Step 1: Getting to Know Your Students

Students learn best when they have a good rapport with their instructors. Inclusive instructors build rapport with students by getting to know them: their backgrounds, their interests, their learning goals. For Dan Levy, this learning begins before students even enter the classroom with “Assignment 0,” a self-reflective survey students complete before the first class meeting; Levy reviews their responses before he meets them. “I think it's very hard to learn all that information [about students] quickly,” Levy admits. “But it gives me ways of connecting with individual students from day one that I think help create an atmosphere of ‘this instructor is interested in what's going to happen in this room.’”

Profiled: Dan Levy, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, teaches "Advanced Quantitative Methods" to 74 students at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Takeaway Tips

Distribute an interest survey at the beginning of the course. Ask students to describe what makes them unique, their past coursework, interests, and other details that might help you get to know them.

Show students that you value their knowledge. When covering specific topics about which particular students hold expertise, gently draw those students into the classroom discourse. 

Keep learning about your students throughout the course. Take the time to talk to students before, during, and after class, and encourage them to join you for office hours.

Related Resources

The first day sets an important tone for the rest of the semester. This guide from the Bok Center at Harvard helps instructors plan for launching your course on Day 1.

Dan’s “Getting to Know You” handout is on his instructor page.  

The Center for Teaching Innovation at Cornell offers tips for “Connecting with Students.”

Reflection Questions

How do you collect information about your students to get to know them better? What other information would be helpful to know about them personally and academically?

How do you build rapport with your students? How might you build more informal or light-hearted time with students into your course? 

Getting to know your students shows that you care about them and their learning. In the next video, we’ll look at ways to continue building relationships with students throughout your time together.

Continue to Step 2