What to Do the First Day of Class

Let's get down to business. What do you do when you walk in the first day? In short, be strict. Sounds authoritarian and awful, I know, but my disclaimer is that, while it's easy to loosen up on standards later, it’s nearly impossible to tighten up on them mid-semester. After you've taught for a while, you'll know what works best for you, but this is a good strategy for a first-time teacher.

1. Dress professionally, particularly if you’re female or young-looking (or just plain young). On issues of student respect, I once heard a tall, male professor say, “I find that it’s helpful to be tall and male. " If you’re unsure of yourself as a teacher and you possess neither of those qualities, it’s a good idea to wear a suit or blazer.

2. Walk in on the dot. If you get there early, it's weird to sit at your desk with nothing to say and nowhere to look, and even weirder to have to wave your hand, quiet everyone down and announce that class is beginning. Better to walk in, say "Good morning," and get started.

3. Begin with an assignment: a freewrite, “diagnostic” essay, pop quiz (which you won’t count, of course), contact information (email addresses are wonderful) or things you want to know about the students (last book read, grade they expect to make)… anything. You can simply walk in and say, “Get out a pen and sheet of paper, please.” Beginning every class with an assignment is an excellent way to get students “in the zone,” and doing it the first day lets students know how your class is going to be. They will choose either to drop your class or, more likely, rise to meet your expectations.

As an English teacher, I typically assign an essay the first day (what grade do you expect to make in this class—really?, or a literacy narrative), and students are free to leave when they hand in their essays.

4. Present your policies. You know this one—the syllabus! Either you can present this the first day or save it for Day 2 because your first assignment takes the whole class or because you know more students will add late (often the cases of community colleges). I present a grading contract on the second day (see my post on syllabus).

5. Have students introduce themselves. Same thing goes for introductions—decide whether you want them on the first or second day. Particularly if you’re teaching a discussion class, it’s important for students to develop a rapport with one another. I have each student meet another, procure the answers to four questions

• name
• origin
• major
• last song heard,

and introduce that student to the rest of the class. Meanwhile, during introductions, I regularly quiz the class on students who have already been introduced. It’s a great way to learn names, and you can quiz students on names any time (and any day) you need a reminder.

During this time, it's also a good idea to have students make "buddies" and take down contact info for making up notes they missed or to send messages to you. After all, you're only paid to teach the class once, so it's only fair that you shouldn't have to re-teach your lesson to students who were absent (though, of course, you'll willing to answer Qs and fill in gaps in info).