Last week we discussed ways to establish presence in your classroom and allow your students to get to know you. This week we will talk about ways to get to know your students, as well as help them know each other.
Attendance:
If you use a sheet to have people sign in, you can include a question by their name, such as, “What is your favorite hobby?” You could also do this digitally (face-to-face and online) using Top Hat. Change the question each week. As the semester goes on, consider questions that connect with the subject that you teach, such as, “Which app has the best user interface?” and start the next class out by inviting students by name to share what they like about the interface.
Surveys:
“I have decided to reply personally to every student’s survey. For a class of 300+ students, this has been time consuming, but well-worth it. To cut down on the overall time to reply to the students, I wrote a Python script to scrape the student information from the survey data and populate a set of quasi-form letters to send out. I go through each response and add a line or two that specifically refers to the students’ comments, and then have another script that sends the emails in bulk”. – Chris Gregg, Your First Year Teaching Computer Science: A Practical Guide to Success for New Computer Science Teachers (p. 32)
Some information you can collect from your students before the course starts. For example, you can print out the Photo Roster https://toolfinder.iu.edu/tool/iu-photo-roster. If you send a letter to students welcoming to the course prior to the start of class, you can ask them to complete NameCoach: https://kb.iu.edu/d/appu so you know how to pronounce their names. You can also provide them with a survey through Google Forms: https://uits.iu.edu/services/accounts-and-email/google Qualtrics https://uits.iu.edu/qualtrics or Canvas as a non-graded survey: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-create-a-survey-in-my-course/ta-p/782 to find out the following:
- The reasons why they signed up for the course and what they are most looking forward to learning. What challenges do they think they will have with the course content? Do they need reasonable accommodations? https://studentaffairs.indiana.edu/student-support/disability-services/get-help/accommodations/index.html
- What are their goals after graduation and how will this course help them achieve their goals?
- If applicable, the reason why they might need to arrive late or leave early to your course. This can help with possible seating logistics and minimize possible future disruptions.
- Fun questions help to get to know students such as: If a song played when you entered the room, what would that song be? If you won one million dollars, what would you do first?
- If you are teaching a new course, find out what relevant information and skills they bring to the course. Depending on how many students are lacking certain knowledge or skills, you might choose to:
- tell them how they can bridge the gap on their own
- decide to devote one or two classes to a review of important foundational materia
- if possible) offer review session ran by your AI
- contact Tiana Iruoje: tiwillia@indiana.edu to see if Luddy Tutoring services may be able to provide supports.
The Center for Teaching Innovation at Yale notes, icebreakers have several benefits in the classroom. They can:
- Help to create a relaxed environment where students share ideas and participate more fully in the class.
- Encourage students to share ownership for the learning environment of the class.
- Build rapport among students and foster a productive learning environment.
- Prepare students for collaborative group work.
This article provides programming specific icebreakers that can be used in first year courses: https://peer.asee.org/fun-innovative-computer-science-activities-for-the-classroom-and-outreach.pdf Contact me if you would like more general icebreakers or help with any of the ideas mentioned in this email.
Next week we will conclude this series on the first day of classes by discussing how to set the tone for your course through reviewing the syllabus and/or previewing the format of the course.
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