it\u2019s that time of year again: the first day of classes is upon us! at the cft we often hear the same questions around this time of year:<\/p>\n
“what should i do on the first day of class?”<\/em><\/p>\n “do i delve into course content or just review the syllabus?”<\/em><\/p>\n “how do i break the ice and get my students talking?”<\/em><\/p>\n while many teachers do use the first day to simply hand out the syllabus, you are right to suspect that class time can be used in a more productive way.\u00a0 furthermore, by letting students out right away on the first day of class, you are only deferring your anxiety about your new students.\u00a0 that first class period represents an opportunity to lay the groundwork for a successful class, and that can be done in a multitude of ways. \u00a0here, former graduate teaching fellow adam wilsman<\/strong> suggests that the first day can be a time to discuss expectations and goals, to set the tone for classroom participation, and to assess student knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>discussing expectations and goals<\/strong><\/p>\n while handing out the course syllabus should not be the only thing that you do on the first day of class, it is important that you distribute and discuss that document in some depth.\u00a0 students tend to be particularly interested in grading procedures, workload, and the teacher\u2019s availability outside of the classroom, and discussing these things can ease a great deal of student anxiety.\u00a0 the first class period is also a chance to explain how class time will be structured.\u00a0 are there discussion or lab sections?\u00a0 if so, how do these sections fit into the broader course?\u00a0 how ought students to prepare for each class section?\u00a0 finally, be sure to give students space to ask questions about your teaching, the syllabus, and the course more broadly.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>setting the tone for classroom participation<\/strong><\/p>\n what kind of course do you envision?\u00a0 the first day of class represents the perfect opportunity to set the tone for the kind of classroom that you want to cultivate.\u00a0 do you envision a classroom of active participators with frequent discussion and group activities?\u00a0 then, you ought to integrate those kinds of activities into the first day of class.\u00a0 you can do this through icebreakers, or a classroom discussion that enables you to gauge student interests, expectations, and goals.\u00a0 this clearly conveys to students what they can expect from your course, and also acclimates them to speaking up in your class.\u00a0 on a related note, try to convey your excitement for the course and material on day one!\u00a0 that enthusiasm can be infectious and pique student curiosity from the very beginning.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>assessing student knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n what kinds of students have enrolled in your course this semester?\u00a0 do you have a lot of majors? or a bunch of freshman for whom this is their introduction to the discipline?\u00a0 the answers to these questions ought to inform how you approach your teaching.\u00a0 the first day of class is your chance to start learning the answers.\u00a0 one can do this in a variety of ways.\u00a0 hopefully, you will take some time during your first class to give an overview of the course and introduce some key questions and concepts.\u00a0 you can use this introduction as a springboard for a class discussion in which you gauge student knowledge.\u00a0 you can distribute note cards, ask students some basic questions about their educational backgrounds, have them write their answers down, and then collect the note cards at the end of class.\u00a0 you can ask students to raise their hands to indicate their years, level of experience, etc.\u00a0 you can also assign a short, noncredit quiz of relevant knowledge to see where your students stand.<\/p>\n handing out the syllabus and letting students out early is an approach that often short-changes students and teacher alike.\u00a0 in the end, there is a lot you can do on the first day to lay the groundwork for a successful semester.<\/p>\n if you’d like more advice on the first day of class (or any other teaching question you have), contact us! we’d be happy to meet with you before classes begin. to schedule a consultation, call (615)322-7290 or email julie shadburne.<\/p>\n best of luck for this new semester and have a great first day!<\/p>\n some recommended readings<\/strong><\/p>\n davis, barbara gross. <\/span>tools for teaching<\/em>.\u00a0 san francisco, ca: jossey-bass, 1993: 20-27<\/span><\/p>\n mckeachie, wilbert j. <\/span>mckeachie\u2019s teaching tips: strategies, research, and theory for <\/em>college and university teachers<\/em>.\u00a0 boston, ma: houghton mifflin company, 2002: 21-28.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" it\u2019s that time of year again: the first day of classes is upon us! at the cft we often hear the same questions around this time of year: “what should i do on the first day of class?” “do i delve into course content or just review the syllabus?” “how do i break the ice…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":3974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[91],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.vanderbilt.edu\/vu-wp0\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2018\/07\/09153529\/3472576304_5457d43eb3_m.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13853"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}