Teaching first year students is both extraordinarily rewarding and challenging.  They are experiencing great personal changes in their lives that sometimes make them distracted and 'less than perfect' students.  First year students will not know the culture and expectations of the university, nor of your discipline, so it is important to help them understand what your discipline values, how it communicates, and how it expects students to think and write. Equally importantly, many first year students don't know how to be effective students.  They haven't learned the skills and techniques that will help them succeed in college.  Thus, when you teach first year students, you have the task of teaching your subject and of teaching them to be effective learners.  This does not have to be difficult or take an enormous amount of time; however, it does take attention and structure.

• Strategies to help first year students become better learners
• Student Retention

Strategies to help first year students become better learners

• Clearly articulate your expectations.  Students should spend their time working to meet your goals, not trying to uncover what your goals are.
• First year students are not good at knowing what they can and cannot do.  Give students chances to practice things you want them to do in a situation where they get feedback, but not a grade
• Read parts of the textbooks, or articles, or other material in your field with students in class. Help them learn what to look for as they read. Remember, reading texts and articles critically is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced.
• Give students examples of what you consider good work (on papers, projects, other assignments), annotated to point out the aspects that make the example strong.  Students can then strive to produce the strengths you've described and shown.
• Provide students with notes for your class, perhaps on line.  Encourage students to print out the notes and bring them to class as an outline.  Supplement the notes by including in your class examples and exercises that make the class time more useful than just the printed text.
• Give students some responsibility for learning.  For example, be selective with your lecture material.  Don't lecture on everything in the text - be selective.  But always be available to answer questions the students may have on their out of class work.
• Teach students to give feedback to each other.  The act of critically examining someone else's work can help someone see things in her/his own work that s/he wouldn't see otherwise.  This type of exercise fosters reflection and self-assessment.
• Provide guidelines and rubrics for assignments.  It will help the students produce better work and make your grading easier.
• Require students to turn in drafts of papers and require that they peer-review each others' papers.  Provide a list of guiding questions for them to use in the peer review.

For more information about programs and resources for first year students go to the Freshman Center Website

Student Retention

One of Mason's goals is to attract and retain outstanding students. We have been lauded for our retention and graduation rates, especially with minority populations. But...

• Most freshman make the decision to stay or leave within the first 4 weeks of enrolling.
• 15% of freshman who start at Mason do not return for their sophomore year.
• One of the most often cited reasons for leaving Mason is "not feeling connected."
• 89% of students on the 2009 freshman survey identified "maintaining a high GPA" as their greatest academic concern.

• Send an e-mail asking the student to make an appointment with you to discuss your concerns.
• When you meet with the student, ask direct questions, such as, "How many hours do you spend studying?" or "Do you read the chapter before the lecture?"  Answers to these questions may highlight the problem and lead to a plan for improvement.
• Tell them about specific campus resources.