Essentials

l. Enrollment Issues (5 minutes)
After introducing yourself and making sure everyone is in the right class, discuss how full your sections are and the class enrollment policies. Whether you decide to pass around an attendance sheet or 3x5 cards, make sure you get everyone's name and status (staying, switching in or out, or trying to add). You may also wish to get their class year (seniority is usually the primary criteria for choosing between competing claims of students), home phone number and/or email address (to track down students who disappear), and their major or other introductory information. Having students start an enrollment list is a good way of cutting off endless discussion of who will and won't be able to add.

2. Attendance (10 minutes)
After waiting a few minutes for the inevitable stragglers, take roll using your most recent enrollment list (these may change drastically from week to week at the beginning). Mark attendance on these sheets rather than your grade book until enrollment stabilizes. Ask students for the correct pronunciations of their names and what they prefer to be called in class (write this down). Make eye contact with each student and begin to connect faces and names.

3. Course Syllabus and Section Policies (15 minutes)
Go over the course syllabus and your own section policies, using your first-day handout if you have made one (bring extra copies of both). You might also pass around a sign-up sheet if you're going to have students write discussion questions or provide discussion openers during the quarter. Leave time for questions or have people write down questions they have so you can address them the next week.

4. First Assignment (5 minutes)
Finally, mention the students' first reading assignment and any homework you have assigned. If you have already read the material you may want to talk about it for a few minutes, especially if you anticipate that they'll have trouble getting started (many professors assign the most difficult reading material first).

Supplements

5. Introductions (20 minutes)
This is a great way to start learning students' names and to begin creating a student-centered classroom. It allows you to disperse your own authority, get other people talking, and start students referring to each other by name. If you can tailor these introductions to some of the main issues of the course, then so much the better. This is a good opportunity to test your memory. Students appreciate it if you can remember their name. You could also include an icebreaker question such as if you were an abstract piece of art, what would you be, 'or what did you want to be when you were young and why are you an English major now?

6. Discussion Activity (20 minutes)
If you feel you will have time during the first class, consider some of the following activities to begin engaging students with the course material:

Discuss useful literary terms or general course issues. A handout listing important terms or concepts can be helpful here.

Do a close reading of an assigned text or other short piece. Often students don't bring their books on the first day, so bring some copies of the page you want to discuss, or put it on the overhead projector.

Offer some background information or discussion questions for the first assigned text.

Use visual aids from the media or pop culture to raise relevant issues.

Ask students to write for 10 or 15 minutes on a topic that will be important to the course then ask them to share their responses with the class.