The Lecturer's Re-entry Plan: Designing an Encouraging First Week of Teaching

<p>Students have no idea how you teach until the first five minutes of the first session. They will take their cues from you: whether you rush, whether you wait, whether a question is welcome, whether you praise specifically or vaguely, whether you look at the screen or at them.</p> <h3>The ten-minute skeleton that works</h3> <ul> <li><strong>0:00-1:00.</strong> Name the session and its purpose in one sentence. Say what they will be able to do at 1:00 that they cannot do now.</li> <li><strong>1:00-3:00.</strong> State the structure: three parts, with the reason. Students tolerate any structure once they know it exists.</li> <li><strong>3:00-4:00.</strong> State the participation contract: how to interrupt, where questions go, that thinking time is protected.</li> <li><strong>4:00-8:00.</strong> The content. One idea, one example, one check.</li> <li><strong>8:00-10:00.</strong> The transition: how the next block connects, what they need in hand.</li> </ul> <p>Do this every session with the same shape. Repetition of structure is a kindness.</p> <h3>The moves that make a class yours</h3> <table><thead><tr> <th>Move</th><th>How to do it</th><th>What it buys you</th> </tr></thead><tbody> <tr><td>Wait time</td><td>Ask, then stay silent for 5 to 8 seconds, then repeat the question</td><td>Answers get longer and more accurate; silence stops meaning refusal</td></tr> <tr><td>Name-and-ask</td><td>Use a name, then a pause, then a full question: Maya, what would you try first?</td><td>Name recall grows; students begin to listen for their name</td></tr> <tr><td>One idea per slide</td><td>Slide states a claim; the claim is discussed; the next slide tests it</td><td>Nobody is left reading instead of listening</td></tr> <tr><td>Concrete example</td><td>Replace abstract exposition with one real case, one real artefact, one real number</td><td>Comprehension rises; the session stops feeling like a lecture about a lecture</td></tr> <tr><td>Silent writing</td><td>Every key question gets 60 seconds of writing before any talking</td><td>Produces thinking, and gives shy students a contribution they can then share</td></tr> <tr><td>Mistake modelling</td><td>Volunteer your own error once per week and diagnose it</td><td>Makes error a shared event; lowers the cost of being wrong</td></tr> <tr><td>Signposting back</td><td>Say we said, so now</td><td>Makes the structure visible; students can locate themselves in the course</td></tr> <tr><td>End with the next step</td><td>Name what they do before the next session</td><td>Converts a lecture into a loop</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h3>Silence is a diagnosis, not a personality</h3> <p>Diagnose before you change anything. Four common causes of silence:</p> <ul> <li><strong>They do not know the answer.</strong> Ask a question you have already taught. If still silent, teach it again in a different shape.</li> <li><strong>They do not trust the answer to be right.</strong> Give them permission: there is no wrong answer here, I want your reasoning.</li> <li><strong>They do not know the vocabulary of the answer.</strong> Accept the phrase they use, then upgrade it. Write it on the board and say this is the term for that.</li> <li><strong>They do not think you will stop.</strong> Offer written questions. Say that if you ask, you will stop and answer, always, even if it costs you time.</li> </ul> <h3>The slide deck is a support, not the lecture</h3> <p>If a student watches only the slides, they should still have the map. Put the map in the deck: the section title, the current point, and the next question. Keep the deck to what a student needs in hand.</p> <ul> <li>One claim per slide, in the slide title, not in a bulleted body.</li> <li>Under 60 words per slide; under 8 lines; under 30 words of yours per minute if you are reading it aloud, which is too many.</li> <li>Images that carry meaning, not decoration.</li> <li>The current position in the course visible in a corner or header on every slide.</li> <li>A handout version with the diagrams but not the bullets, so they can write on it.</li> </ul> <h3>Cold calling without injustice</h3> <p>You will need to call on people. In week one, call on people who have volunteered. From week two onwards, use a fair system and say that it exists.</p> <ul> <li>Use a random picker that everyone can see. Randomness is defensible; selection by eye is not, and students read the difference immediately.</li> <li>Allow pass. A genuine pass, no penalty, no follow-up. If nobody ever passes, the pass is fake and your system will not work.</li> <li>Start with preparatory questions. Ask what you would try before asking what the answer is.</li> <li>Follow up positively even when the answer is wrong: that is a good starting point, now what would rule it out.</li> <li>Keep a visible record of who has been called on. It converts a random draw from a lottery into a system, and students accept it faster.</li> </ul>