Converse with students as they enter. Treat students with respect and show interest in them. It is important to immediately establish a rapport with them. Introduce yourself. Tell your students your background, interests, etc. Establish your credibility. Tell them how to address you (first name only? Mr./Ms./Mrs.?) A tip: whatever you ask your students to call you, you should use the same manner of address with your students -- so, if you are asking to be called "Ms. TA", you should address your students as "Mr. Chang", "Ms. Digiaralomo", etc. Distribute your syllabus and cover the important points. Encourage students right away to make use of your office hours. Make coming to your office hours (with prepared questions) part of the participation grade for the tutorial or lab. Establish the climate for the class -- will the atmosphere be informal with free-flowing questions and interruptions? or will there be an established question-and-answer period? will you always start the class off or do you expect students to start off the class by brainstorming some problems? Define clear expectations for your class. Be explicit about what level of participation and discussion you expect in class. Explain how much homework and preparation your students should be doing before they arrive in class. Explain what constitutes a good assignment, but don't go into detail at this point. Review your learning outcomes for the class or lab -- discuss overarching goals, not just "passing the exam". Start teaching the course material right away! Get the