{"id":7822,"date":"2022-08-29T08:21:56","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T12:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/?page_id=7822"},"modified":"2025-01-02T11:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T16:24:07","slug":"planning-your-first-day-of-class","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/pedagogical-strategies-that-support-learning\/connect-with-your-students\/planning-your-first-day-of-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning Your First Day of Class"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>What you do on your first day of class establishes the learning environment for the rest of your course, so it\u2019s critical to think and plan carefully.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/195\/2022\/08\/First-day-of-class.png\" alt=\"Venn diagram with \u201cfirst day of class\u201d in the center, surrounded by intersecting circles of \u201cmotivate learning,\u201d \u201cestablish expectations,\u201d and \u201cpersonalize the experience.\" width=\"292\" height=\"283\" \/><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>You want every student to leave the first class thinking:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><em>This will be a good course.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>I\u2019m okay, I\u2019m safe being here.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>I have something valuable to contribute.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Therefore, <strong>resist the urge to\u00a0simply \u201cgo over the syllabus\u201d<\/strong> or launch right into Topic 1.<\/li>\n<li>Instead, <strong>plan a first day that includes significant time spent engaging with others<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Share expectations considering what students want to know most about<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>What they will be learning about and\u00a0<em>why it matters<\/em><\/li>\n<li>What the workload is like in terms of time and also the work they will be asked to produce<\/li>\n<li>What the participation expectations are<\/li>\n<li>How they will be evaluated<\/li>\n<li>What you are like as an instructor: are you accessible? are you flexible? will you be someone they can approach if they are lost or in trouble?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you explain your expectations, <strong>be explicit and specific whenever possible<\/strong>. Don&#8217;t leave room for interpretation, and encourage questions. You might even ask students to write briefly anonymous questions on scraps of paper that you can collect and work through.<\/p>\n<p>5. <strong>Foster a climate of meeting expectations through smart behaviors<\/strong> by joining the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/strong-student-campaign\/\">Strong Student Campaign<\/a> and showing one slide each day your class meets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"prpl-drawer\"><div class=\"prpl-drawer-header\">First Class Activities and Ice Breakers<\/div><div class=\"prpl-drawer-content\">\n<p>Choose an introductory activity that will engage students in your subject and help them to know one another.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/onehe.org\/\">OneHe.org<\/a> has a great collection of <a href=\"https:\/\/onehe.org\/introductory-activities-equity-unbound\/\">introductory activities<\/a> you may have heard of &#8212; <strong>Story of Your Name<\/strong> and <strong>How Do You Make Rice<\/strong> &#8212; and many that are not familiar. These activities help students introduce themselves beyond the customary, &#8220;I&#8217;m from Clifton and my major is undecided.&#8221; See other activities for <a href=\"https:\/\/onehe.org\/equity-unbound\/\">warming up and setting a positive tone<\/a> at OneHE.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mvcc.edu\/teaching\/outreach\/icebreaker.php\">Mohawk Valley Community College<\/a> briefly summarizes such perennials as the <strong>M&amp;M Ice breaker<\/strong>, <strong>Syllabus Ice Breaker<\/strong>, <strong>Familiar &amp; Unique<\/strong> and <strong>Three Truths and a Lie<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>This <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cwsei.ubc.ca\/resources\/files\/First_Day_of_Class.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">resource<\/a> (PDF) from the <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cwsei.ubc.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative<\/a> contains suggestions about how to establish motivation, personalize the learning experience, and establish suggestions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/peternewbury.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/FirstDayList.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Download this list<\/a> and <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/peternewbury.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/FirstDayVennPDF.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">print this Venn diagram<\/a> [reproduced above]. For each item A, B, C,\u2026 (and others you add to the list) decide for yourself if the item motivates learning, personalizes the experience for the student, and\/or establishes expectations. When you\u2019re done, perhaps the items at the center of the Venn diagram \u2013 the items that do all three simultaneously \u2013 are the ones to build into your first class. That way, you can be the most efficient and effective in the limited time you have with your students.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"prpl-drawer\"><div class=\"prpl-drawer-header\">Do&rsquo;s and Don&rsquo;ts<\/div><div class=\"prpl-drawer-content\">\n<p>What you do (and don\u2019t do) in your first class is up to you, of course. Here are some first day of class do\u2019s and don\u2019ts for you to consider.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>DO<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>DON\u2019T<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Check out the classroom before the first class\n<ul>\n<li>fully connect and test your laptop<\/li>\n<li>using clickers? connect and test the hardware and software<\/li>\n<li>how do you log into the podium\/lectern computer, if needed?<\/li>\n<li>what\u2019s the wifi like, even in the back corners?<\/li>\n<li>how do the classroom lights work?<\/li>\n<li>try the lapel (\u201clav\u201d) mic<\/li>\n<li>are you using a presentation remote to advance your slides? Does it work from the back of the room?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>Assume you can figure it out at the time<\/li>\n<li>let a technical problem ruin your only chance to make a first impression<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Start the class on time (establish expectations!)<\/td>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>arrive late (what expectation does that establish!)<\/li>\n<li>have \u201cintimate\u201d conversations with the (enthusiastic) students who arrive early and sit in the front row. This can signal to the rest of the class who will be getting special attention. Instead, circulate around the room and speak with lots of students, or greet everyone at the door.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tell students you think they can all succeed if they put in the effort (growth mindset). It\u2019s fine to say the course is challenging (after all, shouldn\u2019t it be?) as long as you also let them know the course is\n<ul>\n<li>interesting<\/li>\n<li>valuable<\/li>\n<li>achievable with appropriate effort<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>Say threatening things like:\n<ul>\n<li>you expect some of them to fail (\u201cLook left, look right \u2013 one of you won\u2019t be here by the end of the course.\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>this is a \u201cweed-out\u201d or \u201cgatekeeping\u201d course (to get rid of students who shouldn\u2019t continue to the next course)<\/li>\n<li>students don\u2019t usually like this course<\/li>\n<li>this course is really hard<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Give them an authentic experience of what the class will be like.\n<ul>\n<li>If you\u2019re going to use peer instruction with clickers, do it even though not everyone has a clicker yet. If awarding participation points is part of your plan, don\u2019t start that until Week 2.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re going to flip your class, send them a pre-reading assignment (and welcome) before the first day.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019ll be asking them to discuss challenging issues and items in small groups throughout the course, do it in the first class, too, maybe as an icebreaker.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>Use teaching practices that are inconsistent with how you\u2019ll teach the rest of the course.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Model academic integrity, today and every day. Address it when it\u2019s needed: discuss plagiarism in Week 3 when you assign the first essay.<\/td>\n<td>Emphasize penalties for academic misconduct and all the ways a student can be kicked out of the university.\n<ul>\n<li>It establishes a feeling of distrust<\/li>\n<li>Now is not the time they need to be hearing this. It\u2019s important, yes, but not right now.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>End the class on time with a slide containing the most valuable information, just in case a lost student missed the first few minutes of the class:\n<ul>\n<li>your preferred name<\/li>\n<li>office location and hours<\/li>\n<li>contact info<\/li>\n<li>course website<\/li>\n<li>Important Thing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<td>End the class <strong>early<\/strong> (establishes the wrong expectation) or <strong>end the class late<\/strong> (be kind to your anxious, exhausted colleague who\u2019s trying to get into the classroom to set up their first class!)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Repeat vital information (your preferred name, contact info, Important Thing) at the begin of second class<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\u201c<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/peternewbury.org\/2018\/08\/31\/planning-your-first-day-of-class\/\" target=\"_blank\">Planning Your First Day of Class<\/a>\u201d by Peter Newbury is licensed under a <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License<\/a>, excerpted.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><p><em>Last Modified: Thursday, January 2, 2025 11:24 am<\/em><\/p> EJI<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>For more information or help, please <a href=\"mailto:faculty@montclair.edu\">email<\/a>\u00a0the Office for Faculty Excellence or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/montclair-faculty-excellence.libcal.com\/appointments\/\">make an appointment<\/a>\u00a0with a consultant.<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What you do on your first day of class establishes the learning environment for the rest of your course, so it\u2019s critical to think and plan carefully. You want every student to leave the first class thinking: This will be a good course. I\u2019m okay, I\u2019m safe being here. I have something valuable to contribute. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":327,"featured_media":7901,"parent":7707,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7822","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7822"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13095,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7822\/revisions\/13095"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/faculty-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}