Starting Strong: Setting the Stage for Meaningful Student Interaction Nicole Gray and Rachel Mudge Foothill College Faculty
Nicole’s Story Where I grew up My college experience My teaching history
Rachel’s Story Where I grew up My college experience My teaching history
Our work with Carnegie Statway and Quantway Development Data Collection Starting Strong Mindset Belonging Instructors caring
Week 1 of the quarter Day 1 Part I – getting to know you Then Call roll from front of the room Review the syllabus Now Take role by walking to each student Getting to know you
Two Truths and a Lie Rachel I ride motorcycles I’m fluent in French I belong to a circus group Nicole I road my bike 200 miles in one day I ran the San Francisco Nike women’s marathon I trained with an Olympic Luger.
Week 1 of the quarter Day 1 Part II –safe classroom Rachel Call out the anxiety in the room boil down the syllabus to two rules Nicole Valuing non-algebraic solutions Modeling responding to wrong answers
Week 1 of the quarter Day 2 – classroom flow Rachel Forming groups Expectations for working in groups Nicole Describe the class flow Explain the different types of assignments
Week 1 of the quarter Day 3 – Mindset the activity Read an article about how the brain works They answer questions about the article Write a letter to a friend Return to class for a difficult task
Why is the first week so important?
The Benefits after Week 1 The students will… share their thinking exceed your expectations work hard be more self aware persist
Subsequent weeks: Week 2+ Rachel Mindset reminders Addressing anxieties Nicole Interactive lectures Assignment corrections
Routine Types of s Absentee Weekly updates Responding to student questions etiquette Quick responses Motivating content Don’t take it personally
The Drawbacks You will… know more about your students than you feel comfortable with work hard in the classroom hours You might initially feel… like a new teacher tired uncomfortable out of control
Thank you!