On the first day of his class, if a teacher is asked by the students to…

Concept — In teaching aptitude, a teacher's response to a student request is judged by two things together: whether the request is legitimate and non-disruptive, and whether the response answers it without displacing instructional time. Brief, appropriate teacher self-disclosure is a recognised immediacy behaviour — it lowers the affective barrier in a new group and opens two-way classroom communication, which is exactly what the first meeting of a class is meant to achieve.

Application — A first-day request for the teacher's introduction is a normal, orderly request from the whole group for the basic information any new working relationship needs. Two minutes covering academic background, teaching experience and how the course will run answers it completely and still leaves the period intact. The teacher should therefore tell them about himself in brief, and then begin the lesson.

Contrast with the other responses —

• Asking them to meet after the class moves a whole-group, first-day matter into an out-of-class slot; the request concerns the class's shared relationship with the teacher, not an individual doubt, so the opening interaction is left unaddressed where it was raised.

• Ignoring the demand and starting to teach makes the first exchange one-way, which is the opposite of the two-way communication a first class is meant to establish.

• Scolding the students treats ordinary curiosity as indiscipline and raises the affective barrier that an introduction is supposed to lower.

Result — The teacher should tell them about himself in brief.