Spending time to go over the syllabus in detail.
I have found that, while not the most exciting way to spend the first day, it helps students a lot and can help me avoid future issues.
Hi Jose,
You are on point! The syllabus will smoothly guide you through the course.
Patricia Scales
The syllabus is like the operations manual for your course. It is very important from the beginning of the class to explain the goals, objectives, topics, and policies of the course. By doing this in the beginning of the course you will reduce problems later on.
I also review the Course Syllabus on the first day of each class. I give very clear details of each assignment, due date, and I include a rubric for each assignment that I ask to be attached as the last page of each written assignment. I return the rubric so the student is aware of where they earned and/or lost points. This has cut down tremendously on the amount of time I used to spend speaking with each student individually about their scores.
Hi John,
It may not be very exciting, but students are looking for rules, policies, procedures, deadlines, etc. to be discussed on Day 1.
Patricia Scales
