---
# System prepended metadata

title: 'The First Day of Class: 3 Key Elements'

---

# The First Day of Class: 3 Key Elements

- Introductions
- setting expectations
- course content

## Before Class

### Ask yourself: what are your goals / course goals / section goals?
- content based goals?
- skill based goals? (look at assignments; what will students need to know how to do? by when?)
- other goals? (e.g., motivation? engagment? making classroom welcoming?, etc.)
- How to start working toward those? / How will the first day get you on your way?

### Visit your classroom
- check AV
- are there chalk boards? dry erase?
- are there enough chairs?
- are any accommodations from DAO (fka AEO) present? missing?

### Introductory email:
- info about meeting location; time
- Any requests for pre-class prep (what should have been read? do students need to bring anything (laptop?, a text?, something handed out in lecture?))
- *Brief* outline of class plans ("We'll spend about half of our time getting to know eachother, then we'll turn in the last half to a discussion of X Text")

## In Class

### Introductions (~15 minutes):

- Introduce *yourself*: name, what they should call you (first name? other? pronouns?), area of research, why you're (genuinely!) interested in the course; other non-academic interests!
- Introduce *the course / discipline*: consider some kind of hook connecting material of the course to something else? Even just a little funny comic projected while students walk in:
 ![[Screen Shot 2022-09-10 at 1.44.13 PM.png]]
- Introduce *students* to each other (and you)
	- Icebreakers:
		- connect to the content of the course? (for essay course: "best essay you've read in the last year?"; for monsters: "what is your favorite monster"; in general: book / novel / poem / essay / play you're most looking forward to? Least?; if you could add something to the reading list, what would it be?)
		- other? (something you read / watched / listened to / otherwise consumed over the summer you think others in the class should read / watch / listen to / otherwise consume?)
		- think carefully: topics to avoid (e.g., "what did you do over the summer?") (potential for causing discomfort? does it require more trust than we have on the first day? could students fail to complete the task?)
	- Info: name, pronouns, concentration, etc.
		- avoid directly asking students to share pronouns; either model (e.g., I'm Carly, I use they/them pronouns), *OR* ask them to tell you "anything about how you'd like to be referred to in the classroom (nicknames, pronouns *if you want to share*, etc.)"
	- Out of class survey or index cards: 
		- why are you taking the course?
		- what do you hope to get out of it (can be general or specific)
		- Extracurriculars (incl. "are you writing a thesis?")
	- Out of class meetings
		- highly recommend short meetings with all students in first few weeks; can be exhausting, but worth it!
	
### Communicating expecations (~15 minutes)

- Section syllabus
	- Details:
		- participation expectations? (in-class? responses?)
		- absence policy
		- required meetings (i.e., office hours)?
		- other policies?
		- make sure these match course head's expectations
		- Info about office/drop-in/student hours
		- your email, info about contacting you
	- Include information about key resources: Writing Center; Academic Resource Center; DAO (fka AEO)
- In class
	- Make hidden / implicit rules/norms explicit
		- explain what office hours are!
		- explain participation, etc.
	- [Include your students in establishing expectations / discussion rules](https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/discussion-intro/discussion-guidelines/)
	

### Getting to course content (~30 minutes)
- Active learning! (continue letting students get to know each other - I for one love a good pair & share activity)
- Possible activity: Beginnings & endings? (of first text)
- Possible entry-point: ask students to submit someting ahead of time to use as the basis for an activity (DL would always give useful prompts (what did lecture not cover that you wanted to discuss?)) 
- Possible entry-point: pick up on a concept in lecture that wasn't fully explored and dive deeper
- Scaffolding / backward design
	- think about what the most important skills they'll need to start building for their first assignment and practice that (if prof hasn't written full assignment yet.....: is it a close reading paper? something else?)
		- I would in general recommend something aimed at close reading ([The Cut Up; The Blow Up; Read Reread Closeread](https://muse-jhu-edu.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/book/64530)
		- Could also think broadly: "the descriptive word"
- Bring a handout!

## After Class

- Follow up email
	- e-copy of handouts
	- info about scheduling meetings?
	- send out surveys
	- looking ahead to next week
	- thanks for discussion!