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Your First Day in the classroom

Your First Day in the classroom. At Tulane… or elsewhere!. Why focus on the first day?. Crucial for establishing a productive working relationship with students “Patterning:”

benjamin-wise
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Your First Day in the classroom

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  1. Your First Day in the classroom At Tulane… or elsewhere!

  2. Why focus on the first day? • Crucial for establishing a productive working relationship with students • “Patterning:” • Everything you will expect of your students – writing, analyzing, speaking, group work, etc. – you should have them do the first day

  3. Foster Community • Arrive early and greet students as they enter. • Have your name and class name on the board • Learn their names as quickly as you can • Review the class roster before class • Photos? • Self-completed index cards • Make them introduce themselves the first day

  4. Encourage students to be interested • Don’t begin by reading the syllabus • Spend some time talking about your interest in and engagement with the subject matter • Think about questions you can ask about the material to make students engage with the subject matter even if they have not read the material. • Try to create a “need to know”

  5. Get students to take you seriously • Introduce yourself fully • Make your expectations clear on the first day: • “Warm” expectations: collaboration, sharing, supportiveness, etc. • “Cool” expectations: due dates, grammar, honor code, etc.

  6. Before class: How to prepare? • Define what skills and knowledge your students should have by the end of the term • Consider who your students are and what environment, resources and activities will assist them in gaining these skills. • Plan clear learning objectives (which are required in all syllabi) • Syllabi are contracts and are most effective when comprehensive and explicit

  7. Syllabi • Include grading policies, honor code information, disability resources, a schedule of tests/reading/assignments • Calendar the entire semester and pay attention to test and assignment dates and holidays (remember your own work schedule!) • Prepare your reading materials as early as possible and post on either Eres or MyTulane or both

  8. Your Teaching Space • Visit your classroom before the first class • Learn how to use the technology in the room • Think about how to use the space to encourage interactive, engaged learning: • lecture seating arrangements often “dead end” discussion

  9. Engaging presentations? • Useful repetition, summaries, and breaking the lecture into smaller parts • What makes you different from the book? Use examples and stories - the more visual and interactive the more impact the lecture will have. • Use visual images to describe your point -- a striking demonstration concerning physics or a visual analogy to describe a poem. • Use many examples; they make lectures come alive. A vivid example has far more impact than accumulated data. • Figure out ways to make lectures interactive. • Begin with a simple story related to the topic of the day. • Have outlines of your lecture available for your students onMyTulane. • Think about incorporating Web 2.0 tools into your class: blogs, wikis, even twitter!!!

  10. Death by Powerpoint!!! • Is what I have just subjected you to with the last slide • http://www.slideshare.net/thecroaker/death-by-powerpoint • Significance • Structure • Simplicity • Rehearsal

  11. Engaging presentations? • Repeat, summarize, break-down • What makes you different from the book? • Visual images. • Many examples (verbally) • Make lectures interactive. • Begin with a simple story related to the topic • Post outlines of lectures onMyTulane. • Incorporate Web 2.0 tools

  12. Teaching at Tulane • Who are our students? • Very, VERY smart • Risk takers • Geographically distant from other support networks • Eager to engage

  13. Questions? Associate Provost Ana M. López Office of Academic Affairs 200 Gibson Hall Tulane University New Orleans, LA 70118 (504) 865-5261 lopez@tulane.edu

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