Teaching Tip

The First Day of Class – Don’t Start with the Syllabus!

Students form their opinion of a course during the first few minutes of the first day of class. Although you might be able to challenge this opinion later, it could be difficult to convince them that the course will be an exciting, valuable learning opportunity when they’ve already decided it will be an irrelevant, mind-numbing round of busywork. That may be putting it a bit strongly, but you do want to get off to the best start you can.

Most teachers’ typical approach is to start off the first class by going over the syllabus. At first glance, this makes sense — students want to know what the course will be about, what kind of work will be expected of them, and how they will be graded. But “going over the syllabus” involves the teacher talking while the students listen. Occasionally a student will ask a question about some aspect of the assignments or the grading system, which is then answered by the teacher. This doesn’t do much to create an engaging, student-centered environment!

Rather than start with the syllabus, kick off the class with an activity that gets the students involved and introduces issues that will be important throughout the class. Many activities can help the students get to know one another as well as what the class is about (and why they should care). Here are some examples:

1. Games – in my foundations of education class, students (aspiring teachers) start by playing a game that puts them in the role of a student who doesn’t know the rules and doesn’t know the criteria for winning — they eventually figure out how to win, but not why they are winning. This is often how students feel when the standards a teacher expects are not made clear and feedback is not specific enough to be helpful — an important lesson for any teacher to learn. You can find many other examples of games that introduce key disciplinary issues in books and on the Internet.
2. Scavenger hunts – corny as it may sound, a scavenger hunt that incorporates elements of the course material can be a fun and interactive way to start any class. In my educational technology course, the scavenger hunt asks students to find a fellow student who “would rather send an email than talk on the phone,” who “have used Powerpoint to make a presentation,” and who “are occasionally freaked out by people apparently talking to themselves on their hands-free phones.” Use the scavenger hunt to help the students start learning each other’s names as well as what they know about the course topics.
3. Discussions and debates – your syllabus can include issues or questions that you will investigate together throughout the semester. Break students into groups and have them discuss what they already know and think about these issues. Have them write/draw on self-stick poster paper to express their current thinking about the issue and present this to the rest of the class. Divide the class into two groups and assign each a side of an issue to debate — and then, at the last minute, switch which group is arguing which side. Have a colleague come in and stage a mock debate with you over some key issue in the discipline. Feel free to be silly!

There are many, many examples of other (probably better!) activities for the first day of class online — just search on “first day of class activities” or something like that.

You can spend some time later in the first class going over the syllabus — by this time, students will want to know more about how the class will be run, and will expect it to be relevant and interesting. Whatever you do, DON’T end class early the first day — this sets a very bad precedent! If your first day of class is engaging, focused, and fun, your students won’t even notice they’ve stayed the whole class period (and learned something in the process).

This tip was provided by Deborah Morris. If you would like to learn more about Deborah, visit her bio page.

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