{"id":66266,"date":"2024-08-08T04:00:32","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T10:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ctl\/?p=66266"},"modified":"2024-08-08T09:23:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T15:23:27","slug":"planning-a-strategic-first-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ctl\/blog\/2024\/08\/08\/planning-a-strategic-first-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning a Strategic First Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_65458\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65458\" style=\"width: 691px\" class=\"wp-image wp-image--caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-65458\" src=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ctl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2024\/01\/BoiseState_21_22_018-300x155.jpg\" alt=\"Students walk through the Quad\" width=\"691\" height=\"357\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-65458\" class=\"wp-caption-text\" style=\"width: 691px\">Campus scenes, students, Bronco Welcome, John Kelly photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The first day of class offers an exciting opportunity to connect with your students, lay out the expectations that lead to a successful semester, and help students understand why your course matters to them. But what strategies can you use to do this besides the usual syllabus review? Here are five simple steps to incorporate for a strategic first day.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Create interest in the course<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know that your course is important, so you might assume that students automatically feel the same way. But be honest: you\u2019ve sat in a classroom before not knowing why the subject mattered at that exact moment, right? So how can you <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wiley.com\/en-us\/network\/education\/instructors\/teaching-strategies\/10-ways-to-engage-students-in-required-courses\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">build student interest<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in your course? Introduce the topic using real-world scenarios and applications, let students brainstorm ways this class will help them grow and reach their goals, and address the big questions the class will answer during the semester.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Offer opportunities for relationships to form<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.press.jhu.edu\/books\/title\/12146\/relationship-rich-education\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Relationship-Rich Education<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Peter Felten shares results of his research, which found that relationships are one of the best predictors of student success and satisfaction in higher education. To create relationships in your classes, incorporate ways students can start to get to know you and their peers. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ctl\/blog\/2023\/08\/04\/first-day-icebreakers\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Icebreakers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, small group activities, or a group photo for your Canvas home page are fun ways to start peer-to-peer connections. Introduce your subject matter background, your teaching principles, and share something about yourself that falls outside of academia.\u00a0 Want to know more about how faculty at Boise State are creating relationship-rich classrooms? <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ctl\/blog\/2023\/11\/01\/how-boise-state-faculty-build-a-relationship-rich-classroom\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Check out this blog post.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Establish expectations<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now we get to the syllabus review! To help students know they can be successful in your course, be sure that your syllabus clearly and transparently outlines the expectations you have for them, and the expectations students can have of you. And don\u2019t just talk about the syllabus on the first day; continue to refer to the syllabus throughout the course to remind students of the important contents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Assess prior knowledge<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Knowing what your students\u2019 knowledge base is, is very important in order to avoid miscommunication from the start. To gauge prior knowledge, identify the most important skills and knowledge that students need to bring to the class to be successful. Think about content information as well as learning skills, then develop a short survey that asks students about their confidence and experience regarding those skills and knowledge. Administer the survey and review the results before, during, or immediately after the first class session. If students show preparedness gaps, you can address them with supplementary material, video-recorded lectures, or an overview session to catch them up.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Give students time to ask questions<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The first day can be stressful for students and for you. Make sure to implement time for questions and reflections for a good start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For other first-day-of-class ideas, please check out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1F4Ge8vVX8RR_Zgtx-ZAn-AUEYD_o1vPHbrHeA_G_bB0\/edit?usp=sharing\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">this list of Fabulous First Day Activities<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> collected by the Boise State Center for Teaching and Learning. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Happy first day!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first day of class offers an exciting opportunity to connect with your students, lay&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2565,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interact","category-supporting-student-learning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - 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