ice breaker
Meeting class of adult ladies first time and acquaintace enters and takes the remaining front row seat. She annouces that her mother died a few days ago, she has no other family or ties in the community and doesn't see reason to complete school. Go ahead and pass out the class syllabus.
Tell the grieving student that I am listening to her feelings. Encourage her to share her grief with a mutual friend of her mother's. Assure her that other staff members and myself are here to help her regain her purpose. Make a note to ask our student services coordinator to check on her. Plan to monitor all of the students on their first assignments to get a good start.
I'm having trouble tying your narrative with the Forum title. Is this a contrived exercise you use with the cooperation of a colleague? If so, how does it work as an ice breaker? Don't your 'real' students feel duped when they learn that there wasn't a real death?
I agree, I feel like its essentially breaking the trust right at the beginning and this indeed is not an icebreaker but almost a lie...Im confused with how this works??
