Great post. I do a lot of focus groups with students, and I hear all the time about problems mismatches between student expectations and instructor expectations for a course.

I like the use of the Ricky Gervais video. I think it's important to actually "do" class on the first day of class, to give the students a sense of what the classroom dynamics will be throughout the semester. I avoid spending the entire first day talking about the syllabus, instead making sure to have the students deal with some actual math problems in small groups and class discussions.

I'd like to add some context to that image: I am the handsome gentleman on the right. This was Halloween 2008, and I realized that it might be my last and only chance to punk dr. jones as his student. His class I was taking with him at the time (cyberpunk) lined up perfectly with 8/31 (a friday). A few days before, I got a friend to shave my head bald, and spent a few days using my extensive acting training to mimick him down to a T (Seriously, my Jason impression is disturbing). I got to class a few minutes early and begun teaching a lesson (about zombies if I recall). When Jones arrived, I recall the students suddenly looking terrified and Jason being curious why 'he' was at the front of the room already.

By Far, it was the scariest thing I have ever dressed up for.

My 1st class is always an honest (and sometimes brutally honest) run down of what I expect from the students. In turn, I'm very honest about what they should expect from me - there is a strong overtone of the class being a social contract between me and my students. A "Look, if you do, X, Y, and X, I'll do A, B, and C" kind of thing.

All of my class websites (I don't actually use paper syllabi) also have what I call my Classroom Courtesy Manifesto (which follows):

Classroom Courtesy Manifesto

The classroom is a community, and, as such, the instructor requires that the students must follow several basic guidelines:

• Cell Phones : The instructor has a strict no cell phone policy (this includes pager’s and PDA phones) during class time. If you have a cell phone, be absolutely sure that it is turned off during class. If any student engages in a phone discussion during class, they will be immediately asked to leave.
• Late Arrival : The instructor understands that there are often unpredictable events that prevent students from arriving to class on time. If this is the case, please be respectful of others, and enter the class as quietly as possible.
• Departing Early : It is extremely rude and oftentimes disruptive to both fellow classmates and the instructor when students leave early without a genuine reason. If you know in advance that you are going to be forced to leave the class early, be absolutely sure that you take a seat as close to the exit as possible so that when you do leave, your departure will cause a minimum of disruption. It also doesn't hurt to tell teh instructor in advance that you are going to be leaving early.
• In Class Talking : It is extremely important that all students respect their peers (as well as the instructor) and refrain from any unnecessary disruptive talking during class. The instructor encourages an open environment in which everyone has a right to express their own opinions and ideas. However, everyone should be able to do so without having to talk over any of their peers in order to be heard.
• Portable Music Devices : Under no circumstances are students allowed to use portable music devices (MP3 players, CD Players, etc.) during class. You come to class to listen and learn. If students are observed using portable music devices when the lecture starts, they will be asked to put the device away. If they persist on using the device, they will be asked to leave the class.
• Portable Video Game Systems : Under no circumstances are students allowed to use portable video game systems (GameBoy, etc.) during class. If students are observed using a portable video game system when the lecture starts, they will be asked to put the device away. If they persist on using the device, they will be asked to leave the class

While many students (and even some fellow faculty) might feel that this establishes a tone which treats students like they are in high school, I think its really important to firmly state my expectations from the word go.

I was just going to leave a comment along the lines of what Derek writes:

[I]t's important to actually ‘do’ class on the first day of class, to give students a sense of what the classroom dynamics will be throughout the semester.

I don't do this on the first day as often as I should, but given that my first class starts in less than 48 hours, it's time for me commit to my first-day strategies.

Like Jason, I teach in an English program, and so if it's a literature course, sparking discussion by passing out a photocopied poem, say, is a good strategy. And discussion should not just be "So... what do you think?" but rather something like "Let's talk about what's going on with (the rhyme scheme | diction | meter | imagery)..."

By contrast, if it's a first-year composition course, I might ask students to discuss their preferred (strategies | locations | tools) for writing and to acknowledge that writing is a process, not just a product. We'll be spending as much of the semester talking about writing-as-process (brainstorming, research, talking, drafting, revising, editing, revising, research) as about writing-as-product (formatting the pages, formatting the citations, grammar, syntax, punctuation, paragraph structure, essay structure).

Furthermore, a big part of what's going on that first day is setting a tone for the classroom environment as well as allowing the students to get a sense of who the instructor is as an instructor (and to some extent, as a person). In my experience, different demographics of students need different things on that first day.

First-year students are often quite nervous on their first day, and many of the desks in my classrooms have first-generation college students in them. They're almost all still teenagers, and they don't necessarily display their nervousness in helpful ways: I work to think of eye-rolling, giggling, txting, or passing notes not as signs of disrespect (on that first day, anyway) so much as signs of needing reassurance and community. I was nervous as hell when I started college, and I try--though I don't always succeed--to remember that and to empathize. The persona that I present to them on that first day is going to set the tone for the semester, and it will perhaps affect whether they decide to stay in college or decide instead that they don't belong.

On the other hand, students in a literature course are more likely to be older, to be somewhat confident, to be English majors (and thus, skilled at analysis and interested in language and literature), and to have taken a class with me before in our relatively small program. This doesn't mean that they're not going to be nervous, but it does mean that I don't need to do quite as much work to reassure them that, yes, they belong in my classroom and they belong in college and I'm glad that they're here.

However, I recognize that my approach is probably not for everyone and that situations will vary from campus to campus, classroom to classroom.

In particular, it's important to acknowledge that because I'm a man, students are less likely to expect me to be empathetic than they would be if I were a woman. Gender plays a huge role in student responses to an instructor, and so a woman might need to spend that first day establishing her authority instead of taking the approach I describe above.

Your mileage may vary.

I agree with Delaney on the importance of setting expectations up front. I also very much appreciate the balance she has; we have the obligation to sell a course (or, rather, sell engagement in the course as well as explain expectations). I have known some faculty who are either on the edge or on the wrong side of the line between being honest, on the one hand, and trying to scare students out of the class, on the other. My way of putting it generally runs as follows: "You need to balance your obligations, now, at the beginning of the semester. If you think about your work, your classes, your family, or other obligations, and it doesn't fit into the hours available this semester, drop something. Don't drop this course--stay here! But figure out how to make it fit."

Great post -- I think it's critical to focus on 3 or at most 4 things you want to do or focus on, especially on the first day when time has to be taken up with enrollment rosters etc. And when going over course policies, I always try to remember to cover the most important things in at least two modes (for visual and auditory learners). Just handing over the contract syllabus isn't going to reach everyone sufficiently.

Like some of the other commentators, I believe it's essential to "do" class on the first day. It's tempting to run through the roster and syllabus and then let students out early. That's a huge mistake.

Once the bureaucratic stuff is wrapped up, I like to present my class a "problem" that they work on collectively to solve. For instance, in a recent class on postmodernism, I divided the class into five groups and had them rotate through five "stations" spread throughout the classroom, each one containing some arguably postmodern artwork, literature, music, photography, etc. After visiting all the stations, each group had to craft a definition of postmodernism based on the examples they had seen. There's nothing like some inductive reasoning right up front to set the tone for the rest of the semester.

One thing I probably should've mentioned is that most of my classes are 50 minutes, and we get a fair amount of movement in add/drop.

Plus, as is clear from the link, I have sort of fetishistic expectations about what it means to read something closely, and so, for me, it's a bit of a fallacy to hope to have class proper on the first day.

(When I teach once-a-week courses, by contrast, I always pre-assign some material, and so we can have a proper class for ~90 minutes after doing syllabus+roster+first principles.

Ah, yes, the length of your class really shapes what you can do on the first day. Mine are typically 75 minutes, which gives me a bit of breathing room.

Thanks for the link! I like the idea of telling stories and/or showing an interesting and funny video the first day-it starts the process of getting the students engaged in the class. Have a great semester everyone!

It was how to kill zombies, since you didn't like all of us sitting in the corner.

It was definitely the best costume I saw all day.

I'm completely guilty of doing a "throwaway" first class. I do spend a lot of time going over expectations in detail - so that students know what they are getting into and can bail on the class if they want. I also usually provide some context for the topic itself. So, for instance, one of my classes this semester is The History of the Modern Comic Book. In the first class, I'm going to talk about why comics are important, what makes comics unique, and talk about the socio-historical framework we'll be using during the class. So, it isn't exactly "lecture," but I'm providing a foundation for the rest of the class material.

I agree with setting expectations right away. You don't want students to be surprised later in class when it gets tough. To be blunt, I'd rather look like an ass on the first day and weed out the students who could cause problems than be an ass the whole semester. I want the students who will work and not disrupt class, and the only way to do that is by coming out strong on day 1.

I'm sure there are profs out there who are the opposite so their classes stay packed. They want overload pay or just to look good. In the end, they do themselves and the subject a disservice as the course and the professor get bad student evals.

I'm teaching a comics course as well this semester (for the first time), and in addition to covering those bases you mentioned, I'm going to bring in some comics for them to browse and discuss "How to Read a Comic Book." Now, we're going right into Scott McCloud for the next week after that, but I heard this suggestion at a panel at San Diego last month and I loved it. This way, it'll get various anxieties (e.g., about comics' unavoidable sexism) and misperceptions (e.g., that this will be "easy" since comics are perceived as "easy") right out on the table from Day One.

Since my classes are 75 minutes, I have ample time -- I teach Film History, and before I even get to the syllabus, I do an activity where I take a recent film that most of the class has probably seen, or at least heard of....Spring Semester it was Paul Blart, this time I might use Transformers or The Hangover. Then I go through all the different ways you can look at the film -- as an industrial product, as a text, as a study for audience reception, as a marketing tool...and what sorts of cultural capitol was necessary to 'understand' the film -- how it was linked to pre-sold products, whether that be toys or stars, whether or not its cultural references translated internationally, what its potential for ancillary sales might be, etc. I basically make a giant web of signification on the board, then ask "How will this film be mentioned in a Film History class fifty years from now?"

The goal is to show them that Film History isn't just about old films, but about the ways that we study and think about films today. That it's multi-pronged -- something I emphasize throughout the course -- but that by understanding where we came from, we can better understand films today, which is what they all want to do anyway. It also incites a lot of discussion -- they're quick to talk about such recent films -- and makes for a vibrant first day.

Heh . . . Paul Blart: That movie left my 6-yr-old saying he wanted to be a "mall cop" for about a month.