Angelia,
Thank you for sharing this great ice breaker. It is a fun and graphic way to illustrate dependence on others while demonstrating personal contributions. I know it will be of value to other instructors.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I have a great ice breaker to share with other instructors. Using a ball of yarn or string. Have one student start by answering a question that the instructor asks. After they are finished they throw the yarn to another student. Then the instructor ask them a question and so forth. The end result will be a spider web. If you know anythng about spider webs they are very stron and hard to break. This web represents the class as a team and if one team member does not do their part that the web will start to fall apart. All team members are needed throughout the course. Lets keep it together. I have had to re visit the spider web in later terms when students tend to forget what team work is about. Students never forget putting together a spider web the first day of class.
Debra,
This is a great exercise. Thanks for sharing it with us. I know it will be valuable to many other instructors, not to mention fun for the students.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Hugh,
Good point and one that all individuals need to remember. In the work place if you can forge strong relationships with colleagues then you have a support system you can fall back on when needed.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
One Ice breaker that I used the first day, we have a modular type of program so I had "seasoned" students as well as new ones, I brought in a roll of toilet paper and instructed each student to pull off as many squares as they needed...after everyone got as much as they wanted, we went around the room and for every square they had pulled, they had to tell us something about themselves. It was a good way to make introductions and get some information about the students.
I am not a health care worker or student, but my wife is a RN. She told me that nursing eats their young. The way she got through it was by forming friendships fast because they are all going through it together and they will be required to work as a team once they get in the hospital.
Ginell,
If they don't know each other you can pair the students up and give them 5 minutes to get to know the other person. Then have one of the pairs introduce the other and give some highlights about that person. When the first student is done then the other student repeats the process. Go around the class until everyone has introduced everyone. You can pick and pair with a student as well if there is an odd number of students. It will be fun for you and your students to participate. You can have them learn about each other in terms of family, hobbies, interests, and reason for selecting to prepare to work in the health care industry. Another discussion question could be where do they see themselves in 5 years in relation to working in health care. The students will like doing this and will have fun getting to know the other person. You can repeat this pairing up several times if you want the students to get to know 4 or 5 other students early on in the course.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
