I have found first day is always an anxious time for both instructors and students. I always try to get the students to loosen up by introducing myself a bit and my history as a design instructor and why I became an architect. Then I ask them to introduce themselves and ask why do they want to study architecture? Many students have common backgrounds or motive and stories on how they got to the class and this helps establish a common ground between all of us as we are all on the same journey and I am their guide more than their instructor. I then ask for a volunteer to draw a specific object on the white board we then discuss as the idea of the object in terms of design qualities (not drawing abilities of the student). The student then hand the marker off to another volunteer who then modifies (or draws a new object) from all the input that was received in the dialogue. This gets the class not only speaking but also thinking critically about the issues we will be discussing throughout the semester.