Breaking Ice
When I was kid I loved re-runs of The King and I. Of course, back then, I didnʻt know anything about cultural misrepresentation, colonialism or all the other issues that come to mind when I watch this clip now. (Gosh. How was that curtsey?) Nope. I just sang along, and I even twirled a few times.
On the night before Bootcamp, I watch the clip and think if only all icebreakers went as well as this choreographed musical number.
So what kind of ice-breaker do you use on the first day of class? Is there an icebreaker activity youʻd like to try but never get around to planning it because you are too busy trying to get all that copying done before class? And how do you do an icebreaker in an online course?
Share an ice-breaker activity that you use or would at least want to use someday. Might come in handy when August rolls around.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I've used this a few times before: At the beginning of class I pass out an index card or a small post it note along with the course syllabus. After we're done discussing the syllabus, I tell everyone "if you could sum up your entire being--everything about you--in one word, what would that one word be? Write it down, but don't put anything else on the card (no names, nothing)." Once everyone is finished, I collect the cards. The whole class splits up into groups and then I redistribute the cards--the students just have to make sure they don't have their own card. I've also mixed in one card for myself. Then I tell the groups to look at the words in their group. Judging by just that one single word, the group has to make an educated guess about the person that wrote the word. Is it a guy or a girl? Why did he or she choose that word to represent himself/herself? After the groups have had a chance to talk for a bit, the groups will give us their analysis on the words, one by one. For example, someone might have written something like "Creative" and the group will say something like "We think this person is a girl, and that she likes to write poetry or songs to express herself." Then I'll say something like "Okay, who wrote 'creative'? Introduce yourself to the class." Then the person who wrote the word will stand up and say something like "Hi, my name is John Smith...I'm not a girl, but I do like to write. I don't like poetry but I do like to write sci-fi novels in my spare time, so that's why I wrote 'creative'. It's fun to see how accurate (or how completely off-base) the guesses are. Some people will put down words that are very cryptic and mysterious, and it is really interesting to hear why they chose the word. It works better with a room of local students--I've noticed that students from other countries will tend to write "Quiet" and then we'll have three or four "quiets" (they all introduce themselves at that time, which is fine). :)
ReplyDeleteI usually have the students complete an intake survey (I call it an Aloha! Nice to Meet You! Survey) so I can get an idea of their writing background, experience, and expectations. The last question on the survey is: "What creature or thing best describes you as a writer? Explain."
ReplyDeleteI give my own example (I'm a phoenix ^_^, or would like to be a phoenix writer). So this coming semester I'm going to let them make name cards with their name and a picture of the creature they chose (name card idea was stolen from another professor I worked with long ago). They'll bring this name card to class and proudly display it at their desk and explain their choice. Now I just need to find some cheap oak tag.
I like this question because sometimes students will choose the wildest things. Sloths are always fun to work with. One student described himself as an earthworm (as a writer he felt he consumed info then pooped it out). Another student chose a Middle Earth Elf, and she happened to be fluent in one of the Middle Earth Elven languages.
Another activity I liked was pairing everyone off and having them interview their partner then write an article post on Laulima Discussion Board introducing their partner to the rest of the class. It kinda failed because some students were too creative or didn't care to read the posts. Plus, the late-registers were stuck interviewing me which was somewhat boring.