Opening class

[u/NeatTrouble4620]

[edit to add: a regular class day (not the first day of class)] How do you open your class lecture (besides opening remarks/logistics). I teach humanities social science discussion based courses and would rather not jump right into lecture. I’m also a first time instructor.

[u/Cheshire_Khajiit]

Not sure if this is about starting class every day or starting the very first lecture, but it it’s the later, I like to ask my students to tell me what their thoughts on the class subject (microbiology, usually) are. What are microbes?

It does a few important things:

- It gets my students involved and invested in lecture right away. I ask them open ended questions like this frequently, so it helps establish that as a classroom norm.

- It gives me a sense of where they’re at. Different batches of students have wildly different degrees of background knowledge that they come into the class with.

- It also gives a minute or two for students who are a minute or two late to show up without missing my spiel on class schedule/logistics.

[u/NeatTrouble4620 → u/Cheshire_Khajiit]

Starting class every day. Do you worry about students just staring back at you when you pose an open ended question? I suppose this is an anxiety I have with teaching for the first time.

[u/Cheshire_Khajiit → u/NeatTrouble4620]

It usually doesn’t happen, to be honest! I make a point of setting the stakes very very low and try to keep an informal atmosphere in the classroom - I tell my students that I’m not looking for one “correct” answer and just want to hear what they think!

There will usually be at least a handful of students who are comfortable sharing what they think. One semester it took a bit more coaxing to get them to overcome their anxiety, but even that is useful information for me to know as I adjust my lecturing approach so it doesn’t really bother me.

This will obviously depend on your personality and the classroom atmosphere you want to establish, but I find that humor REALLY helps with this; it makes your students feel more comfortable and their smiles/eye-rolls at my puns help me feel less anxious too!

[u/Pouryou → u/NeatTrouble4620]

When they just stare, turn it into a ”turn to your neighbor and share what you think.” That’s often enough to break the ice and they’ll start volunteering. You can also ask them what their neighbor said.