HUMS staff blog update, September 2, 2019

ITEMS:

Harwood Meetings for Sept.

September

September 3 - TA Meetings (HUMS will meet in the Gallery)

September 10 - Shared Staff

September 12 - Open House - HS and MS

September 17 - Dept Meeting (HUMS will meet in the Gallery -

we will meet together first - then break up into Committees)

September 19 - LT/DH Meeting (Thurs)

September 24 - Faculty/LC (HUMS will meet in the Gallery)

1. TA meeting Agenda. I prepared a very draft meeting agenda for our TA time on Tuesday. I will connect with TA leads during the day on Tuesday to strengthen the agenda and focus it on needed work. We will meet in the gallery area. Here is the link to the agenda: HUMS TA meeting 9/3/19

2.  Picture and Poem needed - don't forget to turn in a pic of yourself (or have me take one) and your poem from in-service for the HUMS staff board.  

3.  Reminder:  Open House will be held on September 12.  We will open the evening by meeting in the HUMS gallery first.  It would be great to introduce all staff standing together for the evening's beginning.  I will read a brief written welcome to parents to start their evening.  Let's wear our HU grab for the evening!  

4.  SMART goals are due at the end of the month.  I have included the SMART goal like (two goals) in the link cloud that Lisa Atwood sent out last week.  

5.  Thank you for greeting students at the doors of your classrooms - it does make a difference for engaging our students as they wander in.  Remember that 8th graders come back to SDR around 12:33 and the 7th grade leaves the cafeteria around 12:35.   

1. How to Get Off to a Strong Start with Students, Part 1

            In this Chronicle of Higher Education Articlearticle, James Lang (Assumption College) says that students form lasting impressions of their teachers in the opening minutes of a course. “Their early, thin-slice judgments,” says Lang, “are powerful enough to condition their attitudes toward the entire course, the effort they are willing to put into it, and the relationship they will have with you and their peers throughout the semester. So that first class meeting is a big deal.” How can you make a positive impression and give students “a taste of the engaging intellectual journey they will undertake in the coming weeks”? Lang suggests these guiding principles:

            • Spark curiosity. Start by posing foundational questions such as, Why does this course matter? How does it connect to the outside world?Talk about what first hooked you on the discipline and make connections to what might fascinate students. Then and only then hand out the syllabus and show how upcoming learning experiences will address those deeper issues. 

            • Build community. “We teach human beings who are inspired by wonder, driven toward community, beset by fears and anxieties, and influenced in countless other ways by aspects of their lives beyond the purely cognitive,” says Lang. “For both you and your students, those emotions will be at a peak on the first day of the semester, and they can have a significant influence on what happens in your classroom.” Some basic steps:

-  Humanize yourself by telling about your own intellectual journey and using appropriate self-disclosure and humor. 

-  Greet each student as they come to class and get them talking about themselves.

-  Give students a chance to communicate with each other. This doesn’t have to be “the dreaded icebreaker,” says Lang; just have them chat in pairs or small groups. 

“The more comfortable the students feel with you and one another from the beginning,” he avers, “the more comfortable they will be participating throughout the semester.”

            • Get students doing cognitive work on Day One. Counterintuitively, it’s helpful to ask students to solve a problem or answer a question before it’s been taught. This challenges them to draw on prior knowledge, creates fertile ground for learning, previews what’s coming, and gives you a sense of what they already know. It’s also helpful to get students thinking about the course in metacognitive terms (without freaking them out by using the word metacognitive). What were the characteristics of the most engaging and least effective classes they’ve had in this subject? What learning strategies do they anticipate using in this class? What conditions will make them successful?

            • Be clear about expectations. Highlight key items in the syllabus, including required materials, quizzes and assessments, grading policies, visiting speakers, excursions, and key dates and deadlines. 

            • Learn about students. Study the class roster and ask students to introduce themselves via a discussion post, a short video, or an e-mail. “Being able to recognize and make connections with students on the first day will go a long way toward creating that strong sense of community in the course,” says Lang.

            • Check out the space. It’s a good idea to explore every angle of your classroom, conference room, or auditorium. Lang recommends standing at the front, writing something on the board, finding a horizontal space for materials, walking around the perimeter to check out sightlines, and sitting in a chair at the rear. All this will calm your jitters and give you a student’s-eye view of your teaching.

            • Check out the technology. It’s equally important to make sure you can independently connect your laptop, get Internet access, adjust video volume, and use response devices. 

            • Think about wardrobe choices. “Like it or not. students will notice what you are wearing and how you present yourself on the first day of class,” says Lang. Formal or informal? First name or “Doctor”? 

            Next week: Lang’s content-specific suggestions for English composition, history, mathematics, and psychology, and tips for learning management systems. 

“How to Teach a Good First Day of Class: Advice Guide” by James Lang in The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 24, 2019, https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/advice-firstday; Lang can be reached at lang@assumption.edu.