In terms of effective classroom management, the very first days of school are incredibly crucial. If you're looking for an indicator of how the rest of the year will go, take a look at the first few days.

Tragically, the pivotal importance of these first days of school is often not fully communicated with new teachers. To maximize the impact of the first days of school, it's imperative that you start with procedure, not an activity. Way too many teachers believe that starting school with a fun activity will cement their relationship as a friend to the students.

The thing is, school isn't meant to be fun. Of course school should be interesting, engaging, thought-provoking and challenging--but not fun. Children come to school to learn skills that will help them become productive citizens in our society and help them reach their full potential.

So actually, success in the early days of school is about more than just classroom management. How well classroom management procedures are introduced in the first few days will truly determine your students' ultimate achievement levels later in the year.

Teachers with the most effective classroom management skills have a few things in common. First, they know what they're doing. Second, they have developed procedures for classroom management that are ready to implement at the beginning. Finally, they have a complete understanding of their professional responsibilities. Effective teachers are actively doing something to increase student performance.

You see, teachers often pass through four stages, but sometimes get stuck along the way. They start with fantasy--they are infallible and can do no wrong. Their key aim is to relate to their students and they accomplish this through activities. Unfortunately the point that these teachers have missed is that what they really need to be is an adult role model.

The next phase is survival. Once the fantasy phase begins to crumble, the teacher's aim is to simply make it through the day. When will the last bell ever ring, when will Friday get here, and will June ever arrive? They tend to flood their students with busywork and take no accountability for their progress.

The third phase is mastery. Classroom management is effective. You have high expectations that each of your students will succeed. You are teaching to make a difference. This is a phase you want to reach quickly, and then stay a while.

The final phase of teaching is impact. When teachers teach effectively for mastery, they begin to move beyond even mastery, and they are having a long-lasting impact on the lives of their students.

So don't float into the first few days of school and figure that you'll get a grip after Labor Day. By then it will be too late. Begin teaching for mastery as soon as possible, have an impact on your children's lives. You'll stop counting the days until June and someday your students will thank you for what you meant to them.