Launching something new

 I teach 5 different college classes:

1300:  Conversational Spanish

1411:  Beginning Spanish I

1412:  Beginning Spanish II

2311:  Intermediate Spanish I

2312:  Intermediate Spanish II

This semester, I'm teaching my 1300 for the first time as an Honors class.  We started yesterday.

I've done this job long enough to expect that day 1 will feel a bit awkward.  It's important to me that students feel prepared for the rest of the semester.  However, I always feel like I've talked too much.

When I first started teaching college Spanish, I would go over the entire syllabus.  I think I even read it.  I've since made a Syllabus scavenger hunt. I make a game of students completing it in pairs using the syllabus.  After I declare the winning team I go over the main points I want to emphasize from the syllabus.

I skipped this yesterday, wanting to save time.  I'm reminded why it's a good idea to give students a break from me talking.

Live and learn, right?

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