Tell me, does this make for a good first day? Or not?
1. Before I’d even arrived at my office, a student showed up at my door and, when I turned out not to be there, asked my colleagues in the surrounding offices whether it would be worth her while to come to my class that afternoon.
2. Nine of my former students have registered for my 103 class this semester. Nine. Two of them showed up at my office before class to tell me that they were excited about the course (and to ask if it was really worth their while to show up to class that afternoon…)
3. One student pulled that trick of bringing a friend to class and then they sat there smirking at one another about the fact that I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE that there was someone in the classroom who didn’t belong there.
4. One girl nodded off repeatedly while we went over the course outlines. Then, when she had finished doing her writing sample, she asked to speak to me and explained that she will miss the next four classes because she’s going to England for a wedding. When I suggested that she should speak to her dean and ask that notifications be sent to her teachers about this, she explained that she was flying out at 6 the next morning. This was at 5:30 p.m. Her writing sample is pretty much unreadable.
5. Almost everyone smiled and said goodbye as they left the class.
6. Nobody cried, set fire to anything, or exploded in rage. Not even me.
Classroom as Microcosm 
What do you think?