Asking
Another way to make students feel comfortable in their courses and start the semester differently involves asking them what they want to learn this term (or this year) and what they need to learn. Many years ago, I would prepare syllabi for courses, but also spend the first class session asking students what they wanted to learn when they signed up for the course. I also asked them to consider what they thought they needed to know to build some expertise in the topic of the course. I recorded everything they listed and involved them in combining some of these statements into common topics or subject. Then I would rework the syllabus—where I could—to incorporate what they thought was important, often providing some independent assignments and projects in areas that we all needed to learn and using some common class time on the newer topics.

Of course, there were some parts of the course that needed to be covered in class and many requirements that I could not change due to the location of the course within a sequence of other courses. However, it was a revelation to many students that a faculty member wanted to listen to what they thought they wanted and needed to learn. It made them feel the course was theirs; I was also intrigued by how many of the ideas they suggested I had not considered.

Reminding
One unusual way to begin the year is to remind students of their accomplishments in the previous year or honor in some special way their success during the summer. Some faculty members have students post pictures of their work places, dishes they prepared or other evidence of what they did. You can use your blackboard or course-management system for this purpose, a bulletin board or a wall in a public place. Involving them in displaying their work can make them proud to show what they did and show them how important they are to the program. It can also inspire other students.

Rearranging bulletin boards, cases of trophies and medals can be another great way to rekindle interest in their past accomplishments. It also helps everyone notice them again. When I clean my office or my house, I often rearrange things, and then I see them fresh—otherwise they become background and I do not notice them. That can be true of the bulletin boards, the material laid out on tables in the office areas and posters and charts in the classrooms and laboratories. Asking students to participate in making them different and fresh is a way both to honor your students and invite their insights; it can have the same empowering impact as asking them what they want and need to learn.

Mixing It up
A fourth way to start the term this year is to mix things up and not do everything the same old way. That change can include restructuring the sequence of topics in your course (you might need to start with some basics, but it is surprising how many different ways you can sequence most topics) to reorganizing the layout of materials in the lab, to initiating new extracurricular endeavors and different activities for student clubs.

One of the ways I keep teaching fresh is to use different textbooks—and sometimes books, but not textbooks—or use textbooks out of the order in which they were written. Typically, I like to assign and discuss the materials in chapters 10 and 12 before 2 and 3. It keeps the students more alert, and they keep reflecting on the course and how the information fits together. In clubs, we would often have a fully structured and planned activity or event and then later sit down to organize plans for the rest of the year. It is a little like showing students a completed composed salad before discussing the theory of salads.

Mixing it up can keep it all interesting. It takes more planning and making connections for us as teachers, but that challenge can keep us fresh, as well.

Summary
Thank you for reading this column about starting a semester; next month, we will talk about taking charge of ourselves and helping students take charge of themselves using some of the newest research on brain functioning. If you have suggestions for other topics or teaching practices you want to share, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future “Mayo’s Clinics.”

Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, was most recently a clinical professor at New York University. Principal of Mayo Consulting Services, he continues to teach around the globe, and is a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide. His latest book, Planning an Applied Research Project in Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports (Wiley, 2013), debuts this autumn. Mayo will keynote the American Personal & Private Chef Association’s 2013 Personal Chef Summit in Baltimore in October.