I love using ice breakers and quick, funny stories about personal experiences to make my classes laugh. I find it really gets them focused back on learning, and it also gives them a great reference point when it's exam time. I've had many students tell me "I wouldn't have remembered such and such a detail if you hadn't told us about the time ______ happened to you!"
Oh, I so agree. No matter how I am feeling when class starts, I put on a big smile, step in front of the class and greet them with entusiasm. It is important to remember that the students are there to be taken out of whatever stuff thay have going on in their heads as well. Each new class is a new chapter--it should be an exciting moment every day.
Hi Laura,
Thank you for the comments you made about the smile and positive attitude we need to have each time we step into the classroom. We are in a sense performers so when we take the "stage" we have to be just excited about what we are going to do as if it were the first time we are doing it. The fact is it may be the 100th time but for that group of students it is the first time so they need a fresh excited instructor teaching them.
Gary
