Teaching Tips: First Day

You should ask for these things on the first day of class.  And do not think you have them just because they are on some handout the school gave you.  Phone numbers change and people move and accounts get deleted or are unread.

Phone number
Because?

• You might need to call them.
• They might call you but not give a phone number.
• They might call and you can’t understand the number.

Email address

• You might need to get in touch with them at an inconvenient time to call.
• Writing gives you time to review your communication.
• Handouts and exercises for missed assignments may need to be sent.

Preferred name

Because there is not a lot more annoying than being called “Sharon” when you go by “Elizabeth” or “John” when you go by “Mike.”

I know I don’t like it and you would not either.  So make sure you ask students what they want to be called.

As an aside, I tell the story of a high school student who told the sub he wanted to be called Fred.  I knew the sub and she told me, so I called the student Fred in class until he finally admitted he had just been causing problems for the sub and agreed to not do so again.  …It took two weeks of being Fred.

One thing that would be good, especially in a required course, is if the students saw why they needed to be in your class. I try to tell them that the class will help them write throughout their college career. I give them a true story of a man who lost over a million dollars ($1,000,000,000) because he didn’t write well so he did not receive a promotion. But I have been given another great idea that I am going to use next time I start class.

This is from Lyubov, a coworker from Russia:

I did this for the first time in my physics class. I told them to get out a note card and write on the top of it their dream.

I give them 4 minutes for this. After they got puzzled I told them that whatever it is, they will have it as long as they will keep the note card in front of their eyes and tell everybody about it. It have to be something what they really really want.

Then the next step is that instead of thinking which way they will have to go to get that dream, they have to think that they already have it. If it is dream to became a doctor, then the student has to imagine that he is a doctor. I explained to students that it will be really helpful for them and why.

Next step: I asked them if physics is a required step on the way to reach their dream and for most of them it was. I told them that it does not matter then if they like physics or not; they have to start getting into it because it is something they have to do to go their way.

My students often come to physics class with the idea that it will be the most boring and hardest class of all.

Next I told them that we do in our life different things that we do not like to do but have to do anyway.

Instead of trying to do stuff that you don’t like, you have to find something about it that you will like. You will do it with pleasure then.

I told them that i do not like to wash the floor and clean the house. I found something that I like about it and every time I do it with the pleasure. I am thinking how everybody will be happy in a clean and spotless house.

I think this was really helpful for my students this fall. Usually it is near 60-70% of the students who do not like physics. This time I started with 1 person out of 25 who actually said that he liked it. Now I have 18 people who are working really hard.

Casting Out Nines, the blog of a college math prof, has five big ideas for Freshman Orientation. Obviously we’re not teaching orientation, but I think the first one is worth mentioning to our students in our classes on the first day. We can’t assume they know it.

The basics of college-level academic expectations and how they differ from those of high school.
This is by far the biggest need. I cannot count how many freshmen I’ve had, many of them academic standouts in high school, try to operate in college using high school parameters and end up doing poorly. The common refrain is “I never had to study in high school!” (High school teachers: What’s the deal with that?) Yes, in college, professors assign stuff for you to do, but no it’s not always taken up for a grade, and yes you are still supposed to do it. Yes, professors will expect you to complete the readings prior to class, and yes, you will look like an idiot if you don’t do them. Yes, we are serious when we say “two hours of studying outside of class for every hour inside”. Freshman orientation is a chance to set the academic tone for the entire college for the entire year. In fact one could argue that it always does so, and it’s just a matter of whether the formative impression students get is one of games and pizza parties or one of rigorous, rewarding learning.

It’s a phenomena that I am uncomfortable with and about, but it is true that students often don’t need to study. And, unfortunately, sometimes they don’t need to study in our classes either. (Well, perhaps not ours, but our colleagues’ classes.)

Honestly, some students top the charts in IQ and even a major project won’t take them long. And others happen to not only be good but skilled in our field, so that they can start and finish a major essay quickly. I know a college sophomore who hasn’t studied more than an hour a week for any class, including tests and essays, so far because he hasn’t needed to. But students like him are the exception.

Our students need to know, and how will they know unless they hear?, that high school and college are not the same.

I think that for most of them the level of education between middle school and high school changed. But maybe it didn’t. And maybe that was so long ago, almost a quarter of their life, that they have forgotten even if it did.

So take a few minutes out on the first day (or at least within the first week) to mention to them that your expectations will be different.

Give them a good syllabus.

As you get more experienced, your syllabus can be more detailed and, I believe, it should be. But at the beginning at least let them know what you will be reading, writing, and covering each week.

See other posts on Syllabi including How to Create a Syllabus, 5 Useful Online Sites for Preparing, and 5 Ways to Strengthen a Syllabus.

Go over the syllabus.

They aren’t going to read it if you don’t present it. So go over it, at least mentioning the major sections.

Ask them to agree they have read the syllabus.

If you do this, you must go over each section. But it is a good thing to do to stave off, “But I didn’t know that.”

You can have them sign a paper saying they agree to abide by the class rules. Those should be spelled out in the syllabus as well.

Get them talking to each other and grouping together.

I go around the class and ask students their names and a question or two. These are usually things like favorite restaurant or band. Then I have students get in groups of two or three and ask each other questions, such as major, family, work, and where they are from. Then the students introduce each other.

This gives everyone in the class something to say that is easy (because it is about someone else) and it gives me two chances on the first day to match the names with the faces.

It also makes them aware of people in the class they have things in common with. After this intro I will often say things like, “So we have three nursing majors. Yall raise your hands.” That way it helps reinforce possible groups.

This is important because students who are involved with other students on campus are more likely to stay in college. (Obviously if they are partying with them non-stop that won’t work, but if they’re going to do that they won’t need my help.)

After that, I go through the roll and try to match each student. I’m usually about 85% successful. Then I offer an extra credit quiz on student names or points if someone thinks they can name everyone.

Think of it as an interview.

How can you show that you are a good teacher?

The students don’t know who you are. They assume some credibility because you are teaching their class, but they don’t know how far they can trust you. Let them know.

Create a shortened form of a resume (not a vita) on the board, an overhead, or on the computer. Give them your education, your teaching experience, and (especially if that is limited) any other relevant experience. This will let them know that you are an expert.

Why are you a good teacher for this class?

Tell them specifically why you are a good teacher of this topic. (If you aren’t, leave this part out.) For my comp students, I tell them that I have a PhD in rhetoric. For my literature students, I tell them I am a voracious reader and have studied a lot of literature.

Let them know some things you have in common.

If you are an alumni of the school, let them know.

If you can relate to them on difficulties in learning English (or any topic), let them know. I always tell my students that I don’t expect that everyone in this class will get As, though I think most of them can. I tell them that sometimes a C is the very best work the student can do and that, if that is true for them, they should be proud of it. Then I tell them about two Cs I made that I am very proud of (Genetics and Geometry). I do not tell them about the two Cs I am not proud of. They don’t need to know that. But I tell them how hard I had to work in the classes and how difficult it was for me. I tell them that I didn’t give up and that, in Genetics at least, I was one of only 9 students who finished the course out of 70 who started.

If you are taking classes while you are teaching, let them know. It’s good for them to know that this is a job for you and that your education continues.

Show your humanity.

Students like to know you are “real,” but they don’t want you to spend the whole class period all the time telling about your baby or your grandbaby or your tabby. I introduce my family when I tell my students about my experience as a homeschooling mother and then I say that both my sons are now in college. I don’t talk about them all the time, but I let them know that I am a person as well as a teacher.

First night:
have them write info about themselves on 3×5 cards, including phone numbers where I can get ahold of them

have them group themselves according to several categories…
I’ll start off with majors, since they’ll have talked about those in the introduction to themselves. Have them talk among themselves, talk about classes they’ve taken, how long they’ve been going to college. That may give them resource people in their majors to talk to.

Then I’ll group them by with kids, married without kids, straight out of high school (hopefully those won’t overlap), and single but not straight out of high school. Hopefully that will get them in touch with people in a similar life station to them.

Have them write the first night. Give a couple of topics and have them write a paragraph on one of those. Kind of like freewriting, only not. For that matter, I could do freewriting. I could do that every class period. It would be interesting to see what the students write down. They could have a slim notebook for that. It’s what I did for my high school English class. They didn’t like it, but I still think it is a good thing. Maybe every once in a while, I could have them count the number of words they wrote. Did their writing increase over time?

If I want to do this, I should buy up a trunk load of notebooks at WalMart, you know the 90 page spirals they sell for a dime right before school starts. I should buy extra for the spring class, too. Then the kids could just pay me a dime and have them. They wouldn’t have to go get them or pay more for them by that time. I need to be looking for those.

wrote when I started the online course that I already used five of the seven ice breakers. But then I didn’t remember what the other two were.

Here, from University of Hawaii, are two tips.

Select a key word from the course title and have students do an “association exercise” by reporting what first comes to mind, record answers on the chalkboard and use these to give an overview of the course.

Ask students to suggest what problems or ideas they would like to see included in the course, or have them tell what they have heard about the course. Post these on the chalkboard and refer to the list when the syllabus is reviewed. Students can clarify or correct perceptions they have held.

From “Quick Before it Dries,” some good points on first day of class.

Start students talking several times during the first period.

Begin with an easy exercise and then progress to more challenging levels of involvement. Going through the syllabus at the start of class, I pause on the first page after the comments about active participation. Here I ask the students to introduce themselves briefly to the people around them-just to say hello and exchange names. This gets people speaking for the first time early on, breaks the pattern of my doing all the talking, and starts forging the community that I want to develop in the classroom. (Even when the instructor knows them, students hesitate to speak out if their classmates are total strangers. We tend to forget what it feels like to sit in a roomful of people who all seem infinitely wiser, wittier, and more confident than we and who are just waiting for us to make fools of ourselves. It is much easier to talk with people we’ve begun to know, however superficially.) Emphasize from the start that students will be talking with each other, not just reciting to the instructor. If the enrollment is small enough, have students pair up with someone they’ve never met, chat with that person for a few minutes, and then introduce her/him briefly to the rest of the group.

Sometime after the icebreaker, propose a substantial discussion topic for what remains of the period.

This topic might address their knowledge of and preconceptions about the course content (e.g., what do you remember about Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman from high school or previous college courses? Formulate two hypotheses about these poets that we will test during the quarter). Or the topic might concern the students’ own expectations and wishes for the class. (What knowledge and skills do you want to receive from this course? List five specific objectives that you hope to accomplish here by the end.) This discussion not only generates active participation from the start, but it also gives students a sense of owning the course, and it provides motives for working conscientiously during the following weeks. Since many students at this early stage are not likely to risk exposing themselves with individual contributions, ask them to form minigroups of twos, threes or fours and together to come up with a couple of points to contribute. They find it much easier to work quietly with a few classmates who will share responsibility for the ideas. After sufficient time for discussion, call the class together again as a large group and poll each mini-group for one suggestion.

An interesting approach a teacher took to constant interruptions, students being late to class, and students leaving in the middle of class can be found here.

At the beginning of the semester I lay out a few ground rules with my students. For example, they are not to bring cell phones into my class. They are also forbidden from walking into class after the lecture has started. But I don’t just tell students not to do these things. I also make them sign an agreement (on the first day of class) that they will not do these things under penalty of writing a research paper if they break the promise.

Now he wrote the article about adult ADHD and how many of the people “suffering” from ADHD are simply refusing to curb their impulses. It’s not that they can’t. It’s that they won’t.

I don’t lecture much. And I don’t mind if students answer my questions without raising their hands. It has never gotten too chaotic in my college classes. (Though it did a few times in high school and I had to request hands up.)

But I can understand where he is coming from. And I am pleased that his chosen response has worked so well across the board.