At the conclusion of the orientation, as described in the last four articles, there is only one last task that the students must complete. I believe that having students discuss their feelings about education and their future is important to get them to start truly thinking about what they need to accomplish. However, I think it is even more important for them to internalize these feelings and have them state their intentions in their own words. For this reason, I have the students produce a presentation about themselves, their beliefs, their mission, their interests/hobbies and their future goals.

As the students begin to see the relevance in their learning, we have put into context how we are going to challenge them to meet the expectations. In The First Days of School: Part 3, I mentioned that I correlate their level of competency in education to their future success in the world of work. Regardless if they attend a post-secondary institution, the ultimate goal is to find a career that each student enjoys and can provide them with a self-sustaining wage. When placed in this context, the students see the relevancy of becoming knowledgeable and skilled.

During the first few weeks of school, my goal is to get my students to openly communicate about their education. I not only engage the students in conversation about their feelings and experiences, but I also provide the students insight into my experiences. In addition, I have the students develop both a class and personal mission and belief statements. In the days ahead, the goal is to introduce the students to the various ways in which they will learn in my class. I use several basic lessons to show the students different modalities, including but not limited to, lecture-based, curated, flipped and competency-based learning.

As mentioned in the previous article, The First Days of School: Part 1, I mentioned that the first few days is about establishing the environment and having the students reflect about their experiences in school. In addition, I provide students personal insights into my time as a student and why I entered into education. During the next part of orientation, I believe it is important to get the students thinking about short term and long term goals. Sure, the students understand that there will be tests, homework, projects, etc. and in order to pass they will need to do well. But this conversation has nothing to do with their goals in school.