My professors always start the first day of class with some sort of student introductions. What are some good ideas for these activities?
My professors always start the first day of class with some sort of student introductions. What are some good ideas for these activities?
afurby
gradsask
Dr. Evans
smartykatt
Pedagogical Perspectives 
August 15, 2015 at 3:24 am
Some of my favorite starter activities are inspired by trying to build a community in the classroom (beyond just getting students to play along with introducing themselves). Syllabus speed dating, which I talk about in “The Life Span of a Syllabus.” Some of the others I’ve used in the past are nicely detailed on this Faculty Focus post:
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/first-day-of-class-activities-that-create-a-climate-for-learning/
I would also encourage you to consider expanding these “first day” activities to the first few class meetings, varying the activity you use each day. Good luck!
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August 17, 2015 at 5:49 am
I second the idea of using an icebreaker to build community. I also try to incorporate the theme for that semester if I can. One that I have used in the past, and will be using this semester, asks students to create a list of five personal items they have with them at that moment. For each item, the student is asked to include as many details as possible – color, brand, etc. For instance, don’t just list a cell phone. Is it an iPhone? An old school Zack Morris phone? What color is it? Once students are done with their lists, they turn them in – without adding their names. I read each list aloud to the class, and they have to work together to figure out who the list belongs to. The assumptions the students make as they do so lead us into a frank conversation about the assumptions people make on a daily basis about others based on appearance and the products we buy.
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