GETTING STARTED:

First Day of Class

The first day of meeting with your students is your opportunity to set the tone for the remainder of the quarter. If you simply hand out the syllabus and dismiss class, you miss this opportunity. If, on the other hand, you begin involving students in a discussion of course content, you signal to the students that you are serious about making their time with you worthwhile and that you expect progress to be made in every session. Since some students are "shopping around" for the best courses at the beginning of the quarter, you will give them a better sense of your course by actually getting into the subject matter and letting them sample your approach. Therefore, give them a taste of what your class time will be like. If you plan on putting them into small groups, then do so on the first day. If you plan on requiring them to speak up, then ask them to do so from day one.

When the students come to the first class, they are eager to know what will be taught in the course, what the instructor will be like, what will be required of them, and how they will be evaluated. Some will not buy the required textbooks until such questions are answered. It is therefore safest to keep the first class focused, straightforward, and organized. Your teaching can proceed much more smoothly if you use the first class meeting as a time to find out what students expect from the course and help them align their expectations with what you intend to do in the course.

Among the ways you might use the time during the first class are the following:

• Introduce yourself, indicating how you would like students to address you.
• Ask students to introduce themselves or take some class time for students to interview and introduce each other. Start learning names.
• Have students write down their names, contact information, majors, and the last course taken in the subject area. This will assist you in learning their names and in adjusting the course to their level of competence or experience.
• Review the syllabus as a group; highlight the course requirements and your own policies.
• Ask all student athletes to give you their letters that allow them to miss specific days of class and opportunities to make up missed work.
• Ask all students with disabilities to give you their letters that specify what accommodations you must make in your classroom and your assignments.
• Discuss the objectives of the course and your approach to the subject.
• Discuss the course's reading materials; begin to introduce the material that will be addressed in the class.
• Ask students to work in small groups to discuss their prior experiences with the material of the course, their expectations for the course, and then respond briefly to those expectations.
• Tell students something about yourself, your role in the course (tutor, discussion leader, lab assistant, instructor, etc.), your approach to the course, and your interest in the subject.
• Establish an atmosphere in which students will feel comfortable asking questions.

For more ideas, see CIDR's First Day of Class Tools and Resources:
http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/FirstDayTools.htm