I still had to cover that important information, but I decided that I'd warm up my audience first so they'd feel more comfortable and engage with the syllabus material (and hopefully read it and ask questions about it), and so I could get a sense of who my students were.
So now, I spend the first thirty minutes of all of my first days of class with some sort of "introduction" activity. Hopefully one of these will work for you!
Ask Students to Draw a Self-portrait
Ask the students to draw a little picture of themselves doing something they love to do. The students don't have to show their portraits to anyone else but you, but when they explain their portraits and their hobbies to the class, it gives everyone a quick introduction, and the personal detail helps you remember each student's name. (make sure to tell them that artistic ability is not important, and make sure to draw your own portrait [mine is always an awful, square-headed stick-woman]).
 |
| This is one of the better portraits I received last semester |
 |
| A student draws himself throwing dice for a table-top role playing game |
 |
| A common portrait: a student playing a video game |
I ask my students to write their names and "majors" on the other side of their portraits and I collect them at the end of our first day. I flip through them after class and then before we meet again, and I can remember all of their names by the first week.
Have Students Interact
Use a Getting to Know You Bingo card like the one below. You can make sure that each item on the card is something that you can sign off on, and see how many students approach you. Once you reveal to them that all spots apply to you, too, they've gotten a glimpse at their instructor as well. The "prizes" can be candy, extra credit points, or a "pass" on the first pop quiz--whatever you want!
You could also ask students to form small groups to interview one another. Provide the questions to get them started--questions related to your subject matter, or general first-day questions--or have them come up with something on their own. Once everyone has talked to each other, ask for volunteers to share something interesting they learned about someone in their group.
Groups of three are better than pairs; if you ask students to get into groups of two, you run the risk of having an "odd man out" and a student feeling awkward about not having a partner. If students get into groups of three, there's a bit less pressure.
Use a PollEverywhere Poll
PollEverywhere a free and easy to use service to get students answering low-stakes questions anonymously. You can ask silly questions based on the syllabus (like the sample below), or you can ask them questions about their expectations of the class.
After I covered my syllabus on day one of my class summer, my students typed in questions they still had so we could go through them anonymously. This worked well because they came up with questions about things I don't normally cover (bringing food into the class [I don't have a formal policy for this because I've never had a problem], if they should call me "Mrs./Ms./Professor" or by my first name [I never bring this up on my own because I never really have a clear answer].
Be careful, though, because you might get questions that are not classroom-related (e.g.: how many tattoos do you have? what is your dog's name?). I told my students that I'd answer all of those questions if they came to see me during my office hours. None of them did.
So what works in your classroom?
