in

TEACH Program

First Day of Class

Happy New Year!  I hope that you have all had a restful and fun break and are ready to get back into the swing of things.As you each prepare for your first day of the semester, I thought you might be interested in some strategies related to having a successful and productive first day of class.  While there are innumerable resources on this subject, many seem to touch on the same ideas including things like:

1.    Be enthusiastic about the course and the subject you are teaching…remember that if you don’t want to be there, neither will they.
2.    Establish communication.  Use ice-breakers or other activities to get the students talking to each other and to you.  Set a precedent for what you expect throughout the semester.
3.    Tell the students about yourself and about the class.  Be explicit so they know exactly what to expect.

For more ideas and for some great recommendations for ice-breakers check out The Most Important Day: Starting Well, The First Day of Class: Advice and Ideas, and the First Day of Class: List of Useful URL’s.

Another important thing we deal with as we get to know our new students is learning their names.  If you have a difficult time learning names, don’t forget about the articles posted at the beginning of the fall semester:  Learning Your Students’ Names and Not Quite 101 Ways to Learning Students' Names.

 

Published Jan 05 2009, 03:06 PM by mmeixner
Filed under: , ,

Comments

No Comments
Powered by Community Server (Commercial Edition), by Telligent Systems