First Impressions: Faculty Make the Most of Day One in the Classroom
August 27, 2019
- Author
- Jay Pfeifer
The first and most important lesson on the opening day of class is simple: First impressions matter.
Chris Marsicano, whose classes focus on policy making, uses the first class as a hands-on opportunity for students to master a skill they will need. He makes a 10-minute presentation about the course, then he opens the syllabus up for negotiation.
鈥淒o they want tests or papers? Are there topics they鈥檇 like to see us cover? That鈥檚 what we negotiate. They have a week to get back to me,鈥 he said.
鈥淚t builds ownership of the class, but most importantly, it teaches them how to negotiate,鈥 the visiting assistant professor of Education Studies said. 鈥淢aking policies means learning the art of negotiation and meaningful compromise.鈥
Each professor approaches the first day differently but they all want the same thing: Students need to understand how the class will work.
That may mean a simple review of the syllabus, the basic framework of the course. Kevin Smith, associate professor of biology, goes deeper, teaching a 鈥渕eta-class: a class about the class.鈥
鈥淢y goal is to treat students like adults who deserve to know about what鈥檚 going on in the classroom, but it also helps make clear that I put thought and planning into almost everything we do in my classes,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want anything to seem arbitrary, and the way I do that is by telling students why we鈥檙e doing something.鈥
First order of business: Get students talking.
鈥淥n day one, I start by asking students to do some work together so they get comfortable exchanging ideas with each other in small groups and with the class as a whole鈥攖hey get used to the idea that I guide the class, I do not 鈥榯each鈥 it.鈥
Devyn Benson, chair and associate professor of Africana Studies and Latin American Studies, gets her students talking right away as well.
鈥淚f a student doesn't hear their voice spoken out loud in the first week of class, they are much less likely to speak up later,鈥 she said.
And Benson jumps right into sensitive subjects.
鈥淥n the first day we are all equally awkward, so we all speak and share something personal like a racial autobiography or a snippet of our family history.鈥
Diving right into personal narratives can be touchy. But that鈥檚 the point. By lowering those barriers to discussion鈥攏eutralizing fear and discomfort as much as possible鈥斺淲e all feel much more comfortable with each other and more likely to speak up when we start talking about complex topics like slavery, colonialism and racial injustice in the present day,鈥 she said.
Faculty members are not only consumed with the 鈥榳hy鈥 of their class鈥攖hey have to master the 鈥榳ho.鈥
And that means learning a lot of names very quickly.
John Kello, professor of psychology, asks his students to send him current photos so he can start matching names with faces as soon as possible.
Jeanne Neumann, professor of classics, performs something like a magic trick: She leaves the first class with the names of all of her students memorized.
Neumann walks around the class, collecting notecards from the students with their names on them, reciting names as she goes. The list of names gets longer with each card鈥攁nd the suspense grows.
鈥淚 stop after every few and do a test run,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey realize what I鈥檓 doing and watch, waiting for me to mess up. And I do, but it鈥檚 fine, and funny.鈥
鈥淢idway through the first class I say it鈥檚 time for a quiz. They look panicked until they realize it鈥檚 my quiz and I go through their names again,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great ice-breaker since all the onus is on me, I never do it absolutely perfectly, and that鈥檚 fine.鈥
Knowing her students鈥 names is important, but Neumann is sending another important message: 鈥淚t sets a tone that making mistakes is not a big deal,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f the professor is not perfect, they don鈥檛 have to be either.鈥
