Kevin Gabbert

Getting the attention of a class in the first meeting

One technique I have used to get the attention of a class during the first meeting is to do something unexpected, and then surprise the class by showing how this unexpected thing actually demonstrates a key lesson.

For example, in the first meeting of an Intro to Game Design class I had every student talk about why they chose to pursue a degree in game design. While they were talking I brought out a small plastic dinosaur and played with it on my desk.

I kept this up for about fifteen minutes until I felt the class was about to question whether I was actually a teacher, then I sprang up and asked.

"My playing with this plastic dinosaur; is that a game?"

The class looked blankly at me for a moment, then one student shouted out "No!" I asked "why not?" and he replied "there is no objective."

"That's right." I said, and continued. "What if I see if I can toss this dinosaur into that trash can? Is that a game?"

"Yes! there is an objective now." Said the same student.

In this way I had the entire class very focused on my lecture, always wondering what I would do next. I got more participation from that class than any other I've ever taught.

Does anyone else have an example like this?