Need an activity for the first day of class? For larger classes, I like to organize students into groups of 5 and make sure that at least one person in each group has a phone that they are willing to use to take pictures and send those pictures to me (never a problem). Students then engage in a variety of get-to-know-you activities, including “mugshots”. For this activity, students write their name on a piece of paper and underneath their name a fact about them that they think is unique and memorable. Then, one of their newly-met classmates takes a picture of the student holding the paper and sends it to me. I add all of the pictures to a Dropbox folder that I share with the class. Students can view each other’s photos as seen below as a way of becoming more familiar with their classmates.
In addition, it serves as a great way for me to quickly learn student names. Since I have Dropbox on my phone, I can scroll through each of the pictures throughout the day during lulls, like waiting in line.
And when I’m ready to quiz myself, I just cover the bottom half of the screen with my hand and flip through their faces. This activity provides a fun way to break the ice and an easy way to learn names, and bonus, it gets students to make use of your contact information on the first day of class.
Oh…and if you need to get a list of class dates for the upcoming semester, don’t forget about the Class Schedule Generator.