As a teacher, what are you doing on the first day of school with your students? Are you going to drone on about the rules and expectations? If your students could choose to go back for day 2, would they? Coach shares the Home Run Derby he plays with his students on day 1, how he learns what is important in the minds of his students through play, and how he uses that opening day excitement to motivate his students in history.

He then pivots to Back to School Night, reminding teachers this is their opportunity to give their students' parents a taste of what goes on in your classroom. If the presentation bores them, what is that telling them about what their child is thinking about your class?

For parents, you get to see the inner workings of a teacher's mind as they approach these two days that others may find trivial, but Coach sees as important. It also will inform you about how best to approach your child's Back to School night from a parent's POV.

And one last point...a teacher should always undersell what they do in the classroom rather than oversell.