I had my first ever college professor (8 a.m. World Civ.) begin the class with,
“Look to your right. Now, look to your left. 2/3 of the freshmen students at this institution either flunk out or drop out by the end of the academic year. Which of the three of you do you think will be here at the end of the year? If it is not you, may I at least suggest you enjoy yourself before you head back home. It would be sad to think you did not enjoy all the advantages of a college town before heading back to Delta to tend sheep or Colorado Springs to sell used cars or to Walsenburg to do whatever one does in Walsenburg.”
While it was not an ice breaker, it definitely woke us up.
We have several physics profs who start the semester by riding into the classroom on a tricycle powered by the exhaust from a CO[SUB]2[/SUB] fire extinguisher; a very dramatic demonstration of action/reaction. Another classic, used to illustrate the nature of scientific inquiry: Two identical balloons are tethered to the lecture table. In order to distinguish between them, a match is held underneath each. It turns out one is filled with helium, the other hydrogen, and the difference is easily observed.
This must be something that is taught in World Civ Professor School, because my own World Civ professor said something remarkably similar. Scared the hell out of me the first semester I had him. (FTR, I got high As from him both times.)
Oh wow, you’re so evil and sneaky. It’s as though you aren’t going to call on all the students anyway. Man, if only my professors were as clever as you. :rolleyes:
Another thing I don’t understand is, we’re all on a limited schedule. The students catch hell if they waste time in class talking or whatever, but profs think it’s fun to waste an entire class period? In all seriousness, why do you do that? There’s got to be a less annoying way to get to know students. Why don’t you just have an informal Q&A, or start lecturing about something totally out there and unexpected and even educational to see what their reactions are? Or fuck, make them write an essay about themsevles. At least that way you aren’t wasting class time. If the intent is to make students get to know each other, then forget about it. Trust me, they don’t give a fuck. And if they did give a fuck, they’ll make the effort after class to meet people and introduce themselves.
Man, just thinking about it is making my blood pressure rise. From now on, I’m going to do what phall0106 did.
I was thinking of a lot of examples, my own, and those of professors I have studied and worked with since 1983.
For sheer attention getting, hands down, it’s the prof at my partner’s uni who introduced himself on the first day of class, and collapsed immediately from a heart attack.
He did fully recover, and finished the semester – and apparently the students leapt into action at once, and much of his recovery was due to their prompt attention.
My partner tells me of another prof, can’t remember if it were someone where he worked, or when he was at uni, poor old thing introduced himself to his class, and dropped dead. Crikey.
When I taught, I never bothered with ice breakers cos I hated them as a student; I usually just got right down to work scaring the hell out of my students.
There was an incident at the University of Iowa involving a class taught entirely in German, a student who apparently wasn’t too gut mit der Deutsch, and viewing of a film (Taxi Zum Klo) that featured explicit homosexual sex. Watching the film was an optional activity, and not required for the class, but die Studentin did not realize that, and apparently it warped her fragile little mind.
Much freaking out ensued. This lead to the institution of something called the “Unusual and Unexpected” policy, which stated that if the instructor is going to do anything “unusual” or “unexpected” in class, (s)he was supposed to clearly announce this ahead of time (preferably in English), and provide an alternate activity for students who did not wish to participate.
My opinion on this whole thing, and everyone involved: :rolleyes:
Anyway, like many of the faculty, the prof of a classics course I was taking the semester after the Taxi to the Bathroom incident was frothing mad at this new policy, and devoted the first day of class doing unusual and unexpected things, such as: climbing onto a table at the front of the classroom and lecturing from up there, putting on a funny hat and lecturing like that for a while, dancing a little jig as he lectured, lecturing from the back of the classroom instead of the front, lecturing in Pig Latin (mercifully for just a few sentences), and other shenanigans. Then he said that he would continue to do unusual and unexpected things all semester, and anyone who had a problem with that had a wide variety of classics electives to choose from, and probably wouldn’t be happy in this one.
All told, the course was educational but quite tame, but the first day sure sticks in my memory.
You are DEFINITELY not alone. Ice breakers are always a pointless waste of time and I hated professors/TAs who insisted on doing them.
The funniest ones are when they pass around a bag of candy (Starburst, Skittles, the like) and tell everyone to take some. So kids grab handfuls of candy thinking there will be no consequences (greed ALWAYS has consequences), and of course they have to say something interesting about themselves for each piece they took. I always know what’s coming so I take none, or one if I am forced.)
I think I really resented the implication of the teacher (“I can get an idea of what kind of personality you have from a few stupid questions”), and the other implication that if not forced to get to know other students, class communication will fail miserably. I for one certainly don’t need to know the guy next to me likes to play blues guitar to ask him for yesterday’s notes.
Oh, I just remembered my favorite story about the get-to-know you time in one of my classes. It was a writing class, so we had to say our name, major and what kind of writing we usually engage in. Most people had the same boring answers (journalism, short fiction, the Great American Novel, etc.) except for the goth-looking kid in the back. He was dressed in all black, long black hair and he just said “I like to write comedy” and it was really one of the funnier things I’ve ever heard during an ice breaker.
I don’t mind icebreakers in principle, the problem I have with them is that they’re often boring and lame. “State your name and say something about yourself” - BORING. If it’s a genuinely cool/unique icebreaker, I’m all for it.
Also, profs who go out of their way to joke around, have fun, get to know their students are the best kind. They make class so much more enjoyable.
I think the ice breakers are kinda stupid. Unless it’s the type of class that the students are going to be discussing things daily and interacting as a part of the class, then I don’t see why it’s necessary to have everyone introduce themselves. It makes some people extremely nervous to get up and talk, so why put them through it if it’s not necessary?
Now, if the prof wants to start off with a joke or something that’s fine.
As for this, I would not be amused. It’s not high school, so don’t treat your students like children. It’s your job to teach them something, not to “call on” them and make them uncomfortable. If I’m paying my hard-earned money to take a class I’m not going to appreciate the professor trying to make a fool of me.
The economics TA who started by calling the roll, then asking if my parents were who she thought they were (we were both recent transplants from the same town), then went on to tell the story of why fire trucks are red.
Everyone was quiet after the tale, and just looked at me. So I spoke up and asked about non-red fire trucks …
Luckily we were her first class, ever, so she didn’t end up repeating it all day … poor kid.
I’m with those who hate icebreakers.
Especially the one where you all introduce yourself or where you have to chat up your neighbor.
I go to a lot of 1 and 2 day professional seminars to keep my certification, and whenever they start with that I know the teacher is ill prepared and is filling the day the easy way.
Start with an icebreaker, throw in a few “projects” like “list your strengths & faults on this topic”… and let’s all get out of here early to beat the traffic.
If I have to pay for a course I want to learn something, not get three or four time-killers.
My creative writing prof had us do the traditional “talk to your neighbor, find out 3-4 interesting things about her etc.” icebreaker, with one caveat: in presenting the information to the rest of the class, we were instructed to introduce at least one deliberate lie. And a good lie, not some harebrained whopper (“This is Mandy, and she has the gift of flight”).
At my orientation thingie for first year grad students, we were given the ‘look around, 2/3 will be gone at the end of the first year, blah blah’ speech too.
I graduated with a PhD, and I tend a flock of sheep.
Well, my sophomore electrical engineering weeder class at CU (Go Buffs!) was Introduction to Circuit Analysis and my section was taught by the Dean of the EE Department, and scheduled at 7am.
We show up the first day, and for an icebreaker, he seats us all alphabetically. Since my last name starts with C, I was in the Front Row, Center.
Then he tells us, “I will take roll every session. You can be absent or late only once before it affects your grade.”
Also, “You can miss only one homework assignment before it affects your grade.”
Did I mention that I am not a morning person? That my dorm room was right across the street from the classroom, so it was far too easy to oversleep? And that I overslept the 6am final by two hours?
I was warned not to take that section. That he was the John Houseman, Paper Chase Nightmare, of the School of Engineering. But it was the only section that fit in with the rest of my schedule.
I should have listened, because I had to repeat that class the following semester…
The last three years, I’ve taught at a school so small, there’s no need to do any sort of ice-breaker. All the kids know each other. As a first activity, I have them take out a piece of paper and put their heading on it, giving them the impression that they’re going to get a quiz. Then I tell them to write down every curse word, every insult, every nasty saying they can come up with. Since I’m working with middle and high school students, there’s usually a moment of baffled silence and then great enthusiasm as they scribble down everything they can think of. Some of them have filled up two full sheets.
Then, I tell them to title their papers “Things I Can’t Say In Class”.
It never fails to get numerous groans and gets them used to the idea that I don’t tolerate mean behavior in my classroom.
What’s the fire truck story, and why would it bring utter silence to a classroom?