The following are a few ideas collected from a variety of sources on activities first the first day of class.
From (Weimer, 2017)
If it’s a course where students don’t think they know anything about the content, start by dissecting the course title. For each keyword, ask students to submit the first word or phrase that comes to mind to Top Hat and create a Wordle. Point out the ideas that are correct.
Share some information that will personalize you – your teaching experience, the reason you entered your discipline, an anecdote from your undergraduate learning days. If you have graduate teaching assistants, introduce them, and let them tell something about themselves.
Play a brief a slideshow or a collage of pictures that shows who you are without prior to the start of class—pictures of you at work, in the lab or library, at home, with kids and pets, you in college, grade school, etc. The pictures can be interspersed with favorite quotes or some pithy sayings about learning. Run the slide show as students are arriving or make it available online before the course begins. A slide show introduction gives you the opportunity to invite students to send you or share with the class a couple of their own introductory pictures
Did you ever take the course you are about to teach or one with closely related content when you were a student? Start the class by sharing some of your experiences as a student in the course. What were you worried about? What do you remember about the course? Did you do well or not so well? What would you do differently if you were taking the course now?
From Waltje & Evans (2017)
Combine an attendance sheet with a mini-questionnaire. You can use a Top Hat poll or paper. If you use paper, on the left-hand side is the column where students sign in with their name, but on the right-hand side we always put a “Question of the day/week”. Here students answer a question or finish a prompt. This is a small addition that can help to develop and deepen the sense of class community and get students ready to learn. If you are savvy and have a good memory you can integrate or intersperse what you learn from these mini questionnaires into future class discussions (“Ashley, you mentioned you are interested in film noir/climate change/macramé…”). Some of the prompts can be about the assignments or readings done for the class (One thing I remember/did not understand), others could be on there just for fun: my favorite movie/song/TV show. You could also start them off with a saying or a sentence fragment they have to finish: This summer I will…., The best things in life are…., After college I plan on…., My dream place to visit is…. Before class begins and during breaks, we often overhear groups chatting about the answers they read on the sign-in sheet.
From UC Berkley
Have Students Meet. Have students greet someone else in the class. Even if this ritual takes only 30 seconds, you should find that your class warms up considerably.
Attention Grabber. Use a problem or a demonstration to capture students’ imaginations about what is to come in the course. Often, an intriguing example will provide a guiding context for the material that follows.
From University of Iowa
Consider adding a surprising fact or a current event that demonstrates why the content in this course matters. Establishing relevance and promoting intrigue can help motivate student learning right from the start.
Set up clear communication strategies for the students. These could include when you have office hours/student help sessions, the best way to contact you, e-mail parameters, phone policies, Teams or Slack course chat., etc
Let your students see the enthusiasm you have for your subject and your love of teaching. It’s much more effective to begin the course letting students know that this is a course you want to teach with content you love, and that you are there to help them learn.