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In response to the question, "What icebreakers do you use in the first week of school to create a community in your classroom?", faculty members submitted the following…. Larry Manglitz Students are asked to meet in pairs. They are given questions to use in an interview of the other person:
I spend probably the first two weeks doing three or four pairs per class period. After each student is introduced, two or three students have a chance to ask a question of the student who was just introduced. "You said you ride a horse. What kind of horse do you have?" The questions are just to be a response to the person. The questions are related to the information in the introduction. If students don’t have a question I usually ask a couple, so the student feels that we are sincerely interested in them. The students seem to enjoy this. Victoria Meyers I break the class into groups (ideally counting off). Each small group must come up with 5 like things that the group has in common (all working fulltime, all single parents, etc.) then they are asked to share something really unique about themselves individually (female student may say she is a huge fan of rodeos) etc… The group is asked to share the common and unique features with the rest of the class and I make a master list on the board for the class to see and discuss. Karen Holt I have done several different things over the years I have taught PY101. Two used most frequently are: If possible, the class to forms circle. Start with any one person and have that person think of an adjective that starts with the same letter as his/her name. The adjective should loosely describe the person. Then that student says both the adjective and name. The next person repeats the adjective and first name of the preceding person and does the same with his/her name—and so on around the circle. Another that I used this fall: Have class select a partner. Spend a couple of minutes introducing themselves to each other and sharing one unique feature, interest, skill about him/herself. Then each person introduces to the class the person who he/she communicated. After everyone has talked I have the class take out paper and pens and as each student briefly stands, the rest of the class writes the students name and special thing noted by the person who introduced him/her. The last part is to again have each student stand and the rest of the class shares what he/she has written. My class enjoyed this activity very much and I plan on repeating it again next semester. Susan Youngren One, put students in groups to meet each other and write down something about each person. First grouped by height, then hair colors, then by home location (se/sw/ne/nw) and last by major. By the time they are finished hopefully they’ve met everyone in the class. Two, I copied the shape of a T-shirt on a piece of paper. On the sleeves students write their best qualities. On the front, something that makes them unique. Around the collar, they write their goals. Students talk about their T-shirt. Three, I have a list of questions typed out that each student gets. Questions like finding a student that will graduate in 2001. Find a student that is left-handed. Find a student that lives on the SE side. Find a student that played a sport in high school. Etc.. Each student has to put a name next to the question. Gets them talking. Phil Pikaart The August 2000 issue, TEACHING FOR SUCCESS, has some "icebreakers" in it. Call if you need a copy. Ruth Kurlandsky I tried the "max-mix" idea in my Intro to Computer Applications class. The students come in expecting encounters solely with technology. I "forced" them into little groups (4-5) with instructions to talk to each other: who am I? Why am I in this class? What do I already know about computers? What do I want to learn? Etc. Lo and behold, for the most part, they loved it! One group of women got so bonded that they had to catch up with each other’s lives even when I forgot to "do the group". My next trick wants to be some kind of establishment of communication capability among the people who click with each other (getting an e-mail account if you don’t have one is part of the class), but I’d like something a little more formal. Since I am only teaching one class, I haven’t had time to set this up yet. James Watson I have students put their ID and section number on a 4x6 index card. Then I ask them to list five pieces of information they would not mind sharing with the class. At this point, I share several pieces of information that define me—years teaching, own a motorcycle, Cubs fan, selling our house—those kind of things. At the next class meeting I have number the card and prepared a numbered sheet. I give students a structure to follow: My name is ________and I’d like the class to meet__________. Students are then given a card and several minutes to "find" their person, interview them, and prepare an introduction. We proceed according to the number of the card and I copy the introduced student’s name down and jot a few pieces of information. I then draw them into conversation. Beth Foster General Biology uses a lab exercise called "The Functioning Human: and an "icebreaker" in lab sections. They get small group interaction as well as interaction with the entire lab class. It also gets them used to doing something in lab, recording data, simple graphing, and some equipment usage. In short—it works. Kay Ramer I use a "Circle Name Game" on the 1st or 2nd meeting with students. We all stand in a circle so that everyone can see each other. Then the 1st student says her name. The 2nd student says the1st student’s name and then hers. Then the 3rd student says the 1st and 2nd student’s name and hers…We continue this until the circle is completed with the instructor being the last person in the circle, so that she will state every student’s name. Recently, I have begun adding a 2nd round going in reverse. The largest group I’ve ever participated in was 40. It’s a good way to place a name with a face. We also have a few laughs when a student "forgets" a friend’s name or her own. Bunny Miller I distribute my usual little "let me get to know you" information sheets. Then have the students share that information with those around them. On the sheet was an item to "pick an adjective that starts with the same letter (or sounds like) as your first name and describe yourself". Then groups of 4 come to the front desk, sit down, and share stuff about each other starting "I’d like to introduce Caring Catherine, Unique Eunice, Peppy Patti, etc". It did really help me remember their names and it was fun. "J" is a hard one and I had 3 Jennifer’s and a Jessica. What would you use? In my dental nutrition class, I had the same students, called role using their adjective + names and had them tell me what they had for breakfast instead of saying "here". It was fun and Mountain Dew won as the most common breakfast for dental assisting students. I have a lot of work ahead of me!!! Tamara Scott I ask students to write on unique thing about themselves (places they’ve traveled, pets, job experience, etc.) on the first day of class. I type them all on one sheet. On the next meeting of class I hand out a copy of the sheet and they have to mingle and find out who fits each item. It helps them get acquainted and helps me learn their names. I call it Get Acquainted. I can you a sample if you’d like. Grace Schwanda In Music Ed. – we sing hello songs and begin a ritual of opening songs for our class. Jambo is a great hello song. It means hello in Swahili. We sing Jambo then read the book, Jambo Mean Hello, by Muriel Feelings. We do rhythmic speech with a book called, Jambo Watoto, by Marsha Heatwole. This means hello children. We also do a rhythmic activity with "what’s your name?" and they answer with they rhythm of their name. We do this with bongo or conga drums to make it really fun. In PE for Educators we do a speech chant as we pass a ball—whoever has the ball at the end says their name. "rain on the green grass, rain on the trees, rain on the rooftops, but not on _______________!" After a few names the person who has the ball reviews all the previous names too. I also use an introduction sheet with some questions about themselves including desert island disc and then have the students get in groups of 4-5. They discuss what discography they would want if stuck on an island by themselves (I did this before the Survivor series). Kate Christain The first day of class, I had students make a list on a note card of hobbies/interests of theirs. Then they had to meet 4 new people and compare their lists. If they found someone with 2 common interests, they yelled "GOLD" because they struck gold. If they found no one, I assured them it was simply because they were so unique and special. Then, in pairs, I asked them to think of 2 questions they wanted to know about me as their instructor. We took some time to ask the questions, (which quickly became predictable across classes). Most questions were about my background in psychology, if I was married, what jobs I had, what classes I taught, etc. I made it clear at the start that the questions had to be appropriate for asking and everyone followed the rules well. I think it helped them be more comfortable, especially since in psychology they will be offering a lot about themselves in the future. I thought it was fair that they know a bit about me. Carol VanRandwyk Have each student verbalize three facts about his or herself--two facts being true and one being fictitious. The rest of the class tries to guess which of the three is untrue. It has been a lot of fun and we get to know a lot about each other. |