Classroom jitters
I am quickly approaching my 4th year as an instructor and I still have classroom jitters for about the first 5 minutes of a new class. I am an extreme introvert so it takes me that 5 minutes to remind myself that they are here to listen to me regardless what I have to say. After that... I am good to move on. Not sure how many others still experience this.
I like to do introductions on the first day of class so everyone can get to know each other a little bit, but with the big question of why they chose this career field and what are their current goals upon finishing school. This tends to get the students more comfortable with each other and with me. I always start with myself, which tends get the students to open up more.
Amanda,
Good example and one that makes a lot of sense for us instructors to consider. We need to have that building anticipation that we are going to do a great job in class that day and then when the lesson starts to come together and you know you have nailed it, it is like going down the first big drop. Wheeeeeeeew! This is what makes teaching fun.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I also like having that feeling of "oh jeez, here we go." It is almost like being on a roller coaster, getting over that first drop. If I didn't have this, I would wonder if I was going to actually give it my all as a instructor.
KEVIN,
Thank you for sharing these opening class strategies with us. I know they will be of value to us all. The majority of us have a hard with remembering names so the more ideas we have about how to do that the better we will be getting it done. The results being students feeling like they are being respected for being in the class and more excited about interacting with their instructors.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
While working toward my AS degree, many of my professors have taken a little bit of time on day one to do some form of an introduction with the entire class. Some examples are; list your name, town, and a favorite food; or name, town, and something about yourself that nobody would ever guess; my favorite name, town, 2 truths and 1 lie about yourself, then as the teacher I read the three and ask the class to choose the lie.
The idea has been to have an ice breaker between yourself and the students, your not the only one with first day jitters. The idea of using a name is obvious, the town I use so students can identify who in class my live close by; this is helpful for car pools and study groups. The question part can be anything you choose, the goal is to help students bond or relate to one another. This open forum lets students hear things they may have in common with each other. For example when students are asked to pair up, the students with common interest almost always partner up.
The other thing that it does for me as the instructor, is it gives me something to help remember their names and something about them. I struggle with remembering my students names. Sometimes it takes me two weeks to learn 20 new students. This will help me with association and name recognition.
Not all of my professors took the time to do this, but the ones who did had the entire class engaged, relaxed, and interacting with 30 mines of class, and from what I could tell, the students were much more comfortable in the class sooner than the other classes.
I'm not sure if this is the best approach, but it is often a lot of fun for everyone.
John,
I still have a case of the nerves and I have been teaching for over thirty years. I kinds like the nerves to show up because they remind me that I am still taking seriously my responsibility as a learning leader and that I need to bring my A game to class no matter how long I have been teaching. Keep up the good work and continue your effort to impact the lives of your students!
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
