Todd Zakrajsek University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The first day of class is a great time to give the students a taste of what your course will be like and a sense of who you are as their teacher. A few weeks into the class is when you get settled into a rhythm and really start to get a better sense of who your students are as individuals. This, of course, will depend heavily on the size of your class. That said, even with classes of one hundred students or more you will see distinct personalities emerge. If your class is comprised of twenty or thirty students, then you should be able to really get to know them. In getting to know your students, it is important to consider the bias tha

Todd Zakrajsek, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The first day of class is certainly important, and much has been written about that critical first meeting with your students. Less is written about what to do the next day and the day after that. There is a period beyond the first day, yet before everyone is rolling along as a community of learners that is also of great importance. This blog is written to focus on the first first-four weeks of the course. When the first day of class comes to a close there is still a great deal of work to build a solid community of learners, to establish norms, develop mutual respect, and roll out content. Most importantly, the first four weeks of the