The Guide to Teaching
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First Day of Classes
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 13:31:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Joel J Schwartz <jjschwar@email.unc.edu>
The First Day of Class could be considered the most important day of the
entire semester. When students decide to register for classes, they
usually know little about the instructor or about the learning experience
they are about to have. When they come to class on that first day, they
are filled with a mix of emotions, anticipation, optimism, but also
trepidation. It is the instructor's responsibility to address the most
important questions students want to know about the course as well as to
lay the foundations for a feeling of rapport and a sense that the class
will become a collaborative exploration of ideas, beliefs, and the search
for answers to difficult questions. The first day and those immediately
following, if used effectively, will create a reservoir and feeling
between instructor and student that will be available to tap into as
students' interests fluctuate as they inevitably do during the entire
semester. On the other hand, if students leave the classroom feeling that
the instructor cares little about the intellectual development of the
individual student, has little interest in faculty-student interaction
beyond the subject matter of the class itself, then an invisible, but very
real psychological barrier to learning will have been erected. For these
reasons it is essential that faculty be creative and imaginative in using
this First Day's interactions to achieve the kind of atmosphere and
ambiance which will effectively contribute to the course goals and
objectives.
The suggestions contributed by Teach-Pol readers were both thoughtful and
provocative. They will help each of us make that first day not just one
more day, but a day which will set the tone for the rest of the semester.
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Teaching Politics is published by William J. Ball (ball@tcnj.edu)
