Your First Lesson

Refer to your course outline and course plan, your class schedule or timetable, and the course resources you gathered earlier in this section to help you prepare your lessons. Recall that:

• Your Course Outline and Plan summarize the content, teaching and learning activities, and evaluations you are going to deliver in the course each week. 
• Your class schedule tells you when and how long each class is (e.g., one three-hour class vs. three one-hour classes) and where it will be taught (e.g., classroom, lab, kitchen, online), which will help you know how to structure your lessons. 
• Your course resources, such as textbooks, software, and equipment, are the source of the materials you and your students will use to support the teaching and learning activities.

If there are existing course materials available to you (e.g., lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, assignments, tests, grading schemes), your academic manager or Program Coordinator will provide them to you or direct you to where you can find them in your FOL Course. They will also let you know if or what changes you are allowed to make to those materials for this semester. 

Lesson plans are dynamic, time-saving documents used in curriculum design and teaching. There are three primary components to effective lesson plans:

1. Lesson learning objectives that align with the Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs).
2. Teaching and learning activities that will allow your students to achieve those learning objectives.
3. Evaluation methods, including non-graded activities (informal evaluations) and graded, formal evaluations to measure students’ achievement of the learning objectives.

Within every course, there should be alignment among the desired learning outcomes, the teaching and learning activities, and the evaluation methods used to measure achievement of the learning outcomes. In other words, 

To guide you in developing your lesson plans, Fanshawe College has a basic template and a comprehensive template that you can use. However, as long as you include the three key components (i.e. lesson learning objectives, teaching and learning activities, and methods of evaluation), you can structure or format your lesson plan however you want to (e.g., hand-written notes, Excel spreadsheet, presenter notes in PowerPoint). Indicating the timing of activities as well as a section for reflection or notes will help you in planning future lessons or this one if you deliver the same course again.

• Lesson Plan - Basic Template
• Lesson Plan - Comprehensive Template
• Lesson Plan Sample 1
• Lesson Plan Sample 2

For more information about developing lesson plans, including the teaching and learning materials and evaluations, refer to Chapter 5 of The CODE Book (v3), a comprehensive faculty-focused resource for course development. 

Arrive at the classroom or log in to your virtual classroom (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams) ten minutes early to give yourself time to set up and settle in before your students join you. This is especially important on your first day.

Part of your planning should also include that each scheduled hour of class represents 50 minutes of teaching and learning time. Also known as “the academic hour,” this allowance gives time for the changeover between classes or to have a break if necessary. Each additional class hour adds 50 minutes to the total contact time, where the remainder can be used for a break, or to dismiss earlier. For example:

• A 1-hour class scheduled from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm will start at 1:00 and end at 1:50.
• A 2-hour class scheduled from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm will start at 1:00 and end at 2:40, OR
• A 2-hour class scheduled from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm will start at 1:00, break from 1:50 to 2:00, and then end at 2:50.

The same guideline applies for longer classes. Your School, Campus, or Program Coordinator may suggest if there is a norm for your course. However, the rule must be followed of starting on time, spending the scheduled contact time in teaching and learning, and then always ending at least 10 minutes before the end time indicated on the class schedule.
 

Some programs and courses require attendance to be taken, but this is a good practice in all classes to keep track of student progress, encourage student engagement and responsibility, and foster more interactive student-teacher dynamics. While good attendance is strongly connected to higher scores in a course, note that marks may not be assigned for attendance (see Policy 2-B-10).

You can find the list of students currently registered in your course in FOL or in WebAdvisor:

• In your FOL Course, you can find the Classlist tool under the ‘Communication’ menu. It is also possible to create an Excel spreadsheet using the Grades tool under the ‘Evaluations’ menu, and then selecting the Export option.
• In WebAdvisor, the ‘Class Roster’ can be found under the ‘Faculty’ menu.

Be aware that your class list may change during the first couple of weeks of the semester as students adjust their courses during the add/drop period. If you have any concerns about your class list (e.g., a student attending class who isn’t on the list), contact the SIS Designate for your School or Campus.

FOL Help: Classlist
 

Introduce yourself to your students and tell them a bit about your professional experience as it relates to your course. You can also try an icebreaker to help students get to know one another. Plan some engaging activities to help alleviate first-day jitters (as new students can be stressed too) and to create a positive learning environment. The first class helps set the tone for the whole semester!

Show your students where they can find the Course Outline and Course Plan in your FOL course, and take a few minutes to review these documents, highlighting the key points such as the learning outcomes, major evaluations, due dates, and academic integrity. Also, establish expectations for communication and participation in the course. Tell your students what you expect from them (e.g., classroom behaviour/conduct, if you want them to e-mail you if they are going to miss a class, netiquette for discussion boards) and how you will communicate with them, including how quickly you will respond to e-mails and provide marks/feedback on evaluations.

Next, continue through the rest of your lesson plan. Your plan is a well-intentioned guideline, but you may adapt it or adjust your timing as needed if you find yourself going through the content too quickly or too slowly. It’s not unusual to occasionally need extra formative activities if students are struggling with a concept, or to have a fun challenge or extension “in your back pocket” for when students grasp a new skill quickly. Remember to provide opportunities for students to ask questions and for you to demonstrate that they are understanding the content you are teaching.

Finally, don’t forget to debrief, and reflect on how your first class went. Congratulations – you did it! Consider adding notes to the end of your lesson plan about the timing or what went well and what didn’t so that you can adjust this lesson the next time you teach it. Also think about changes, updates, or opportunities you can include in the next lesson before you need deliver it. Then rest, relax, and get ready for lesson 2…