7 Surefire Ways to Beat the First Day of Class Jitters: Teacher Edition

As a student, you probably remember getting a little nervous on the first day of classes each semester. Or maybe a lot nervous! There were several times I distinctly remember, the Sunday before classes started, questioning what I was thinking to take the hardest combination of classes on the same semester. 

As teachers, we can empathize with our students because we’ve been through similar experiences. We make a great deal of effort on the first day to make students feel welcome and to begin community building right away. We always hope they leave a little less uncomfortable that first day, and maybe even have a class “friend” by the end of the week. 

What we talk about less, if at all, is that teachers get nervous, too! It’s not just students who have panicky thoughts about their class load and are worried about how the very first day of the semester will turn out. Sometimes I think I might actually worry more about it than my students. 

Teacher Panic: What Could Go Wrong? 

I’m not saying that everyone worries like I do. In fact, I hope they don’t! It’s a little silly, even to me. (Thanks, anxiety.) But, every semester, I always worry about what could go wrong. What I could accidentally do that would make things awkward that first day. What a student could say that catches me off guard just enough to unsettle me and make me lose credibility before class has even really picked up. 

I know I’m not the only one who has these thoughts. I have a lot of teacher friends, and am casual friends with many of my former professors. Most people I know who teach - college and kids - get anxiety right before the semester starts. Sometimes it even sneaks in with our excitement as we’re preparing for the semester. 

These are some of my worry points:

Building the course calendar. This has, admittedly caused less stress the longer I teach. I am going into my fourth year teaching college English, and this bad boy takes a long time, but is usually manageable if you have planned the class before. If you have not, the course calendar is very stressful! 

Last fall I taught a brand new class with more projects and objectives than ever before. It wasn’t just a new class, either. It was the first time I taught an essentially 3 hour class, and there were also at least 2 assignments I had never designed or taught before (and that I hadn’t done as a student until graduate school). Triple whammy = major stress. Trying to figure out the course calendar was awful, to say the least. 

Anxiety points: New class, new college/university, new/changed objectives or expectations, new length of class (50 min., 75 min., 2 hr. 50 min), required assignments & topics you haven’t taught before

Selecting the readings. This has always been the trickiest piece for me, even as I gain experience. When you create the course calendar, you select the readings, presumably for most of the semester. So, if you happen to change something (or derail), the entire course calendar becomes incorrect. 

Since I’ve taught at community college, I’ve met several people who present the first half of the course at the beginning and put up the second half later. This is a great idea! And I have used it in the past year. BUT. (There’s always a “but” with most solutions, right?) When you only plan the first half of the semester, you have to then go through the process again when planning the second half of the semester. 

I also like to be as inclusive of different voices as I can with readings, especially at the beginning of the semester. Not only does this increase engagement, but it also gives more students opportunities to relate to the readings. 

Finally, there’s the issue of the textbook. There’s always the worry about assigning book reading too early. Some colleges/universities let instructors choose, but at my institution we have one book for all required entry level English classes, plus a common read, if you choose to use it. As a student, I always purchased my books before the semester, as we often had reading for the first day in English; but, many of my students depend on financial aid, which sometimes isn’t available until a week or two after class starts. So some students will have the book that first week, but some won’t. 

Anxiety points: Too much vs. not enough, being inclusive, assigning textbook reading too early, students not having materials, readings won’t include enough talking points

Planning the first day. After you’ve done some longer term planning, it’s finally time to think about the first day! At least this is how I go about my beginning of semester planning. Hard stuff first, then fun stuff. Or what I think will be fun. But will students think it’s fun? As a teacher, you’ve probably encountered each end of the spectrum: the chatty-right-away group and the stone-cold-silent group. If you haven’t yet, you will.

For me, the chatty group is much less unnerving and easier to work with. Last semester, though, first day of a 3 hour class, the first hour and a half was painfully quiet. PAINFULLY. I hadn’t really considered this, because previously my community building activities, where students have to talk to each other, have gone quite well. Needless to say, it’s definitely on my radar as a concern, now! I now think about ways to spice things up (without getting too spicy, it is only the first day, after all). 

Anxiety points: You’re nervous, students are nervous, new classroom, new technology, student engagement, “fun” or engaging activities planned 

Teacher Triumph: How to Tackle Those Jitters!

Even if we’re a bit nervous about the semester, we wouldn’t be teachers if we couldn’t stand up in front of our students and teach them, right?  Whether you’re teaching adults or kids, you worked hard and learned your butt off to be there! 

No matter how long it might seem or how quiet it gets, you will get through that first day. It’s a guarantee. But, in case you don’t like waiting around being nervous and uncomfortable, here are 7 ways you can help yourself get past those worries about the first day.

Turn your jitters into excitement. Sure, the first day might be a little nerve-wracking, but it’s also very exciting! You get to meet a whole new group of students and then watch them learn things you love for the next 16 weeks. That is SO COOL. Channel that nervous energy into making sure you are prepared, have a good lesson plan, and maybe an anecdote or two to loosen the tension. In the end, we’re all people, so the more “people-y” you can be the first day, the more approachable you will be. Showing (and telling) your students how excited you are to be there is definitely one of the most people-y teacher actions you can take.

Relax the night before & get a good night’s sleep. I can’t express how incredibly helpful it will be to get enough sleep before the first day. If you are already prepared (and not scrambling at the last minute, admit it, this adds to your stress) you can watch a movie or read a book, go to bed at a reasonable hour, and wake up ready to go. Your energy & stress levels will be much higher if you skip this step. 

Review your class roster. Look and see who’s in your class, and try to pronounce their names out loud at least once. The idea of a group of people seems less scary once you know their names, right? At least a little. Because then they seem a little bit less like strangers, and you will need to be able to address them! 

If you’re working with adults, I would highly recommend sending an email the week before class asking if anyone has a preferred name or nickname they use. If the student has an unusual name they might very well have a nickname they prefer rather than you accidentally butchering their full name. Some students might also just prefer to go by a different name entirely. Either way, when you go to take attendance or do first day activities, you will be able to pair those names with the name on the roster and stumble and/or get corrected less. 

Prepare a fun first day lesson plan. How many times did you go to class the first day only for the teacher to read the syllabus to you? And how many syllabi do you remember? Probably none. Because it’s BORING. Certainly the syllabus is important, but there are other ways to go about reviewing expectations. 

It’s the very first time students are meeting each other and you. Make the most of that! Have them interact, even if it’s in little ways like getting someone else’s contact information for times they have to miss class. Do something you would have liked as a student. What would make you comfortable or interested in the class? Even if you’re the greatest most interesting person ever, you won’t convey that energy at all if you only plan a syllabus reading activity.

Arrive early & scope out your classroom. This seems like common sense, but sometimes you can’t get into your classroom because someone else is teaching there before you! I’m a firm believer in being early for most things, but it’s definitely helpful for teaching because then you can figure out the lay of the land. So, if you can, getting to your classroom early that day has many advantages.

You can set up all your stuff and walk around. You can figure out how to work the room without circling like a vulture. Those of you who have taught in awkward and small classrooms know what I’m talking about, right? You can also test the technology before anyone gets there - sometimes those projectors are finicky beasts! Best to wrangle them into submission before your students start arriving, if at all possible. 

Be prepared to laugh at yourself! This was initially very difficult for me, but now I really enjoy it. I make terrible jokes and use puns. I use hilarious (and awful) memes. I love laughing the rest of the time, so why not in class, too? My goal is to keep things light and open that first day. 

I want to be as approachable as I can, and one way to do this is to freely laugh. To make jokes that are purposefully bad (what they don’t know is that those jokes will be sticking around all semester). I’m perfectly fine standing in the silence, which they also think is a joke (it’s not), but that’s really not doing anyone any favors, you know? It’s much more helpful for everyone to get the conversation going and to get them laughing or relating to each other. Even if that happens at my expense. 

Remind yourself why you love teaching. I saved this for last because I think this is the best and most important action you can take to help yourself with the first day jitters. You didn’t become a teacher because you were afraid to talk to students, did you? That’s just a minor short-term inconvenience. It will pass. But your love for what and who you teach will not. 

We come back to teaching because we love working with students. We love that moment when a student finally gets something they have struggled all semester to understand. We love that we can share ideas and subjects we are passionate about with other people, who sometimes like it, too. The best thing you can do for yourself before the semester is remind yourself why YOU became a teacher. What keeps you coming back year after year? 

We teachers get nervous that first day, too! But there are things we can do to work around that. And if this is your first time teaching, know that it does get easier. 

How do you prepare for the first day? What jitters do you overcome? I’d love to hear about it!