The first ten minutes are essential to the success of the course. Convince your students that this is the most exciting thing you can imagine. That you would rather be here, with them, than anywhere else, doing anything else. Let them know you are there for them. Together, you will have this great adventure.
My favorite day of the academic term is the first day, the moment I walk into the classroom and meet the students for the first time. I approach it with excited anticipation. It is a day of expectation. That first class session is magic.
Or not.
Established practice seems to be that the instructor should recite the syllabus. Remand the class to a set of rules, the letter of the law. Lines are drawn. The division of authority established. A list of "thou shalls" and "thou shall nots” is well-communicated.
Routine stuff. Standard operating procedure. In many circles, best practice.
Lost opportunity, is what I say.
When I walk into that first class session I challenge myself to lift everyone in that room above the routine. Push us into passion. Make contact. Start an adventure.
Seasoned instructors are rolling their eyes. I can feel it.
Still, even after a couple decades doing this I see the first class as a chance to create a space of discovery, a place where the topic—no matter the topic—comes alive. Teaching goes deeper than the lesson plan. The first class is an opportunity to show students what it means to live and work with passion, in a community.
An important goal of the initial class meeting is build relationships and a sense of community right away. Students are more engaged and perform better when they sense they belong. When they trust enough to become part of the process. When they own their learning.
A simple icebreaker or paired interview activity can help students make early connections with their peers, which is particularly important for those who may be less comfortable speaking up in a crowd. But instead of prompting the usual rote “tell us one thing interesting about yourself” in an icebreaker, ask your students “what does great teaching and learning look like to you?”
Get right down to it.
After all, that is the business of the day, right? That is what we are all here for. Let’s get it out on the table.
Establish a foundation of transparency and open-mindedness. Encourage meaningful interaction. Those early discussions can provide a safe space for students to ask questions, share their fears, and express what they hope to learn. As an instructor, you may learn quite a lot about your students’ past experiences in learning environments. Fears and biases. Reluctance and resignation. Enthusiasm and excitement. You can discover important stuff about your students very quickly, if you listen.
Like it or not, they bring those lived experiences with them into your classroom. Deal with it.
This kind of open dialog not only helps to align student goals with the course objectives but also signals that you are open to new ideas and that every student's contribution is valued from the outset.
In New Faculty Orientation sessions I ask new faculty what their plan for the first ten minutes is. What will be the first words out of their mouth? What will be the first meaningful interaction they have with their new students?
Most have no answer. Mumble something about the syllabus.
Not much of a plan.
Instead, do something different. Something outside the box. I like to talk about the final session of the term. Where we will be, as a class. What our collective learning will look like. Then track backwards through the topics of the course calendar, marking how each will contribute to the whole, when we are finished.
Syllabus, visited. Nobody saw it coming.
Don’t get me wrong on this. It is vital that we communicate expectations and accountability clearly. In any learning community there must be an agreed upon baseline of activity. And like it or not, we live in a metric-driven world circled by accrediting and regulatory agencies and institutional effectiveness reporting. That is all true, but none of that is what your classroom need be about. Be mindful of your context. But be deliberate in your teaching intention.
New faculty are often tasked with setting clear time lines for assignments, creating grading policies, and outlining classroom behavior guidelines. The first class is the perfect time to make these expectations visible and to provide a rationale for them, so that students understand the purpose behind the rules and see that they are designed to help them succeed, not to be a series of arbitrary hurdles.
Do you like it when arbitrary hurdles are cast in your path?
Probably not, because arbitrary hurdles really suck. Instead, take the time to show how these practices will guide your students in their work. If you are to have rules, make them worthy and useful.
The first day is an opportunity to model the pace, rhythm, and tone that you intend to maintain for the rest of the term. A class session that is dynamic and engaging from the very start can provide a clear and compelling example of how future sessions will unfold. You can use a paradox or an interesting question to get students talking, which not only sparks their intellectual curiosity but also models the kind of active, critical engagement you expect them to demonstrate in subsequent weeks. When students leave the first class with a clear sense of what a typical session will be like, they can better prepare themselves to meet those expectations.
Ultimately, the most effective way to engage students and capture their interest is to demonstrate your genuine passion for the subject you teach. Enthusiasm is a powerful emotional and social catalyst that can be contagious, sparking curiosity and increasing students' motivation to learn for its own sake rather than just for a grade. By sharing why the topic of the course is important to you and how it relates to the wider world, you help students see they are on an exploration of a field that they can find meaningful and exciting. When you let your passion be the driving force behind your teaching, you create a space that is not only a classroom but a community of shared interest, paving the way for a truly magical learning community.