• Get out relevant logistical info that students want/need to know. This includes handing out a syllabus.
• Break the ice, warm up the students to section, and get students participating with each other and you.
• Set the tone and atmosphere that will persist throughout the semester.
  • (This means using the same techniques you plan to employ later.)
• Implement effective teaching techniques from the start, including good boardwork and question taking.

• Give GSIs an idea of how a first day should feel like
• Show GSIs first hand what peer-instruction techniques are like – “get a feel for it”
• Highlight the ways in which the classroom atmosphere can be set on the first day of section
• Isolate effective teaching practices
• Give examples of ice-breaking/first-day activities (should be fun, and somehow related to the rest of the semester, through content or otherwise)
• Point out the resources they can use to plan section
• Help them create a section syllabus and a first day lesson plan
• Think critically about what teaching means to them, what do they want out of this class and their teaching experience

8/22/16, 2-4pm

(5 min) Introduce us and “class” (5 min) Go over fake syllabus (10 min) What’s in the Box Activity • In groups, come up with 3 experiments you can do on the box. Box is indestructible and sealed. You must be able to perform these experiments in class. • Carina and Jason roam around and seed questions (“what do you learn by doing that?”). • Each group performs one of the experiments . • As a class, decide what’s in the box. Open box and find out. (5 min) Get in a circle and discuss what happened. • What did you experience? What did you learn? Were there any misconceptions introduced? How was group work implemented? (5 min) Discuss/brainstorm other first day activities • Horoscope debunking • History of Universe timeline/calendar • Sizes of planets • Distances of planets (5 min) Feedback notecards

(15 min) First Day Plan • Assign homework • Remind them of the lesson plan and syllabus • What is a learning objective? • Point towards EBRB and resources • Where are the demos? What demos do we have?

(5 min) Break

(55 min) Board work

HOMEWORK: • Draft syllabus • Draft first-day lesson plan: does it meet your learning objectives?