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Ice Breakers: Onsite and Online

Ice Breakers are activities that help you and your students get to know each other. With careful planning, they can also introduce some of the concepts or processes that you will be covering in your course. Choose activities that you are completely comfortable with and that reflect the tone you want to strike in your classroom.

Onsite:
Talking About Art
The Cold Turkey Critique
Midterm Activity: Tell us something we don’t know...

Online:
Partner Introductions
Roster by Birthdate
Toast to Yourself
Name Acronym Review
Forced Analogies

ONSITE

Talking about Art

Bring in artwork, objects, and books, contemporary or historical, that relate to the projects you will be having students do in the class.

1. Divide students into groups of 3-4, and distribute the pieces among the groups.

2. Assign roles to group members: writer, timekeeper, and speaker.

3. Give directions:

5-8 minutes to discuss the questions for each object that your group has.
Questionnaires are only for taking notes, not to be turned in.
Don't worry about getting the answers right--speculate and enjoy the discussion.

4. Give each group one questionnaire for each object with a few questions on it, for example:

When and where do you think the piece was done?
What methods do you think were used in making the piece?
Does it remind you of any major artists' work? Whose?

5. Circulate, listen in, join in while groups are discussing.

6. Have one speaker from each group speak about their object.

Rationale:

Introduces teachers to students' background knowledge and ways of thinking.
Introduces students to pieces that you, the teacher find interesting for some reason.
Excellent way to get students talking and getting to know each other.

The Cold Turkey Critique

Rationale:
Unlike many ice breakers which attempt to put everyone at ease right away, this one raises the tension level in the class, then allows the class to observe that tension and discuss it . The teacher can relate this tension to what he or she feels in the professional world. It is one way to prepare students who are unused to having their art critiqued for the sometimes difficult times ahead in art school.

Adapted from Jack Lee, Foundations Dept.

Give Directions:
(It is important that you don’t tell students the whole activity in advance. Don’t give them too much information at the outset—remember, you want to raise the level of tension a little.)

1. Everyone take out a piece of unlined paper and something to draw with.

2. Sit somewhere where you cannot see anyone else’s work. Don’t let your eyes wander. It is important that you focus only on your own work.

3. Follow my directions:

   a. Draw a triangle (give 2 minutes)
   b. Draw a circle (2 minutes)
   c. Draw a square (2 minutes)
   d. Draw a tree (3 minutes)
   e. Draw a person (3 minutes)

4. Everyone come back together in a circle and pass your artwork that you have just done around. Stop passing when your work comes back to you.

The Critique:

5. Now pass your artwork 3 people to the right.

6. Can anyone do a critique of the artwork they have in their hand now?

The Debrief:

7. OK. Now let’s talk about how this whole activity felt. What were some of the feelings you had as you were doing it? (Students will probably answer: nervous, afraid my work wasn’t going to be good enough, isolated, wanted to ask for more clarification but felt afraid, not sure of what your expectations were, vulnerable)

8. (Teacher needs to validate all of these feelings. Relate to your own experience: “I felt all of those things yesterday at my studio.” Let students know that you will do your best to give them more rationale for future activities, but that these feelings are part of being an art student. Students need to get used to feeling vulnerable, uncomfortable—they are going into uncharted territory. If it all felt comfortable, chances are, they wouldn’t be learning much. They need to remember that they are not alone and look to each other for support.)

Midterm Activity: Tell us something we don’t know...

Rationale:
To allow students to bond more in the class and with their classmates. It elevates respect for other students, sparks friendships, and encourages participation. Many students drop out because they don’t have a sense of “belonging.” This opens the doors for that to occur in the classroom. I have been doing this at midterm due to the fact that by that time, students are pretty comfortable with each other and there is a trust level in the class room. It could probably be done earlier as an instructor sees fit.

Adapted from Julie Johnson, Fashion Department

Instructions:
Ask each student to bring in three items that tell us something unusual about themselves that we don’t know. I also make arrangements to do the same. Some students don’t understand and bring in the obvious such fashion magazines they like. Obviously we know they like fashion because they are studying it. Another brought his car keys in – and I asked what was so unusual about a 19 year old guy with a car? Both went back and happily did it over. I encourage the international students to show something that will help us learn more about where they are from. Some fascinating things have come through!

Many students hear what others are sharing and decide they want to have another go at bringing in other items that are more revealing about who they are.

I have found out things that really add dimension to the student and in everyone’s eyes make them more interesting and approachable. Some of what has been shared includes a student who was a professional flamenco dancer, one whose mother died when he was 14 and a book given by a relative that helped him, and other personal bits that have great meaning to the student. Other students become more sympathetic or interested in a student who may have appeared shy or withdrawn.

This activity is something I assign as a project that is required. It really builds a stronger community in the class and students invest more in the class overall and there are actually fewer missed classes and assignments after so much self-revelation. They also appreciate the fact that as the instructor, I bring in my three items too.

ONLINE

Partner Introductions

Rationale:
This activity gets students used to talking directly to each other, helps them create a connection with at least one other student, and gives you background on your students useful in crafting personalized discussion and email responses.

Instructions:
Pair off your students and have them interview each other by email. They then post an introduction of their partner in the thread. (This activity could easily be done in the Welcome thread at the beginning of the semester.) If there are an odd number of students, you can be the partner for the extra student. You should give them a list of a few questions they are required to ask—name, major, hometown, etc.—and then give them some flexibility by requiring them to ask at least 3 questions of their own choosing—favorite movie and why, or reason for pursuing this industry, for example.

Roster by Birthdate

Rationale:
This activity encourages creative thinking, gets students used to talking to each other, and helps them see each other as people. The more familiar and comfortable they are with each other, the more participative and interactive they will be. It may even reveal that someone’s birthday is during the semester!

Instructions:
Students must create a list of all class members in order by birthdate (month/day). The trick is, they may not say the name of any month or state any numbers. For example, if my birthday is March 15, I could say I am born on the Ides of the shamrock month; however, if my birthday in July 5, I cannot say “Independence Day plus 1” because that statement includes a number.

Toast to Yourself

Rationale:
You can use their responses in many ways: it can be an opening to discuss the difficulty and importance of self-promotion; it gives you a reference point for your students’ perspectives and for personalizing messages to them; and it provides a creative hook when students struggle with project ideas.

Instructions:
Have each student write and post a toast to themselves, as if they were at a dinner party. Students should emphasize personal strengths, accomplishments, and traits of which they are proud.

Name Acronym Review

Rationale:
It is a great way to see what they have retained as well as letting them be creative.

Instructions:
Each student posts their name and thinks of words or phrases that correspond with the letters of their name and that relate to the topic they have been discussing. (i.e. BILL—Balance of composition, Illumination source, Line quality, Layers of charcoal/paint/etc).

Forced Analogies

Rationale:
This activity develops critical thinking skills and helps students learn to make connections between divergent class topics and between new and old knowledge, improving their learning retention.

Instructions:
Post 2 seemingly unrelated nouns (Smurf and Jeans) and ask students to post as many similarities or connections between them as possible. Students should be encouraged to be both literal or concrete (both items include an S, or have 5 letters, or are blue) and figurative or abstract (both were socially popular in the 80’s). Once students understand the activity, invite them to challenge the class by posting 2 nouns that seem unrelated.

For more activities to help you get to know your students go to Activities for Learning Names.