Welcome back! We hope this Tip finds you refreshed and ready to start an amazing fall semester. When planning the first week of school, it’s important to include activities that allow you to get to know your students. Creating a safe and an inclusive learning environment is about getting to know the students and allowing them to get to know each other as well. While you’re learning their names and favorite flavor of ice cream, don’t forget that their classmates are learning this information, too. Sometimes we assume that a school our size means that everyone knows each other. It is true that many of them do know each other, but they do not know each other in the context of your class. To build a community in your course, you can try these tips:
- Create a student inventory: Jennifer Garrett and Mary Clement state, “When creating your interest inventory, you need to consider what you need to know about your students in order to effectively teach them.” For specific suggestions for types of questions to ask your students on the inventory, click here.
- Interviews: Split the class into partners, and have the partners each share about themselves for one minute each. Then have everyone share about what they learned about their partner to the class.
- Two truths and a lie: Have students write down 2 truths and 1 lie. Next, you and your class read these 3 ideas about each student and try to figure out which idea is the lie. Continue to do this for each person.
- Name game: This icebreaker can be discipline specific. If teaching a Shakespeare course, for example, as the students are saying their names, have them share which Shakespearean character they most relate to.
For other icebreaker ideas, feel free to visit the Center for Teaching and Learning. If you have an icebreaker idea, you’re welcome to share it in a comment box below.