Nerves before the first tutorial are normal, no matter how much you've taught or how much philosophical experience you have. Just remember: you know more than you think you do, and you know a lot more about philosophy than the students in your tutorials. So relax, be yourself, and come prepared.
The first tutorial is especially important for a number of reasons. First, it gives students a sense of who you are and what 12 weeks of classes with you is going to be like. It also allows students to get to know one another and to feel part of a group. This is essential for good discussions and group work.
So what to do in the first tutorial? In addition to any instructions from the course supervisor about course material to cover, you should also take a few minutes to introduce yourself, go over your policies, run through the roster, and to get to know your students, and for them to get to know each other. Here are three ice breakers you can use:
Self Introduction
As the title suggests, each student introduces him/herself to the rest of the class. Often, the TA will include suggestions, such as the student's major, why they're taking the course, favourite X. Comments: This method is the least preferable of those shown here, since many students are hesitant to speak in front of a class, and even more hesitant to speak about themselves. But it can be a good way to know a bit about the class and to get to know student names.
Pair Introduction
This is a fairly standard exercise, in which you divide the class into pairs and have each student interview the other (make sure each person interviews someone they don't know). You can suggest topics (for example, a favourite sport or comic, the best trip taken and why etc.) to start with or have them come up with their own questions. Keep the time period for interviews short (a few minutes is plenty), and make sure to tell them when to switch interviewers. Then, going around the class, have each person introduce their partner. Comments: This is an effective method for class introduction and provides an opportunity for students to get to know someone in the tutorial. It can be time consuming, though, and might not be the best choice if there is a lot to cover.
Speed Networking
For this exercise, students are asked to take part in a quick "mini networking" session where the goal is to try to introduce themselves to at least five (and ideally all) other students in the class. Introduce the exercise (some enthusiasm helps here), and then instruct students to stand up, move about the room, and to introduce themselves. It helps to provide students with a couple starting topics, such as their name, reason for taking the course, and favourite X. Different tutorials will respond differently, but the exercise is typically effective. Comments: This exercise is really good for promoting group cohesiveness and avoids speaking in front of a large group. It can be done in a short time (5 - 7 minutes), but it can get noisy.
Two Truths and One Lie
This is a fun way to get to know a bit about your students and takes about 20 minutes to complete. To begin, have students write down (in any order) two things that are true about them and one thing that is false. Be sure to remind students that everyone will hear what they write. Then, have a student read out their three "facts", and have the class vote on each one to try to determine the lie. Repeat for each student, including yourself. Comments: this is a fun way to learn students' names and for everyone to get to know a bit about everyone. Thanks to Carissa Phillips-Garrett for this suggestion.
It can be helpful to have a sense of who your audience is. You can do this, for example, through a showing of hands in response to questions like
These sorts of questions should give you a sense of experience and motivation for taking the course. The last two questions allow for a bit of reassurance and humour, and provide you with an opportunity to say a bit about the course and your interest in it. As an alternative to a showing-of-hands, you can have students write their answers (anonymously) to questions similar to the above (for example, "Why are you taking this course?"), and collect those answers for review later.
You should also try to get to know your students' names, if possible. This can often take half of the semester, but is well worth the effort. To help with this, you can use name cards (index cards (available from the supply cabinet) folded over with first names) collected and returned by you each week. This also allows students to learn each other's names. Handing back weekly assignments (low-stakes writing, logic exercises etc.) is also helpful for this. Taking pictures to help with names is not recommended.
Before the first tutorial:
During your first tutorial:
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