I teach first-year writing at a small liberal arts college, and on the first day of class, I like to talk about dessert with my students. No, really! Sure, we (eventually) get into the nitty-gritty of the syllabus, but first we talk about dessert.
A team icebreaker activity for which there is no obvious solution can help scaffold student behavior in group work early in a course. Before the teacher introduces subject matter content, the class can share in an interpersonal, skill-building lesson that is immediately applicable to real
Online classes most often begin with an “introduce yourself” discussion forum for students to get comfortable working with peers in discussions and other activities. Most follow the standard model of asking each student to say something about themselves, which can lead to perfunctory comments meant
It is best practice to open online courses with a welcome to students. The online format will be new for many students—in particular, adult students who are returning to school after a long absence—and they may be uncertain of their ability to perform in the
Even after almost 25 years of teaching, one task I still approach with new-teacher determination is finding an effective icebreaker to kick off a semester. Every summer, I scour the internet with the goal of finding a non-cliched, community-building, invigorating activity that I can wow
There’s no discounting the importance of the first day of class. What happens that day sets the tone for the rest of the course. Outlined below are a few novel activities for using that first day of class to emphasize the importance of learning and
I don’t know if the first day of class is the most important day of the course, but I don’t think many of us would disregard its significance. What we do and how we do it matters. There are lots of good first-day activities—we’ve shared
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