{"id":937,"date":"2018-08-22T08:56:12","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T16:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teaching.claremont.edu\/?page_id=937"},"modified":"2024-03-28T23:08:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T23:08:13","slug":"have-a-fabulous-first-day","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/resources\/ctl-created-resources\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Have a Fabulous First Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Do you have first day jitters? Don\u2019t worry! \u00a0Even the most seasoned faculty get them, but that\u2019s only because we care about our students and want them to learn about the fascinating fields and ideas we have come to love.\u00a0 \u00a0And, there is ample evidence out there to support our intuition (or fear?) that the first day really matters to student enthusiasm, motivation, and success. \u00a0Here are just a few ideas that will make for a fabulous first day:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Before the First Day<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Send your students a <\/em><em>welcome letter.<\/em> Let them know who you are, why you love your field, and what you\u2019re most excited about for your time together. \u00a0Tell them your preferred name \/ title, your pronouns, and the best way to reach you for help.<\/li>\n<li><em>Drop an <\/em><em>Easter Egg<\/em>. \u201cEaster eggs\u201d are little surprises embedded in your syllabus or Sakai \/ Canvas site.\u00a0For example, in your syllabus, you might include a line somewhere near the end that says \u201cWhen you read this, email me a picture of a turtle or tortoise for five bonus points on the next quiz.\u201d \u00a0Not only will you find out who has read your syllabus, you will be building motivation in all students to read carefully and well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Before Class Starts<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Get there early<\/em>, and meet students at the door or welcome them to the Zoom room. Introduce yourself and let them know they are in the right place.<\/li>\n<li><em>Have student name cards available if you are in person <\/em>and let students decorate them. Then, use them by referring to students by name throughout the day and semester.<\/li>\n<li><em>Distribute \u201cGetting to Know You\u201d Cards <\/em>and ask students to respond to important questions like \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d and \u201cWhat excites you about this class?\u201d Read these cards after class and make notes so you can avoid deadnaming your students and have some insight into their motivations for the class.<\/li>\n<li><em>Consider mood music<\/em>. Get yourself a walk on song or prep a playlist for while students are gathering that sets the mood and tells them a bit about you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Before you \u201cTalk Syllabus\u201d <\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Tell your students a story<\/em>. It can be a story about some amazing development in the field, a particularly thorny problem scholars struggle with in your discipline, or even a personal story about how you came to love what you do. The teacher\u2019s enthusiasm for content has been shown to have a profound effect on student persistence.<\/li>\n<li><em>Ask them to tell you a story. <\/em>Invite them to write 2-3 paragraphs titled \u201cMy Autobiography in [Discipline].\u201d This may be particularly important in STEM and writing fields, where students may have had numerous negative experiences or feelings of inadequacy that can impede their success.<\/li>\n<li><em>Let your students interview you<\/em>. Get them into groups to come up with questions about you, your background, interests, hobbies, or anything else (within reason and comfort).\u00a0Letting students see you as both a person and expert in your field has been shown to increase student motivation.<\/li>\n<li><em>Ask them to engage in the content.<\/em> Give students a shared reading and invite them to work in pairs or groups to summarize the main points or ideas, as well as why it might be important to the class.\u00a0 Or, if your course primarily emphasizes skills (like critical thinking, writing, public speaking, etc.) give them a low stakes opportunity to practice those skills. Then allow them some time to reflect on their strengths and growing edges and to set goals.<\/li>\n<li><em>Think about community building. <\/em>Rituals matter to group cohesion, and they are established on the first day. If you want every class to start with community announcements, or every week to end with a student summary of the week\u2019s content, start those rituals now.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>When you \u201cTalk Syllabus\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Host a scavenger hunt. \u00a0<\/em>Are your office hours on the syllabus?\u00a0 Walk students over there (if in person) and ask them to answer 20 questions about you, your office, and the hours while you are there.\u00a0 Do you have a separate lab location?\u00a0 Send students out to find it and retrieve the mystery objects (probably candy) they find there. \u00a0Did you mention that you want students to use the writing or quantitative support center? Ask students to take a group selfie with someone at that location and Tweet it out with the hashtag #syllabusscavengerhunt. If you are teaching online, you can do ,any of these tasks by asking students to find, screen shot, and share to a group doc how to connect with these places.<\/li>\n<li><em>Divide students into groups\u00a0<\/em>and ask them to interpret and present one section of your syllabus for the class. Give them a chance to ask clarifying questions and discuss why they think you have included this particular element \/ assignment in your course.<\/li>\n<li><em>Allow students to negotiate\u00a0<\/em>percentages, due dates, policies, course materials, and expectations. We have good evidence that many students are ill-equipped to negotiate effectively when they leave college and enter the world of employment.\u00a0 You are giving your students a gift by giving them a low-stakes opportunity to practice these skills. \u00a0(Plus, no one can say they \u201cdidn\u2019t know\u201d about an assignment later when it\u2019s been negotiated in class.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>So there you go! \u00a0More than a baker\u2019s dozen worth of ideas for making this year better than ever.\u00a0Oh \u2026 and if today isn&#8217;t the first day of class, many of these ideas can \u00a0easily be modified for wherever you are in the semester. \u00a0 Have a fabulous first day!<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you have first day jitters? Don\u2019t worry! \u00a0Even the most seasoned faculty get them, but that\u2019s only because we care about our students and want them to learn about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"parent":870,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-937","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Have a Fabulous First Day! - The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Have a Fabulous First Day! - The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you have first day jitters? Don\u2019t worry! \u00a0Even the most seasoned faculty get them, but that\u2019s only because we care about our students and want them to learn about [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-28T23:08:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/\",\"name\":\"Have a Fabulous First Day! - The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-22T16:56:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-28T23:08:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Have a Fabulous First Day!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/\",\"name\":\"The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Have a Fabulous First Day! - The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Have a Fabulous First Day! - The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning","og_description":"Do you have first day jitters? Don\u2019t worry! \u00a0Even the most seasoned faculty get them, but that\u2019s only because we care about our students and want them to learn about [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/","og_site_name":"The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning","article_modified_time":"2024-03-28T23:08:13+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/","url":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/","name":"Have a Fabulous First Day! - The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-08-22T16:56:12+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-28T23:08:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/have-a-fabulous-first-day\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Have a Fabulous First Day!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/","name":"The Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/937\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/ctl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}