The first days of class always create some nervousness, even for instructors! The first day of class can have a significant influence on students’ perceptions of the entire course. Instructors should have a mental checklist of goals accomplish so that both the instructor and the students leave the first class with the impression that the course is off to a positive start.
In his book, McKeachie’s Teaching Tips, McKeachie suggests the following four goals for the first day of class:
By the end of the first day, students will have:
1.
A sense of where they’re going and how they’ll get there
2.
A feeling that the other members of the class are not strangers, that you and they are forming a group in which it is safe to participate
3.
An awareness that you care about their teaching
4.
An expectation that the class will be both valuable and fun.
This tip sheet provides strategies that can help you meet each of these goals.
McKeachie, W.J., & Svinicki, M., et al. (2006). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Personalize the Learning Experience
-Welcome students to class – make it clear that you are looking forward to working with them
-Introduce yourself, including your background and interests and connections to the subject
-Make an effort to find out who the students are and their motivations, expectations, and interests

Setting the Tone
The first day is an important opportunity to model how you hope classes will proceed throughout the year. To set a tone that will encourage student engagement and success:
-Plan to use all of the time in your first class.
-Build a sense of community through active participation
-Describe how class time will be structured and what kinds of learning activities students can expect
-Clarify your expectations for students, including those for in-class behaviour and participation, preparation for class, assignments, and interaction with you and their classmates
-Explain the organization of the course
-Provide a brief overview or review of the material students must have already mastered in order to succeed in the course
-Introduce the subject matter of the course
Whet Students’ Appetites for Course Content
-Textbook title – have students individually list everything they think might be in the text based on its title. Students then find a partner to share their ideas. Ideas are then categorized and shared with whole group.
-Have student generate hypothesis about a typical problem in your course.
-Connect course content to current events – Bring in newspaper or magazine articles, blog posts, or web videos that relate to the course. By connecting your field to current events or pop culture, you demonstrate relevance which increases student motivation.
For additional teaching tips, contact:
Ann Barbour-Stevenson, Academic Specialist abarbour-stevenson@ucn.ca
204-627-8634
Building a Classroom Community
The first day is a good opportunity to get to know the students, and to have them get to know each other.
-Ask students to fill out information cards with their name and memorable detail
-Use flashcards to poll students about any anxieties they have about the course or university/college in general or about their current knowledge with the topics of the course
-Assess students’ prior knowledge
-Conduct an “ice-breaker” activity o Create a list of different interests or likes (eg. Love chocolate, have brown eyes, can speak more than one language). As you read the items, have students form and reform groups o Give students 15 minutes to write down all of the things that they enjoy doing. Then, identify each item as A (activity done alone), OP
(activity done with other people),
N5 (activity they weren’t doing five years ago), and $ (activity that costs money). Have students from dyads to discuss what they learned about themselves o Create a list of 5-15 interesting true-or-false statements related to the discipline or course. Ask students to discuss and decide whether each statement is true or false. Share and debrief with the large group. o Ask students to introduce themselves and share the last book they’ve read or describe their interest in the course or program