Ice Breakers
I liked the first day assignment and ice breaker activities. Looks like we'll be flying some paper airplanes around the room before the first week is over.
Hi Paul,
Ice breakers serve as a great way to ease anxiety and nervousness for the students and instructors alike.
Patricia
I love the idea of the matching exercise. I work at a career college, and we constantly struggle with basic aspects of professionalism with our students. I'm thinking of presenting a handout with pictures of cell phones, a snooze button on an alarm clock, a to-do-list and calendar, amongst other things, and asking groups to respond to how these things can be helpful or harmful in their professional and academic lives.
Joanna, I think that this is a great icebreaker as well. There are so many different icebreakers to do in the class, but this one seems interesting. I have tried many, some I like, some I just don't care for. I am willing to try anything 1 time to see how it will work.
Hi Joanna,
Great idea! It will amaze you as to how little students know about professionalism. We need to utilize as many professionalism exercises as possbile to increase students professionalism.
Patricai
That is a great idea. I could see putting them into groups and having them decide which one they find most effective and most irritating.
Nice idea.
Paul
I totally agree with you regarding professionalism. We have to constantly remind our students about professionalism and what it means. It is unreal how many times one student needs to be reminded. At the college level, you would think that adults would be more likely to follow the rules. Not so true. Exercises to remind students about professionalism is a great idea to incorporate into the classroom, no matter what the study of course is.
I love the idea of icebreakers as well. I teach primarily online. Does anyone have any ideas for icebreakers for the online environment? I know some instructors do scavenger hunts based on student introductions, but I am looking for other ideas.
I sometimes have the students pair up and have them interview and introduce the other person. It requires each student to listen enough to be able to introduce the other student to the class. Everyone seems to enjoy it.
Linda Milam
I love ice breakers as well. Trying to think of one I can use - I'd like it to pertain to my math class. Any ideas?
Hi Michelle,
Try googling math ice breakers.
Patricia
I have also had students pair up and interview each other. Another technique I use is having the students count from 1 to 6, in order as I go around the room. This always creates groups with new partners, likes, and dislikes. By the end of a course the students are well woven together in a mutual working relationship.
I have also had students pair up and interview each other. Another technique I use is having the students count from 1 to 6, in order as I go around the room. This always creates groups with new partners, likes, and dislikes. By the end of a course the students are well woven together in a mutual working relationship.
Hi I think thats a great idea. Getting adult learners to working together would put everyone one at ease. Another ice breaker that might work well is having a bag of uncooked spaghetti straws and a bag of marshmallows. The class is broken up into about 4-5 groups and the teams have to construct the highest tower using the straws as the frame and the marshmallows as the connectors. They have about two minutes to do it the tower that is still standing the tallest wins. Hope that helps.
I found this very interesting---but true
when I ask students to define professionalism and customer service it amazes me that adult learners have not the faintest idea of how to respond to this...
I love ice breakers as well. What I do I hand each new student a 3x5 colored index card and have tell me what type of learner they are and what do they expect to get out of this class
I use ice breakers on the first couple of days in class. I am surprised at how students, at first, act shy and timid but by the end of the exercise students are laughing and talking to each other so much that I have a hard time ending the activity. It really reduces the first day of class nerves.
I plan to use flying paper planes as a way to show differences in student attention and involvement after discussing the results of the first test. We will be using "Plus - Delta" discussion to assess what is working and what may need to be changed. One topic I will bring up is self-selected seating, especially those who choose to sit towards the back of the room versus those who choose to sit close to the front.
Something I have done in my classes the first day is having everyone write 5 I AM statements, none of the statements can be obvious information like name, age, race, gender etc... And they all hand their papers in when they are finished. I read the papers one by one in the front of the class and the students have to try to figure out who wrote it. Then when we have it figured out, it gives the indiviual student an opportunity to introduce themselves and gets everyone talking and definately breaks the ice!
Hi Dawn,
This is an excellent interactive ice breaker! I can certainly see the enjoyment from this.
Patricia
