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During the First Day of Class

Just as in social situations, the more a person knows about you, the more comfortable you become. With teaching and learning, we can easily create a more comfortable and learning-focused environment by establishing a positive rapport among students and with the instructor. From the first few moments students are in your class, they will look for cues for how responsive you will be to them, as individuals, and the kind of effort you will make to care about them and their learning. Simple aspects of the first class such as the seating arrangements, how you introduce yourself, and how you help them connect with each other, can make a significant difference in how students respond to your requests for engagement. 

Optimizing the seating arrangements

The seating arrangement in a classroom can impact the atmosphere of the class and students' perceptions of it. Different seating arrangements can benefit different class activities like lectures, discussions, and different levels of student participation and interactions. So you can decide yourself or with input from the students about how the seats would be arranged during the first class depending on the types of activities you have planned. 

Timeliness

Plan to reach the classroom 5 minutes early. You can use the extra time to set up your devices for class, organize the handouts or other resources you plan to use, and greet your students as they enter the classroom. You can consider creating a greeting, a way to start class, that’s unique to you, that can establish the culture of the class and students know what to expect.

Introduce Yourself

On the first day of class, it is important to introduce yourself to the students covering all the essential information about you including:

  • Your pronouns
  • How you would like your students to address you 
  • Your area of research
  • Your office locations and office hours
  • The best ways to reach you (e.g., in-person, email, etc.)

While introducing yourself, be mindful about which information you want to reveal and which you would not. Express your passion for your subject matter. Students are much more likely to engage in a class that is designed to share someone’s passion. As with stories, identify points throughout the lesson and/or semester where you can express personal interests, and background on that interest, so students can more easily relate to you and the content. This can easily be done without revealing specific, personal information.

Help students learn about each other

Spend a few minutes on the first day of class to help the students get to know each other to create a welcoming, social environment. In a small class, you can encourage each student to introduce themselves and share their hobbies, interests, and other interesting information with the rest of the class. In a large classroom, this approach may be too time-consuming. So instead, you may have the students break into pairs or small groups to introduce themselves to each other. 

Using icebreakers can be effective in helping students be more comfortable with the cohort. Icebreakers that are relevant to the course contents would be the most appropriate ones to facilitate the introductory interactions among students. Following is a list of resources that can help you ideate icebreakers that are customized for the course:

Discuss learning objectives and expectations

One of the most significant activities on the first day of class would be clarifying the learning objectives of the course. You can shed some light on how the objectives will be met through various activities and how these relate to real-world scenarios and applications. You should also focus on setting expectations for student behavior and commitment. Discuss the information your students need to know to engage with different elements of the course and be successful. Prepare to provide clarifications on:  

  • The teaching-learning approaches to be used in the course
  • The ways they should prepare before each class
  • General behavioral expectations from the students (e.g., punctuality, participation, offering feedback, etc.)
  • The amount of time and effort they would need to be successful in the course 

Share an overview of the course contents and requirements

Take some time during the first class to share a brief overview of the course content. You can consider going through the syllabus and gathering some information from the students on which topics they find most important or relevant to them, and other issues they have about the course content. 

Involve students on day one of the class in an activity similar to what they will experience the rest of the semester. This helps set an early expectation of what class time will be like and what your expectations are for participation. 

Utilize the assignments and/or activities on the first day that ask students to connect course material to their own lives, personal interests, or career goals. While the process of making this connection is beneficial to the learning - through its focus on relevance, it also provides you as the instructor insight into your students’ lives, interests, and ambitions.

Also, provide an overview of the assessment methods and grading criteria for the course. Explain how many assignments they will need to complete, how they will be evaluated, and how their assignments will be graded. You can consider giving them a sense of your expectations and flexibility regarding the assessment and evaluation approach for the course. You should also encourage them to share their feedback with you when prompted. 

Collect data regarding students' knowledge and motivation

Plan to collect some information regarding your students' baseline knowledge relevant to the course. You can consider preparing a set of questions, or a survey to test their prior knowledge, and based on the data obtained, decide on activities to facilitate bridging the identified gaps. Here is a sample knowledge probe that you can use to identify the best starting point for the class as a whole:

You should also focus on getting a sense of their motivation to take the course. Consider exploring the reasons they are interested in the course, their expectations from it, and what challenges they anticipate during the course timeline. This will help you customize your teaching approach to best suit the student groups. Know that most student resistance will present itself in a passive form. Determine ahead of time what course of action you will take to address those students not participating. See the section on Student Resistance for more strategies for navigating these scenarios.

Share logistics and resources available to the students 

Finally, take a few minutes to share the university, department, library, and other resources available to the students throughout the course timeline. Remind them of the relevant administrative procedures, drop-add dates, caps on enrollment, Virginia Tech plagiarism policies,  honor code, etc. 

If you have Teaching Assistants (TA) assigned for the course, plan from the beginning of the semester to incorporate them effectively into the classroom community. Students need to feel like the TAs are part of the class, are aware of what is going on in class, and have the expertise to assist them before they will willingly seek out TA’s help. If the TA is never seen or heard from, it creates the impression that the TA is not someone who can assist with the course material. To help incorporate TAs into the classroom, consider these suggestions:

  • Introduce the TA on the very first day and have the TA lead a short activity. This will help create the impression that the TA is knowledgeable and integrated into the course.
  • Require that your TA is present during class time. This will ensure that the TA knows what is going on during class.
  • Have planning and/or feedback meetings regularly with your TA.
  • Ensure that the TA is available for at least some time prior to and directly after class to help address students’ questions and concerns.
  • While not always possible, try to have the TA’s office hours at a time most students can access. For example, office hours from 10 am - 12 pm are likely going to be when most students are in other classes. However, this allows for some creative thinking like offering virtual office hours online during the week.

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