First Day Strategies

The first day sets the tone for the whole course. Leverage your enthusiasm to engage students in the class's central themes and to communicate your high expectations for them. This sends the message that you are committed to helping students learn and that the time they invest in the course matters.

Introducing the class

If you’ve been teaching for a while, you may have come to think of the first day of class as a mind-numbing review of the syllabus followed by painfully mispronouncing students’ names. Mix it up! If you reframe it as a “preview day,” you will rekindle your enthusiasm for the subject as well as ignite theirs. Here are a few strategies:

Get students excited about the course

Grab their attention by posing the major questions, unsolved mysteries, or other wicked problems that the course will address. What are the key takeaways? How is this class relevant to students’ lives or the world at large? Here is a worksheet to help you brainstorm...

Strategies Q&A
Make it Relevant Use a current event to demonstrate why the content of the course, or the skills students will acquire throughout the course, matters
Addresing the big "takeaways." Identify the big takeaways that you hope your students will have, not just after completing your course, but many years later.
Describe transferable skills.  Explain what students will be able to do (or do better) by the end of the course. Describe how those skills might be applied to other contexts

 

Review the syllabus (briefly)

Send the syllabus to students before the first day, perhaps with an introductory email, so that you can focus on the key components and policies. To make it fun (and ensure that they have seen the syllabus), consider one of the following activities:

students are asked to find specific pieces of information from the syllabus

ask a few questions for students to ponder individually and then discuss in groups. For example,

  • "Compared to other courses you have taken, do you expect this one to be more or less difficult (or require more or less time), and why?"
  • "Of the three papers assigned, which one are you least looking forward to writing and why?"
  • "Which of the learning outcomes of this course are most personally significant to you and why?"

Set the tone with an active learning excercise

Organize a first day activity that models how future class sessions will be conducted. Don’t simply tell students that they will be active learners, let them practice learning the way they will throughout the semester. Here are some tried-and-true examples:

Give students a short case study and ask them to map how they would approach it.
Give students two or three short answer questions or 15-20 multiple choice questions that ask them about their attitudes and understanding (e.g., their motivations, beliefs, values, misconceptions about the subject matter, etc.)

Remember: Keep it low stakes! Build their confidence.
Recommended Reading: Reimagining Syllabus Day

Getting to know your students

A crucial first step in creating an inclusive classroom is to review your roster prior to class to begin learning about your students. It shows your students that you care and helps foster a sense of community. There are several proven ways to get to know your students, but the first is NOT optional!

Learn student names

I hear what you’re thinking: I have a lot of students. Why should I do this? Comfortable and supported students, learn more easily; are less afraid of failure; begin on a positive cycle of support, motivation, and success; are happier; and get better grades.

Here are a few ways to do it:

1. Keep index cards. On the first day of class, write your name for students to see, modeling its pronunciation as you introduce yourself with a couple of sentences. If you have a name that’s difficult to pronounce, talk about it. Then pass out index cards and share a list of pronunciation or phonemic symbols. Ask students to write their names to help you pronounce them correctly. Collect, select at random, and do your best to pronounce a few names.

2. Use name tents. A “name tent” is a piece of paper folded in half with a person’s name on it. Supply name tents on the first day, then ask students to write their names on them and bring them to each class session. This helps you call students by their names, and it encourages students to learn each other’s names. 3. Use technology.

3. Namecoach is a program designed specifically to help instructors get their students’ names right. An online discussion forum could be similarly used, as could an instant messaging forum like Slack or Microsoft Team.

The bottom line is that, for students, being part of a community (in person or online) AND knowing that their instructor is invested in that community, are huge motivators.

Conduct a FirsT Day Survey

One way to get to know your students’ goals, needs, and academic backgrounds is with a “First Day Survey.” You can set this up in a welcome module in your Canvas course and/or email it to students before the course begins. Here are some typical questions:

  • Why are you taking this course?
  • What previous experience do you have in ______?
  • What is your greatest academic strength?
  • What is one thing you hope to do or learn during this course?
  • What challenges do you anticipate in this course?
  • What else should I know in order to best support you in this course?
  • What pronouns do you use?

Alternatively, you can conduct an “Asset-Based Inquiry” to help students develop metacognitive learning strategies. Ask students to reflect on one or both sets of questions:

  • What is one thing you do very well?
  • How did you get good at that activity?
  • Think of something you’re not very good at:
  • What evidence do you have that you’re not good at it?
  • How do you feel when someone asks you to do this thing?

You can ask students to answer as an assignment viewable only by you, or you can ask students to discuss in pairs or small groups. Encourage students to make connections and think about how they might apply what works for them in other areas of their life to their academic success.

Building community

Lead an icebreaker so students can meet each other

To truly foster community, students need to get to know each other. Icebreakers are one way to encourage communication between students. The following activities are easily facilitated face-to-face, in Zoom breakout rooms, or, if teaching asynchronously, use a collaborative document like Google Docs.

  • Sorts and Mingles: students sort themselves into groups based on different criteria, then mingle and find others who belong to the same group. Start by giving everyone a list of categories or descriptive words. For example, you might have categories like "favorite color," "hometown," or "favorite hobby." Participants then move around the room and group up with others who share the same category. Try adding in some course-specific categories or trivia questions to spark conversation. Do a few rounds so students can chat with multiple classmates.
  • Familiar and Unique: break the class into groups of four. Each group first comes up with four things they have in common (all like tacos, all have jobs, etc.). Then they individually share something unique about themselves. Each group shares their familiar and unique features with the rest of the class.

Pro Tip: whichever icebreaker you choose, start the activity by providing your own response to the prompt.

Consider Creating a Community Norms Contract with the Class

A “community norms contract" is a set of agreements guiding member behavior and is unique to that community’s values, beliefs, and interests. Establishing norms creates a reciprocal relationship between the individual and the classroom community, fostering that sense of belonging. The key is to have students create the norms. While this video features middle school students, it will give you an idea of how norms are created and employed.

Not sure how to get started? This site offers many fantastic ideas, including discipline-specific questions and considerations. Scroll to the middle of the page for sample Guidelines For Classroom Interactions