Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Teaching Tips For Your First Day In Class

By Ida Dorsey


It is only natural for teachers to think about how they will handle their first day in class. After all, they have to ensure that they are doing a good job right from the get go. They have to be acquainted with the students as soon as possible and be seen as a respectable instructor. To achieve this, here are some teaching tips that can be of great use to you.

First, you have to create a strategy on how you want the first day of classes to go. This basically means that you need a plan on the things that you will actually do for the first day. There are many things you can do on the first day like class introductions, explaining the course coverage, or even giving out class materials.

Do not be late on the first day. When you arrive early, you can interact with the students a bit before the actual start of the class. If you give off the impression that you are someone who is willing to interact with his or her students, then you can improve the class participation. The whole class will also ask more questions.

Introducing yourself is a given. Even if you are the teacher and you have the students in a subordinate-like relationship, you should have the courtesy to treat them as humans and introduce yourself. Introducing yourself means letting yourself be known to your students and allowing them to know what you do.

Make the course material more interesting. This is so that you, as a professor, can create an interest within the students about the course material. If they are interested in the course material, they will participate in class. To make the course material interesting, try using current issues or applications with it.

Set the day right by using a positive tone. There is no need to use scare tactics on the first day. You should also try to avoid using a reign of terror when you are trying to get to your students. Instead of that, you should give off the impression that you are there to guide the students. The students will really appreciate that.

You have a lot of teaching methods available for you to use. It is entirely up to you to decide which of these methods are suitable for the class or you are comfortable using. When it comes to these methods, they may be focused discussions, brief lectures, group works, or activities for the whole class.

Open an opportunity for these students to ask you questions. The questions they ask may be about their learning materials you are about to cover for the whole semester or may be about the topic discussed on that day. When you let them ask questions, they will definitely be able to participate more in class and understand lessons better.

Of course, these are not the only recommendations that you can use when you want to teach the class properly right from the start. There are certainly other helpful guides you can follow. With these tips, it should not be a difficult task for you to start getting along with your class right from the get go.




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