As pretty much any teacher would say, it can’t be stressed enough just how important it is to set clear expectations for your students from the first day of school.  This includes expectations for behavior and routines in the classroom, as well as academic expectations.

Over the years I have revised the way that I have gone over these academic expectations with students many times.  I am pretty happy with the syllabus I handed out to my students last year and think that I will use something very similar this year since it did work out well for me.  I try to keep it relatively short (my syllabus is one page, front and back) because I figure that most students probably won’t read it if I make it too long.  You can see a copy of my syllabus below:

In my opinion the purpose of a syllabus is basically to tell your students how they can be successful in your class.  That is why I include on mine how they will be graded, what they need to bring to class, and how they can get extra help if they are struggling.

The best thing about giving students a syllabus on the first day:  not having to deal with “You didn’t tell us….” or “I didn’t know…” comments throughout the year as you can just refer students back to the syllabus where it is all clearly stated.

If you like my syllabus and want to adjust it for your own classroom, click on the image below to download a free editable copy of it:

For more first day of school ideas you can use in your math classroom, check out my “Back to School Math Activities for Middle School“!  It includes games I play with my students after going over the syllabus, as well as a good first week problem solving activity/bulletin board display.  It’s typically $5, but grab it today (August 4th) or tomorrow while it’s on sale for 28% off with code BTS14!

If you have any ideas on how to improve my syllabus or would like to share what you include on yours, please feel free to leave me a comment!

Thanks for reading,

Christina