Get Your Students Hired
Ninette,
Buy in is critical for students. We need to show them that we respect them for who they are and that we are there to support them and their learning efforts. Knowing this helps the students to see that they can make progress in their career development as a result of the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Students want to be acknowledged and experience that you care about their success and wellbeing in and outside of the classroom.
I feel the teacher should set the example. If I'm positive maybe I can encourage the students to be positive too. I believe attitude is everything.
You want your students to have buy in. Being unorganized may cause anxiety in some students or student may think that is how the entire class will be. You want students to feel comfortable and informed and hopefully the instructor projects that also.
David,
This is a critical time because it is the foundation upon which the course will be built in the coming weeks. You are right it needs to be a positive forward focused first meeting.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Making a positive first impression lays the ground work for a successful course. If students have a bad first impression of you, they may not think your class is worth while and not an important part of their learning. It can affect future courses with them as well.
A positive first impression is important in any professional experience. This is what will stay in the minds of the students. If you are completely unorganized and ruffled on the first day of class this is the idea that sticks in their mind. It is important to portray yourself as a professional and responsible instructor.
It is important since most people form an opinion of you within the first 30 seconds of meeting you regardless of the circumstances. You can recover from a negative first impression, but the energy used to recover may take away valuable time.
First impressions are often lasting impressions. Once a student makes a decision about the instructor he/she is likely to hold on to that initial impression. When the impression is positive, students will be more eager to learn from this instructor, to respect him/her, to value the information and most important, they will want to do their best to succeed in the course.