Getting to Know you – vitalactivevibrant

Monday is the 1st day of class. I’m excited. I’m excited to get to know new people. I’m excited to get to know new faces. I believe it’s vital to start the courses as best as I can. I thought I would share what I’m going to do on the first day of class. Perhaps a few ideas you can use for your 1st day of the new semester. Perhaps you can make my 1st day even more vibrant with your suggestions. Education is a life-long process.

I want students to understand how important and vital to our success getting to know them is. So before any discussion about the course work, we start with this. I will display this and ask students to pick a question to answer. Depending on class size, I have everyone go at least twice, picking a question to answer. I will also record this so I can write this material down at a later time.

What’s your name, or what do you want to be called, and why?
What’s your catchphrase or word, and why?
What’s your nickname, and why?
You walk into the door, and your theme song plays what’s the song and why?
What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given, why is it the best piece of advice you were ever given?
What aspect of your personality adds the most value to the world, and why?
What’s the last movie that made you laugh or cry, and why did it evoke that emotion?
What is something you hate doing? And Why?
What is something you love doing? And Why?
Tell me the most insignificant fact about your life and why you are telling me this?

After this getting to know you exercise I will introduce my syllabus, which I have totally rebuild.

This is the front page which looks more like a flyer than a traditional syllabus.

I will not go over the syllabus. What I mean, I’m not to read the syllabus out loud. Instead I will break students into groups and they are going to go over the syllabus and answer the following questions about the course.

Welcome To Shawn’s Visual Storytelling Community.

Thank You For Joining Us This Semester.

We All Know That A Community Is Not Easy To Build.

It’s Essential To Survive This Semester.

I’d Like You To Look Over The Syllabus And Answer Some Questions.

You May Have To Jump Into Canvas To Find Some Answer Too.

What The Mission Of This Course?
How Does This Mission Relate Directly To You Or Your Group?
What’s Going To Make This Course Different From Other Courses?
How Do You Think You Will Demonstrating Learning Objectives?
Looking Over The Course Outline;
- What Topics Or Lesson Activities Are You Looking Forward To?
- What Topic Or Lesson Activities Do You See As Challenging?
In Your Own Words, How Will I Measure Successful Learning?
In Your Own Words, How Will I Measure Successful Teaching?
What Do You Think A Feedback-focused Approach To Assignments Will Look Like?
What’s Your Reasonable Time Of The Day To Take A Quiz?
There Are 5 Types Of Assessment Shown In The Wheel;
- Which One Do You Think You Will Accomplish The Most In?
- Which One Do You Think Is Most Challenging For You?
What Do You Think Is A Deep-dive-mentality For This Course?
What About My Career Do You Want Me To Incorporate Into Lectures?
What Do You Think ‘the Experience’ Will Be In This Course?
What Are The Biggest Obstacles You’ll Face This Semester?
How Can Your Teacher, Your Counselor, Your Advisor Assist You?
How Will We Measure Progress In This Course?
How Can We Share Our Success?