First Day of Geography Class

As we gear up for the fall semester, I want to prepare you for the first week of class. This information applies to both my Geog 1 and Geog 2 students. First and foremost, parking on campus is extremely difficult for about the first three weeks so you must plan accordingly. You should assume that it could take you up to 1 hour to find parking so come to campus early! This is very important on the first day of class since I am required by law to drop any student who does not show up on the first day, no exceptions. So don't lose your seat to students who are crashing, come early! 
Second, the first day is when you will receive the course syllabus and we will go over all the important aspects of the class. This is very important so you understand the requirements of the course. There will be a quiz on the second day of class based on information on the syllabus so make sure you listen carefully and ask questions on the first day.
The last thing we will do on the first day of class is play "Sorting The Class." This is an in-class activity to help us learn a little bit about each other along with having some fun. The entire class will get up and stand in the middle of the room. There will be 3 - 5 questions that I ask the group as a whole with 3-4 possible answers to each. I will place the possible answers on the different walls in the classroom. Depending on how you would answer the question, you go and stand on that side of the room. An example question can be: What major league baseball team do you support? The possible choices could be: 1) Anaheim Angels 2) Los Angeles Dodgers 3) San Diego Padres 4) I don't like baseball
Once the class has picked which wall to stand next to we take a few minutes to see who is standing where and I will ask a few random student to tell us why they answered that way. I find this is a nice ice-breaker to kick off the semester and allow us to begin to get to know each other right off the bat. Get ready to participate and have some fun!