Remember when you skipped the first day of your college classes (possibly all four years in a row) because you knew the professor was "just going to be going over the syllabus"? Even if you played the scholar and attended these class sessions, the sensory detail that likely sticks with you the most is the droning. (Cue the Charlie Brown teacher voice.)
The first day of class is your first chance to make an impression on your students, so why should it be boring? Unimaginative? Snooze-worthy?
Liven up the inevitable syllabus-reading by allowing the kids to do some of the investigative leg work. This handout uses humorous language, eye-catching graphics, and relevant examples to explain the necessity of actually reading, understanding, and utilizing your syllabus as a navigation tool for your course.
Students will then use the graphic organizer to dive into the syllabus looking for answers to many of the questions they may be tempted to ask you over the course of the coming year. Repeatedly. The sample questions included in the activity section correspond with the information in my syllabus, but the explanation and activity sheets are in a Word document format that is easy to personalize according to the requirements and expectations of your class.