Ideas for the first week of classes!

GETTING THINGS GOING: IDEAS FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES

Student introductions

Many first year university and college students come from small communities and few of
them know each other. Here are some ways to help them become more comfortable at
university/college, and more comfortable participating in class.

1. Ask students to introduce themselves to the two or three students sitting near them.
They could share information such as where they are from, what other courses they
are taking, whether they are living in residence or off-campus, etc.

2. Have students sifting near each other arrange to meet for coffee or lunch the
following week. You could follow up a couple of weeks later to see how many
groups managed to make the coffee/lunch date and could use this as an opportunity
to point out the value of out-of-class study groups.

3. Distribute 3 × 5 cards and ask students to write down what their biggest concern or
fear is about university/college, this course, etc. If the class is very large, instructors
can tell the class they will report on the common themes next class; or the cards
could be collected, shuffled and redistributed for anonymity. If the class is large,
students could just read for themselves the card they get and those of students
sitting nearby; or if the class is small enough, the students could read out loud the
concern written on their card. Everyone would probably not need to read since the
instructor could ask "how many of you have cards with a similar concern on them?”

4. If the class is not too large, name chains are a good icebreaker. Each student says
their name (and, if a very small class, they could say something about themselves)
preceded by the names of the previous two or three people. A variation on this is for
the students to use only their first names and think of an “appropriate” alliteration to
go with it; e.g., marvellous Margaret, fabulous Freddy, windsurfing Wendy,
daredevil Dan, etc. Again each student says their own name and those of the
previous two or three students. Be sure to caution them that these names often stick
for the rest of their university/college life.

5. Use paired interviews. Students pair off and interview each other about name, home
town, why they are taking the course and what else they are taking. If the class is
small (e.g. tutorial) the students could then introduce each other to the whole group.