DAY 1: The most important day of class

If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.
— Johann Wolfgang von Göethe (1749 – 1832)

Whether you think it's obvious or a misapprehension, do not underestimate either the significance or the consequences of a first class meeting, whether online or face-to-face (f2f). For better or worse, that one encounter sets the tone for an entire term's worth of interactions with those students and it can literally make or break that learning environment. No pressure, right?! Here's a little about what I've learned. It's definitely reshaped my courses and is helping me understand what it really means to be an educator.

Whatever rules you set forth on DAY 1, those will permeate the entire term. Whatever behaviors you exhibit on DAY 1, your students expect those to permeate the entire term. (Do you go over the syllabus? If so, they'll expect you to go over *everything*, all term long.) Whatever behaviors you begin to condition them for on DAY 1, those will permeate the entire term. You can't be one way or do one set of things on DAY 1 and then be someone different or expect different behaviors for the rest of the term.

DAY 1 is the model for all other class days.

There are two critical components to building a successful learning environment: how you engineer and manage the social expectations and the pedagogical expectations. The "engineering" part must begin on DAY 1. The "management" part must be consistent and persistent, class after class. A description of my DAY 1 in Astro 101 is here.

Be authentic: be yourself, be natural, and try to be the same person that you were on that first day (as close to it as you can) every time you step into that classroom or make a new video.

Be consistent and persistent: even in the face of opposition, do the same things the same way every time (as long as it's reasonable, of course) to match your stated expectations and help promote conditioned behaviors.

Practice what you preach: don't ask your students to do anything you haven't done yourself and make sure to hold yourself to [at least] the same expectations you set for them.

• Setting the Tone
  • Body Language
    
    Be open and receptive. Show that you are enjoying the experience with them. Of course we can't be perfect all of the time. But we can — and should — practice being more mindful and aware of how others perceive us, particularly in front of our students and especially on that first day of class or in that welcome video to an online class.

    • Have you ever filmed your class then watched yourself? You need to. It ought to be required in all teaching evaluations. Yeah, it's that important. You'll experience yourself as your students do. It's revealing — and sometimes painful — but necessary. After you watch it ask yourself questions like these: If I were a student in this class, how would I feel about, react to, interpret, etc. this person's body language? What does this body language say about him/her? Would I feel welcome? Would I want to come back? Do I have confidence in this person's ability to help me learn this subject? Does this person seem accessible, like someone I could go to for help? Would I feel comfortable interacting with this person one-on-one? Does s/he care about this class and helping me learn?
  • Terminology
    The words really matter. It changes how they think about and process the information. I've gone to great lengths to change these things in all of my communications with my students: course documents, emails, verbal interactions, etc. It has definitely made a difference.

    • It's neither my class nor their class; it's our class. (Thanks to Erin Dokter for this one.)
    • I do not give grades/points/etc. You earn them. (Thanks to my mother-in-law, Ragina French, a retired middle school math teacher [read: "saint"]. )
    • We do not study for assessments; we practice. (Pretty sure this one's mine, lol.)
    • Who wants to go to office hours? Sounds like you're being sent to detention or called to the principal's office! Why not have free help sessions instead? (Thanks to Ed Prather!)
    • There's no such thing as extra credit but you could earn some bonus points. (Thanks again, Ed!)
• Channel Your Inner "Boss"
  Whatever your personality, you must be the boss of your class. (Thank you, Gina Brissenden!) That doesn't mean cracking the whip! It does mean that, regardless of your personality, you must tap into and consistently channel that part of you that is capable of being appropriately authoritative and commanding respect without caving in when pressured. This manifests differently in people with different personalities but everyone has an inner "boss" — find yours and use him/her properly...but that means earning some respect first.
• Earn and Keep Their Respect
  Whatever your personality, you will not be successful if you don't first earn the respect of those learners and then consistently do what it takes to keep it. (Notice the language? It says earn, not "assume you have it already because you're their instructor.")

  • They don't know you (usually). Why would you expect them to automatically respect you when they haven't experienced you doing anything to earn it? That doesn't mean you should expect disrespectful behavior from the get-go. It just means you need to put yourself in their shoes: they don't *have* to be there (no, they really don't) — they chose to be there — which means they can decide to bail at any time, for any reason. No, it isn't your job to keep them there but it is your job to provide learning experiences worth staying for. And that means a whole lot of stuff...
  • Probably the most important thing on DAY 1 is explaining your reasoning, i.e. philosophies. Consider what questions they probably have and let them in on the "secrets." Why are you doing things this way? Why is the course set up this way? Why is there no make-up work? Why is it important to follow the rules during Think-Pair-Share (TPS)? Why do I have to have my own unused copy of the Lecture Tutorial workbook and actually write in it; why can't I share or rent one? Why do we have to do reading, watch videos, etc. before class? Why aren't you just going to tell us what we're supposed to know? Why don't you just publish answer keys to everything? And any number of other questions that are appropriate given your course's policies and procedures.
  • Then make sure you develop and facilitate robust, meaningful learning sequences, provide opportunities for them to practice and get feedback, give meaningful feedback (see "Pedagogical Engineering" below), and stay true to policies, procedures, and pedagogy, regardless of any kinks they may try to toss in to your plans. As long as you and your policies are fair and equitable, nearly all of them will rise to the occasion, owning their successes as well as any missteps.
    • That means you also have to be extremely wary of permitting exceptions to any of the policies, procedures, etc. Making exceptions, regardless of the motivation, not only destroys the level playing field you tried so hard to create, it also calls into question the validity of having those rules in the first place, e.g. what's the point of having a deadline if you're just going to allow exceptions? Students pick up on this quickly. Best case scenario, it sends the message that there aren't really any rules because you'll just break them whenever it seems warranted. Equity? Fairness? Out the window. Abusers will line up to take advantage and the more scrupled ones will likely become resentful and not try as hard. Worst case? You may have destroyed your credibility completely. All that respect you worked so hard to earn? Gone. With one exception to a rule.
    • There certainly may be cases where an exception is warranted. For example, you have a deadline for an online assignment but the course management system was down for five hours the night before it was due. That's not the kind of exception we're referring to here. Obviously you make the best choices that you can for your students and your situations. Just be careful.
    • And as terrible as this may sound to some of you, remember: they don't have to like you to respect you.
• Clearly State Your Expectations
  Expectations and standards are two very different things. A quote from Daniel Scott.

  It's radically important to understand the difference. A standard is a level of quality, something that is accepted as a norm, and generally used as a basis for judgment. An expectation is a strong belief that something is going to happen in the future, or a feeling that someone or something is going to achieve something.
  
  One is fact, the other fiction.

  Most of our students come into our classes with the notion that our "expectations" of them are the "standards" that they're accustomed to. If you don't explicitly make this distinction and clearly lay out the expectations with appropriate and reasonable justifications, don't expect them to behave any differently.

  • The point is, they don't know what we expect until we tell them. They don't know that we want something different from what they perceive as "standards" for all learning environments. They're not mind-readers and they're not experts in pedagogy and education. It's our responsibility to lay it out for them and make sure they understand the reasons why it matters.
  • As long as you and your policies are reasonable, fair, and equitable, most will rise to the occasion. This "Rule of Expectations" is pretty well documented. Basically, it says that individuals tend to make decisions based on what they perceive others expect of them. There are some interesting tidbits on this in this NPR article by Alix Spiegel, this publication from the Westside Toastmasters, and this self-reflection from Hiwote Getaneh.
    • Be very wary of making exceptions to your policies and procedures. See the last bullet points in the above section "Earn and Keep Their Respect" for more on this.
  • Though this might seem silly, it's worth taking a read through this article on developing rules and expectations in a K-12 classroom. No, it's obviously not the same as a college classroom and there will definitely be stuff that doesn't apply, but there is a surprising amount of overlap if only for a few simple reasons: the students are still humans [presumably], if you teach introductory level general education courses you probably have mostly "three-month-old high school students" anyway (thanks yet again to Ed Prather ), and it's a good back-to-basics refresher.

All of the rules that apply to the social engineering aspect above also apply here with those last two probably the most important in this regard.

Be consistent and persistent: do things the way you said you would, even [especially] if the students didn't prepare as they should have. They need to understand the difference between standards and expectations and that it is their responsibility to meet those expectations (life goes on whether they're ready or not).

Practice what you preach: if you expect them to follow certain rules in certain instances, e.g. Think-Pair-Share, Lecture Tutorials, etc. then you have to model that behavior for them and don't do things that disrupt them.

Got PCK? You better! Start here if you're unfamiliar with the notion of pedagogical content knowledge.

• Know Your Audience
  Do you know who your audience is or do you just think you do? Have you looked at real data, demographics, etc. for the students who take your classes? If you teach general education courses you know you typically have more diverse audiences with more widely ranging backgrounds and levels of preparation. If you teach Astro 101 or any other introductory level general education science course then you really need to know whether that audience is predominantly non-science majors. Why? Because you're not there to impress them and you can't use your big astrophysicist/geologist/etc. brain to teach that course, especially to nonscientists! If you can't speak Astro 101/Geology 101/etc. not only can you not communicate with them, but on DAY 1 you've already alienated them and – more importantly – just reinforced one of their most strongly held misconceptions: "I'm not a 'science' person / I can't do science."

  • Learn to speak your discipline "101" language and use it with them, all of the time, starting on DAY 1.
  • Why would I sermonize to them about a planet's "obliquity" when I could just talk about its tilt? Then no one has to feel inferior, alienated, or irritated while they contemplate asking Siri, Cortana, Alexa, or Google Assistant what "obliquity" means.
• Garner Buy-In
  Getting the students on board with your methods, techniques, procedures, etc. is a big deal. It's not about "bullying" them into it (e.g. I'm the instructor so you'll do what I say); it's about winning them over. You need them to be "all in" otherwise nothing really works right. Appeal to their common sense, every day lives and experiences, whatever you can to make a convincing case with evidence they can relate to.

  • For example, you wouldn't expect to give a book (or videos) on operating a motor vehicle to someone who's never driven before, have them read it (watch them) a few times and ask some questions, then expect them to know how to drive. Why would we expect you to be an expert in [insert discipline here] without first doing all of that and then having you practice over and over, making mistakes and getting feedback so that you can make corrections?
  • We wouldn't lecture to you and have you read about how to play an instrument and then give you one, expecting you to now know how to do it. You'd have to practice – a lot – so that you experience it for yourself, make mistakes and learn to recognize them, and are able to investigate and learn on your own how to make it do what you need it to. Then we'd have to provide you feedback on those practice sessions, guiding you towards ultimate success.
• Engage Them In Authentic Experiences
  That doesn't mean that if it's an astronomy class you have to help them experience what it's like to be an astronomer. It does mean that (a) what you ask of them both in and out of class (and how you ask it) should match what you're asking of them on assessments (and how you ask it) and (b) what you expect from them on assessments should have some grounding in real-world experiences for them – something they can relate to – even if it's not the content itself and is instead the physical and/or cognitive processes or procedures they must go through.

  • To be fair, you must model these experiences for them. While they do not come into your class as blank slates, they do usually have ideas that are often either incorrect or incomplete. You not only have to give them the tools to fix the problems and multiple opportunities for practice and feedback, you have to show them how to do it. We also have to show them how to be metacognitive and provide multiple opportunities to practice and improve that skill as well.
  • A good example of modeling behavior for them can be found in item #3.b. of the "Crash Course" on implementing Think-Pair-Share.
• Stick To Your Guns
  So you've developed a carefully planned learning sequence and you get to a particular point only to be met with an obvious and prevalent lack of preparedness on the part of the students, despite all your announcements, warnings, emails, policies in the syllabus, etc. What to do? As long as the blame rests squarely on them and not you, press on, making few if any adjustments to your plan. Yes, really.

  • If you cave, it sends two very strong messages, one to the students who didn't hold up their end of the bargain and one to those who did. Either way, your credibility is now shot and if you've ever lost control of a situation during a class you know how difficult it is to regain it, rebuild any trust, and/or restore any sense of respect or authority with regard to that kind of situation. In fact, sometimes it's impossible and everyone suffers the consequences for the entire term.
    • The ones who didn't do what they were supposed to hear something like this: It's okay that you didn't do what you were supposed to. I'll go back on my word, change everything just for you, and let you dictate what happens in class. Yes, you can manipulate me into doing your work for you. I'm doing it this time so clearly I'll keep doing it every time you come to class unprepared. The rules don't really matter and there's no foundation here for you to respect me as a professional educator.
    • Meanwhile, the ones who did do what they were supposed to hear something like this: You shouldn't have wasted your time like that. I didn't really mean what I said and clearly I would have held your hand through it all if only you'd slacked off and not taken me seriously, just like those other students. You should try it next time because I'm a pushover. The rules don't really matter and there's no foundation here for you to respect me as a professional educator.
  • Remember, if you are clear, reasonable, and steadfast in your expectations, most of them will step it up to try and hurdle that bar right where you placed it. See "Social Engineering" above under "Clearly State Your Expectations."

To be clear, my Astro 101 class is the "whole universe in one semester" version and we have about 16 weeks of classes with a final exam during week 17 (see the materials on the "Class" page). So I definitely don't have class time to waste but I do no real science on the first day...because the DAY 1 social and pedagogical engineering is the foundation and it must be firmly in place before building upon it.

This is a typical first class meeting in a f2f section that meets for 75 minutes twice per week. I've also tried to include example timeframes for a class that meets from 12:00-13:15.

• [11:45-12:00] Upbeat music plays in the room during the "passing time" between classes.
  I don't want them coming into an environment that feels scary, awkward, uninviting, and eerily silent. That sets a mood that contradicts not only my classroom persona but also the tone of the learning environment I want to cultivate, and I also don't want to waste the first ten minutes of class breaking the ice when I can short-circuit that process a lot faster just by playing some popular music as they're coming in. (Don't be afraid to "get into it" a little either! They appreciate seeing that you're also just a regular person who enjoys singing along, nodding their head, tapping their toes, and maybe "dancing" a little. This can also begin to help establish you as an accessible person who isn't as detached from reality as they might stereotypically think "academics" are.)

  • There's also a slide displayed on the screen at the front of the room that shows the class (ASTR 101), my name, and has a picture of the Lecture Tutorial workbook. That way they can self-check to make sure they're in the right place and already see the most important required material they'll need.
  • Everyone gets a copy of the Student Questionnaire as they come in (see the materials on the "Class" page). I've tried it as an online-only survey so I don't have to use paper but nothing gets good responses like making them do it on paper right there in real time.
• [12:00] Start class on time.
  I don't want to establish the precedent that we'll wait until some subjectively "better" time to start class. Class begins at the time it says in the schedule. They've known that from the moment they registered for the class and it's their responsibility to be there on time, just like they expect me to be on time, regardless of what day it is. They need to see that we start class on time, every time, so they'd better be here on time.
• [12:00-12:05] Give a quick introduction.
  I begin by muting the music, giving an enthusiastic welcome, introducing myself, and asking them if they're in the right place while indicating the slide on the screen. No materials have been handed out – I need their attention and don't want it diverted by a document that we're not using yet.
• [12:05-12:40] Get down to it: the Syllabus Scavenger Hunt (see the materials on the "Class" page).
  • [12:05-12:20] "Those of you that read your welcome messages, go ahead and get out your syllabus."
    Pre-registered students were notified several days prior to the start of class that their course management system (CMS) site is ready to go and were given instructions for logging in, told what to do to begin familiarizing themselves, and what they should bring to the first class meeting. I don't print and distribute much of anything and I tell them this and let those who didn't check their email know that they're already on notice. Those that don't have a syllabus are encouraged to get out their laptops, tablets, or phones that have web browsers and log in to the CMS right then to get access to the syllabus. (See the preamble on the " Class" page for more specific information.) This is the only day that use of electronics is permitted in class.

    • While this is happening, I'm passing out copies of the "Syllabus Scavenger Hunt" (see "Class" page) and giving instructions. "When I say 'Go!' you have about 15 minutes to get into groups of no more than four, introduce yourselves, and work together complete this scavenger hunt."
    • It's important for them to understand that this type of behavior (logging in to the CMS, reading on their own, and doing the required prep work) and interaction (partner and small group work) is expected every time so they need to experience it now to decide if this is the kind of class they want to be a part of.
    • Circulate around the room.
      It's important that they see this exercise as important and meaningful, not as "busy work." Thus, I can't now return to the front of the room and check my email, leave the room, etc. I must circulate around the room with my own completed copy of the scavenger hunt, making sure my body language is open and receptive to questions so they will feel free to raise their hands and/or just ask when I come by (see item #5 in the "Crash Course" on implementing Lecture Tutorials). If I don't take it seriously, they won't. And they need to understand that I'm not just going to tell them things that are already available to them in this way. It's up to them to access the information I've already provided. This sets up an important part of the class dynamic.
        Though I really shouldn't be disturbing them during this part, I do need to check the roster against those present so I warn them that I'll also be coming around to do that while they're working. I carry the roster with me as I'm circulating and quietly ask each individual student his/her name as I go.
    • Give them time stamps and shut it down when you said you would.
      I follow the instructions used in numbers 5–9 of the "Crash Course" on implementing Lecture Tutorials, adjusting accordingly for this particular activity.
  • [12:20-12:40] Debrief.
    I do go over the answers to most of this, definitely all of the true/false questions and then I choose a subset of others that I know are especially important for setting up our class culture and/or for their upcoming syllabus quiz. But...I have them tell me the answers and require everyone's participation ("That wasn't enough of you; let's try that again.") before clarifying, repeating, and moving on. This is also the place to discuss and explain the course philosophy in the context of those questions and answer their other questions (including questions about me – it's only fair since they're paying me and trusting me with this part of their education). It's important for them to understand that they must initiate the conversations and any questions after they've prepared accordingly and experience it for themselves: I am not the provider of information; I will help you work it out for yourself, however, after you've done the background prep. They need to get used to this if they're going to remain in the class.
• [12:40-12:55] Think-Pair-Share (TPS) training and implementation.
  As we're wrapping up the debrief and discussion, I'm handing out an ABCD card and explaining what we're going to use it for. I show them how to fold it and give them a brief run-down of the process and rules (see the "Crash Course" on implementing TPS). Then we do two TPS questions: one that I expect most everyone to get correct and another that they probably won't do very well on. The first one allows me to implement action plan #8.a. in the TPS "Crash Course" while the second one is leading up to a demo Lecture Tutorial, where I'd be on item #2.b. of the "Crash Course" on that page.
• [12:55-13:15] Do a sample Lecture Tutorial (LT).
  • [12:55-13:05] "Get out your Lecture Tutorial workbooks and turn to page 113."
    Since it's only the first day, there's been no real prep work, and many won't even have their LT workbook yet, we won't be doing a tutorial that is truly meaningful in terms of the course content. But that's okay. Remember, this one is about giving them an authentic experience in what it will be like in this class each time so a demo works just fine in this situation. The "Sun Size" LT is perfect for this since the content is relevant yet all the background one needs is to know that we live on planet Earth, Earth has a Moon that orbits it, and the Earth-Moon system orbits our star, the Sun. Most folks have at least that much knowledge even if they don't really understand the 'how' and 'why' of it.

    • This shows the ones who didn't do their homework in terms of getting materials prior to the first class that they need to step up their game in terms of preparedness. And everyone sees that this workbook is important because they're already using it on DAY 1. I also take the opportunity to remind them (since we should have covered it already in the Scavenger Hunt) that we'll be using this workbook every day. If they don't have theirs, they must write out the questions and answers so they'll have them to practice with.
    • I follow the procedure for implementing LTs as indicated in the "Crash Course" guide on that page. The only difference is that I don't really care whether we get finished with it. Sure, that's the goal. But if I'm running a little short on time, it's okay; I just proceed as normal and then cut them off to allow for the debrief explanation. If I have to cut them short I make sure to tell them that it's okay because that particular LT actually isn't one that will be on their tests; I just needed them to see how things are going to work.
  • [13:05-13:15] Debrief the LT and do TPS wrap-up.
    If we've finished the LT I proceed with explaining the debrief process (see item # 10 of the implementation "Crash Course") and then we actually do it (ask them for "questions about the questions"). If I have to cut off the LT early because of time I simply explain the process and give them an example of something they might ask. Then we either do a wrap-up TPS question or two (see item #12 of the "Crash Course" on LT implementation) or if I had to cut them off for time, I explain what we would do so they can be assured they'll know whether they're now on the right track.

When class is over, I thank them for coming, tell them I'm looking forward to the next class period, and remind them about logging in to the CMS, what to bring, and what's due (like the syllabus quiz). I also collect the Student Questionnaires (see the materials on the "Class" page) as they are leaving. Make sure to read the questionnaires before you meet that class again! Save the first few minutes of that next class to handle any new questions and comment on the interesting and curious things they'll tell you in those questionnaires. And if it's an online class, I make a short video addressing their questionnaires so they know I read them and am trying to learn who they are because it matters.

• The First Day of Class from Cornell University's Center for Teaching Excellence
• First Day of Class – Recommendations for Instructors from the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative
• First-Day Questions for the Learner-Centered Classroom by Gary Smith, in the National Teaching & Learning Forum
• First Day "Boards" Activity
  For literally years I used to do a version of this activity on the first day in every class. I like it just fine and was happy with the interaction. I just found that I wanted something a bit more specific to our course; hence, the play-by-play above. But if I needed to, I'd fall back on this without reservation. Thanks, Erin, for posting this so long ago!
• "Reverse-Engineering Your Course" presentation at the 2010 CAE Southwest Regional Teaching Exchange