Step Away from the Syllabus: Engaging Students on the First Day of Legal Environment

• Published date: 01 March 2013
• Author: Michael R. Koval
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2013.01117.x
• Date: 01 March 2013

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 30, Issue 1, 179–194, Winter/Spring 2013

Step Away from the Syllabus:

Engaging Students on the First Day

of Legal Environment

Michael R. Koval*

I. Introduction

Several years ago, on a Sunday evening in January, the author was watching

his favorite television show, 24,1while at the same time contemplating the

first day of Legal Environment classes that awaited the next day. As readers

may recall, 24 was a popular action-packed series in which each hour long

episode depicted an hour of a day in the life of protagonist Special Agent Jack

Bauer, a modern-day counterterrorist hero with questionable morals, who was

attempting to avert a national catastrophe with heart-pounding daring and

bravado. That evening, amidst the popcorn, the question presented itself:

could the first day of class be even a fraction as exciting as this television

show? The answer was yes, provided the author had the courage to, as Jack

Bauer might say, “Step away from the syllabus!”

Viewers knew when they tuned in to 24 that they would be emotionally

engaged in the latest fictional national crisis. Most instructors want a similar

type of intellectual engagement from their students, and what better time to

encourage this than on the first day of class? Unfortunately, many instructors

have fallen into the syllabus habit of the first day, and students have come to

expect nothing more. While reviewing the syllabus is important, it is not all

that engaging for either the instructor or the students. By bringing a little bit

of 24 into the classroom, this dynamic can be changed.

Following this introduction, Part II establishes the pedagogical im-

portance of the first day of class experience through the perspectives of

∗Assistant Professor of Business Law, The Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, Salisbury Uni-

versity, Salisbury, MD. and winner of the 2012 Charles M. Hewitt Master Teacher Competition.

1

24

, Television Broadcast (Fox television broadcast 2001–2010).

C2013 The Author

Journal of Legal Studies Education C2013 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

179

180 Vol. 30 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education

instructor objectives and student expectations. Part III provides the Bistro 24

Activity (“Activity”) built upon this foundation (with some help from Jack

Bauer). The class methodology, including the learning objectives, teaching

notes, and potential alternative uses of the Activity, are set forth in Part IV.

Part V provides an overview of student feedback about the Activity based on

a student survey. Finally, Part VI provides a conclusion that considers the

success of the Activity based on its learning objectives.

II. Importance of the First Day of Class

Based on the author’s informal survey of colleagues, the first day of class for

many is a familiar routine. Many instructors use some variation of the follow-

ing: they introduce themselves, take attendance, review the syllabus, discuss

expectations and grading parameters, provide a glimpse into the topics that

will be presented throughout the course, and say goodbye. While this routine

is sensible, an opportunity is missed to connect with the students and excite

them about the intellectual experience to come. By examining two obvious

but important considerations when designing a first day of class experience,

instructors can better take advantage of the natural energy that the first day

of class inherently exudes. Those considerations, instructor objectives and

student expectations, are examined below.

A. Instructor Objectives

The general teaching wisdom suggests that certain first-day practices accom-

plish important pedagogical goals and should therefore be followed by in-

structors. Many of these practices target the “soft” objective of connecting

with the students on a personal level2to get the students comfortable with

the instructor and each other in the classroom. For example, teaching ex-

perts have for many years recommended that the instructor should attempt

to foster instructor-student rapport;3convey enthusiasm about the course;4

2See generally Corey A. Ciocchetti, Connect and Thrive: Perspectives from a Newly TenuredProfessor,28J.

Legal Stud. Educ. 385 (2011) (positing that the difference between a highly effective professor

and an average professor is the ability to genuinely connect with students in the classroom).

3Sandra Goss Lucas, The First Day of Class and the Rest of the Semester,in Handbook of the

Teaching Psychology 41 (William Buskist & Stephen F. Davis eds., 2006).

4Jeffrey Wolcowitz, The First Day of Class,in The Art and Craft of Teaching 10, 12 (Margaret

Morganroth Guillette ed., 1984).