Home » Resources » Scholarship on Teaching » 147 Practical Tips for Using Icebreakers with College Students
Scholarship
March 29, 2017
147 Practical Tips for Using Icebreakers with College Students
- Author
- Magnan, Robert
- Publisher
- Atwood Publishing, Madison, WI
- ISBN
- 1891859579
- Table of Contents
-
Introduction
Why Icebreakers?
Expand your comfort zone.
Know what you want the icebreaker to do.
Don’t expect negative reactions, but anticipate the possibilities.
Two Big Questions and a Tough Decision
Acknowledgments
Category: General Tips
Purpose: to help your students feel comfortable
1. Understand the anxiety that some students feel.
2. Let them know your intentions.
3. Balance fun and function.
4. Think about tone.
5. Keep your icebreakers short.
6. Keep your icebreakers simple and easy to understand.
7. Give directions, provide guidelines, and express your expectations — in advance.
8. Set a length.
9. Don’t gamble with games.
10. Don’t try too hard to be different.
11. Break some ice on your own.
12. Make it unique.
13. Involve subject matter or skills relevant to the course — if appropriate.
14. Showcase the “real-life” knowledge of your students.
15. Allow an out if students feel uncomfortable.
16. Avoid getting too “up close and personal.”
17. Answer every question yourself — at least a dozen ways.
18. Be careful with creativity.
19. Always be sensitive to your students.
20. Check this list before choosing an icebreaker.
21. Be honest ... and be human.
Category: Who Am I?
Purpose: to introduce yourself to your students
Meet and Greet
22. Greet and meet at the door.
Just One of Them
23. Foil their expectations only to create a teachable moment.
What I Want to Know
24. Keep the Q&A light and bright.
25. Be honest.
26. Have the students stand and deliver.
27. Pass into anonymity.
No Jeopardy
28. Turn the activity over to the students.
Category: Who Are You?
Purpose: to get a sense of your students in general
Survey
29. Get relevant with caution.
Survey by Suggestions
30. Keep track of the results.
High Five ..., Four ..., Three ..., Two ..., One ..., Zero
Best Courses and Best Instructors
31. Do a 180 with this activity.
How Do You Learn?
Category: Fun Stuff
Purpose: to make it easier for your students to get to know each other
Order Without Words
32. Conduct an anonymous discussion.
Nuts and Bolts
33. Go beyond the basic nuts and bolts.
String Thing
34. Add something of interest.
Who Am I?
35. Make it relevant.
Simple Introduction
36. Involve your students more fully.
37. Encourage your students to pay attention.
Name Game
38. Share the burden through collaboration.
39. Lessen the pressure by working in groups.
40. Reverse the order to better focus the activity.
41. Create labels to make the names more memorable.
42. Split your head and wear two hats.
43. Do the activity now and again.
Shapes
44. Be careful about involving body parts.
45. Do the activity digitally.
Liar, Liar!
46. Show the students how to lie.
47. Group the students to grill and guess.
Who Here ...?
48. Find out more through follow-up questions.
Pick a Card, Any Card
49. Share the wisdom with the whole class.
50. Encourage contributions as collaboration.
51. Think of your students in future courses.
52. Get involved more personally.
53. Continue building on the activity throughout the term.
A Penny for Your Memories
54. Keep it real for your students and relevant.
Category: Getting More Personal
Purpose: to encourage your students to share and explore their differences
Playing Favorites
55. Follow up on the favorites.
56. Mix rather than match your students.
57. Select subjects with sensitivity.
Dream Vacation
58. Start with volunteers.
Guessing Game
59. Let the students grade you.
60. Let the students guess about you.
More Like This or Like That?
61. Take it to the people to bring it all together.
62. Get physical and mix it up.
We All Need Heroes
63. Make it a meeting.
What I Like About Me
64. Ease into the ego thing.
Three Wishes
What’s in a Name?
65. Give students a chance to shine, if possible — but just don’t expect it.
Adjectives
66. Put a spin on it.
67. Choose icebreakers that can be scaled up or down easily.
68. Focus on your goals, not the rules.
69. Do it yourself.
Someone Similar in Two Ways
70. Try it with opposites.
71. Talk about words.
72. Decrease the complexity in order to increase interactions.
Happy Birthday to Us
73. Share the pairs with the other students.
Scavenger Hunt
74. Make the items relevant to college life and/or the subject matter.
75. Make the items connect students personally.
76. Share the connections ... and the gaps.
Circles
77. Be aware of too much of a good thing.
Bingo
78. Consider adding rules to ensure more mingling.
79. Avoid items that might be too personal.
80. Ease up a little to shorten the time required for an icebreaker.
81. Adjust to your environment.
82. Remember that some students may have mobility problems.
83. Make it relevant to the course.
Making Changes
84. Be attentive to discomfort.
Interviews
85. Keep it short and interesting.
86. Try another perspective.
Card a Classmate
87. Select the items to be included.
Three Special People
88. Make it theatrical.
Tough Questions!
89. Reverse roles to share responsibilities.
Category: Going Collaborative
Purpose: to establish an active, participatory environment by getting the students working together, in pairs or small groups
Knots
90. Imagine the results — and check against your purposes.
91. Anticipate personal and cultural sensitivities.
92. Form groups yourself; don’t leave it to the students.
93. Scramble your students.
Brain Strain
94. Keep it nice and light and easy.
Stranded
95. Make it more difficult with a little variation.
Group Project
96. Start on the first assignment.
97. Study the syllabus.
The Truth Is Out There
98. Push for the truth.
99. Learn from comparative collaboration.
Category: Dealing with Feelings
Purpose: to bring out feelings about the subject and the course, to lead students into the course, to generate interest
I’m in This Class Because ....
100. Establish common ground.
Great Expectations
101. Eliminate the impossible.
102. Treat each expectation seriously, but honestly.
103. Get your students to walk the talk.
Expectations and Assumptions
104. Keep the results for future classes.
Difficulties and Issues
105. Focus on issues, not individuals.
106. Put the activity on paper.
107. Build on positive feelings.
How Are You Feeling?
108. Encourage and support — don’t pressure.
109. Bridge from feelings to responsibilities.
110. Take advantage of anonymity.
111. Add a little distance for greater comfort.
By the End of This Course
112. Seek similarities.
113. Conserve the contributions for closure at the end of the term.
Think Small
114. Build a bridge to your course.
Teacher and Student
115. Go from understanding to managing.
Category: No Student Is an Island
Purpose: to encourage students to be interested in each other, to share information and resources, and to identify their individual needs and goals
Learning from Life
116. Leave the role of instructor.
What I’ve Done That’s Unique Here
117. Avoid competition.
118. Expand the activity to share experiences.
119. Twist the activity to focus on the future.
Why Am I Here?
120. Get them up standing.
121. Broaden the scope of interest.
Category: Distance Learning
Purpose: to foster comfort and confidence in a virtual community
Movie Star
122. Accentuate and facilitate contact.
Read and Reply
123. Establish terms of address.
124. Explain the technology.
125. Communicate your expectations and any rules.
126. Encourage your students to visit your Web site.
127. Include inquiries.
128. Build on the beginning.
129. Comment specifically and productively.
130. Keep it short.
131. Make your words work smarter.
132. Be careful whenever you write.
Autobiographies
133. Use photos.
134. Put it in quotes.
135. Encourage your students to provide resources.
136. Encourage personality.
Hangout
137. Drop in for a visit from time to time.
Personal Pages
138. Create a page for yourself.
139. Go back in time — if you dare.
140. Assign a “student search.”
141. Adapt “as usual.”
Category: Miscellaneous
Purpose: to make your icebreakers more effective
142. Give prizes.
143. Don’t lose your balance.
144. Start small if the class is large.
145. Keep the activity going to keep breaking the ice.
146. Be honest and be real.
147. Recognize when the ice is sufficiently broken.
Building a sense of community in the classroom is key to fostering a safe and supportive environment for learning. Icebreakers are designed specifically for this purpose – to create that sense of a community of learners, working together.
If you are considering using icebreakers for the first time, these tips offer convincing reasons for using them and suggest specific icebreakers for specific situations.
If you already use icebreakers, these tips will expand your repertoire and provide thought-provoking insights into other situations in which you could include community-building activities.
You’ll find tips and icebreakers that will:
* Help your students feel more comfortable
*Introduce you
*Get a sense of your students in general
*Make it easier for your students to know each other
* Encourage your students to share and explore differences
*Generate interest in your course
*Encourage your students to be interested in each other
* Bring out students' feelings about the subject and the course
* Foster confidence and comfort in a virtual community
(From the Publisher)
If you are considering using icebreakers for the first time, these tips offer convincing reasons for using them and suggest specific icebreakers for specific situations.
If you already use icebreakers, these tips will expand your repertoire and provide thought-provoking insights into other situations in which you could include community-building activities.
You’ll find tips and icebreakers that will:
* Help your students feel more comfortable
*Introduce you
*Get a sense of your students in general
*Make it easier for your students to know each other
* Encourage your students to share and explore differences
*Generate interest in your course
*Encourage your students to be interested in each other
* Bring out students' feelings about the subject and the course
* Foster confidence and comfort in a virtual community
(From the Publisher)