy named Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The most interesting inclusion in the constitution was the right of whites to own land, which had not been permitted since the days of French colonial rule. Unhappy Haiti Although the violence had ceased and order had been restored, most Haitians did not approve of the occupation. They wanted Bobo as president, resented the Americans’ high-handed attitude towards the reforms and were indignant about a Constitution that was not written by Haitians. The Americans managed to irk every social class in Haiti: the poor were forced to work building roads, the patriotic middle class resented the foreigners and the elite upper class was mad that the Americans did away with the corruption in government spending that had previously made them rich. The Americans Depart Meanwhile, back in the United States, the Great Depression hit and citizens began wondering why the government was spending so much money to occupy an unhappy Haiti. In 1930, President Hoover sent a delegation to meet with President Louis Borno (who had succeeded Sudre Dartiguenave in 1922). It was decided to hold new elections and begin the process of withdrawing American forces and administrators. Stà ©nio Vincent was elected president and the removal of the Americans began. The last of the American Marines left in 1934. A small American delegation remained in Haiti until 1941 to defend American economic interests. Legacy of the American Occupation For a while, the order established by the Americans lasted in Haiti. The capable Vincent remained in power until 1941, when he resigned and left Elie Lescot in power. By 1946 Lescot was overthrown. This marked the return to chaos for Haiti until 1957 when they tyrannical Franà §ois Duvalier took over, beginning a decades-long reign of terror. Although the Haitians resented their presence, the Americans accomplished quite a bit in Haiti during their 19-year occupation, including many new schools, roads, lighthouses, piers, irrigation and agricultural projects and more. The Americans also trained the Garde DHaiti, a national police force that became an important political force once the Americans left. (Source: Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present.New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962.)