254: Why the First 5 Minutes Matter More Than You Think | Notre Dame Professor James Lang

Jim Lang is a professor at Notre Dame and the author of several popular books on teaching, including Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It.  

Jim has delivered keynotes or workshops at more than 300 colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. He also consulted with the United Nations on a multiyear project to develop teaching materials in ethics and integrity for high school and college faculty.

Jim is a graduate of Notre Dame with a B.A. in English and philosophy. He holds an M.A. in English from St. Louis University and a Ph.D. in English from Northwestern University.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• One of Jim’s central ideas comes from Aristotle: the beginning is more than half of the whole. Jim experienced this firsthand when he started his class with a provocative question, but low energy, and the students mirrored his energy.
• The first five minutes of a class, meeting, or even our day carry disproportionate weight because they set the tone and create the lens through which everything else gets interpreted.
• Energy is contagious, and students tend to mirror whatever the teacher brings into the room. So if we want better discussions, deeper learning, or more engagement, don’t leave the opening moments to chance; design them carefully.