Ice Breaker
We need ice breakers
Hi Eric,
I agree with you, a joke really helps get their attention back to the lecture.
Ice Breakers are very important, IMO. They help studetns relax and enter a calm state where real learning can occur. Since I teach law, I typically start out classes with a lawyer joke. This has the added benefit of creating learning opportunities, because I typically then discuss why the behavior is worthy of a joke, what ethical violations may have occurred, and how the situation could have been handled differently.
Hi Leigh,
Great ice breaker. Thanks for sharing it with us. I know many of us will be using it with our classes.
Gary
Hello All,
I really like ice breakers. I have found the Internet a great source for gathering new ones. One of my favorite is People Bingo ..a computer generated bingo card with 25 squares. in each square there is a person I like...
for example I like chocolate chip cookies, I to roller skate , i like to write poetry, I have a birthday in January..etc. the objective is to walk around the room and ask the class members questions until each box has someones name in it. You can give prizes for the first 3 finished. When everyone has their cards filled, then you share your answers with everyone & compare.
Another one that is exciting is a backpack / purse scavenger-hunt. Create along list of possible items one might have in their book bag..pencil, flash light, lipstick, gum wrapper, light bill...etc. Divide class into teams....set the timer give a time limit..give prizes for the first to finish & the most on the list.. This one is a BLAST. It builds team work in a hurry. :)
After we have done an interdiction of ourselves in the class room. We start on a chapter and I play a game with the students. I break them into teams, and then they have to run to the board and write the answer. Students like games and it is a great ice breaker.
I like that. I do something like this with my students.
Hi Katrina,
Good thoughts, thanks for sharing them with us. The effort it takes to create a supportive and comfortable environment will pay off throughout the course. Plus, sharing a laugh helps create a classroom that is enjoyable to be in.
Gary
For a "more relax" atmosphere, I let them hear me laugh - at myself: something past, and something present.
Teachers and Jesus tend to have at least one thing in common: they can go through a whole book and never been seen laughing once!
Look, they need to know you're human, you won't crush or slight them for your own posterity, and that you are firm with them because you take their lives, their success, and their inner person (the one behind the mask they wear to school) seriously. We are the good parents (which some of them have never had). Parents, in a normal society (you know, before industrialization) are from whom a person receives most of their training. The few who, in those days, could afford professional schooling, often looked on their teachers as a parental figure. Athletes still do the same with their coaches.
Lead the way and laugh, laugh at yourself. Teach them to enjoy life while learning, while "in the class room". Teach them to see the big picture, see themselves in it, and give it their best with a smile.
Or, well, you could always have them state their A/S/L, then sit and write a paragraph about something.
Hi Lisa,
Good strategy. This gets the students comfortable with you and on the same page for the upcoming course. This also lets them know you will listen to them as a result of what they put on their papers the first class meeting.
Gary
A good icebreaker that I have found that works well is to have everyone (starting with yourself) introduce themselves, tell a little bit about themselves and why it is they chose the field they are studying. I then after going through my expectations have the students take out a piece of paper and write at least a paragraph on "what they expect out of me".
Hi Christina,
So do I. What are some ice breakers you really like to use with your students?
Thanks.
Gary
I think ice breakers are good to set a more relax atmosphere
