Happy first day of school. Let’s try to make a better world, shall we?
Make Peter proud today. For the kids of Ferguson, MO, for the Jackie Robinson West kids and their families, for everyone with grief this morning, and everyone with joy…teach somebody something today, huh?
Teach ’em up!
Next up! is a regular feature on Sundays, showcasing HWC (and beyond) events in the coming week. Send notice of upcoming events that you want publicized to me (drichardson2@ccc.edu). Use the “Comments” section to provide updates, additions, and corrections!
Can you smell that “first day of school” fear? It’ll be around all week. Don’t forget to cover the three things students really want to know on the first day of class (according to one study at least): !) What to call you; 2) What the class/subject is about; and 3) What they will have to do to get their grade. Oh, and one more bit of unsolicited advice: in addition to starting the process of learning the students’ names, I have found it important to start the process for students learning of each others’ names. It’s not enough for me to know all their names; they have to know each others’, too.
Add your own first-day advice in the comments. Thanks, in advance for it.
Monday, 8/26: First day of classes for Monday/Wednesday classes!
Tuesday, 8/27: First day of classes for Tuesday/Thursday classes!
Wednesday, 8/28: First day of classes for Wednesday only classes!
Thursday, 8/29: First day of classes for Thursday only classes!
Friday, 8/30: First day of classes for Friday only classes!
Saturday, 8/31: First day of classes for Saturday classes!
For the first day/week of classes, I mean…
Next up! is a semi-regular feature on Sundays (or thereabouts), showcasing HWC (and beyond) events in the coming week. Use the “Comments” section to provide updates and additions!
Welcome to week 1!
Monday, 8/20: First day of M/W and Monday only classes;
Tuesday, 8/21: First day of T/Th and Tuesday only classes; CAST Meet and Greet (2pm, rm 1046);
Wednesday, 8/22: First day of Wednesday only classes;
Thursday, 8/23: First day of Thursday only classes;
Friday, 8/24: First day of Friday classes;
Saturday, 8/25: First day of Saturday classes.
Everything else goes in the comments!
Next up! is a regular feature on Sundays, showcasing HWC (and beyond) events in the coming week. Use the “Comments” section to provide updates and additions!
Welcome to week 1!
Monday, 8/22: First day of M/W and Monday only classes;
Tuesday, 8/23: First day of T/Th and Tuesday only classes;
Wednesday, 8/24: First day of Wednesday only classes;
Thursday, 8/25: First day of Thursday only classes;
Friday, 8/26: First day of Friday classes;
Saturday, 8/27: First day of Saturday classes.
Everything else goes in the comments!
I have literally startled multiple fellow faculty members in the past week upon stating that I would be posting my course outline (a.k.a., syllabus) on Blackboard for students, taking a quick survey in class on opening day to gauge familiarity (doing a “how to get on Blackboard demo” as necessary) and NOT passing out paper versions to students.
One colleague said that he was told, years ago now, but still, that he was required to hand the students a course outline. Others have been surprised, but not opposed. “How does that work?” they’ve asked. “So far so good,” I say. I did it last semester, too. In most of the classes, I’ve had one or two students say they were not familiar with Blackboard. Today one class had seven–by far the highest, so I did a quick demo in class, and told them, as I tell the rest, that reading it is their first assignment and they’d have a quiz on it on Wednesday.
I’m sure I’m not alone in this, right? Surely others out there make their course outlines available online rather than hand them out…right? Either way, today’s teaching question on this second first day of school is as follows: what do you do with your course outlines, and why? How do students get them and what’s your justification for not doing it differently?
The Harold Lounge 