Break the ice

The first day of class is usually spent in part by getting acquainted and establishing goals. Icebreakers are techniques used at the first session to reduce tension and anxiety, and also to immediately involve the class in the course. Use an icebreaker because you want to, not as a time filler or because teaching guides say one should be used. Listed below are several examples of icebreakers.

• INTRODUCE MYSELF. Participants introduce themselves and tell why they are there. Variations: Participants tell where they first heard about the class, how they became interested in the subject, their occupations, home town, favorite television program, or the best book they have read in the last year.
• INTRODUCE ANOTHER. Divide the class into pairs. Each person talks about him/herself to the other, sometimes with specific instructions to share a certain piece of information. For example, "The one thing I am particularly proud of is..." After five minutes, the participants introduce the other person to the rest of the class.
• CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS. Have students write down one or two adjectives describing themselves. Put these on a stick-on badge. Have class members find someone with similar or opposite adjectives and talk for five minutes with the other person.
• I'VE DONE SOMETHING YOU HAVEN'T DONE. Have each person introduce themselves and then state something they have done that they think no one else in the class has done. If someone else has also done it, the student must state something else until he/she finds something that no one else has done.
• FIND SOMEONE. Each person writes on a blank index card one to three statements, such as favorite color, interest, hobby, or vacations. Pass out cards so everyone gets someone else's card. Have that person find the person with their card and introduce themselves.
• FAMOUS PERSON. People write a famous name on a piece of paper and pin it on someone else's back. Person tries to guess what name is pinned on his/her by asking others around the room yes or no questions. Variation: Use famous place instead of famous person.
• MY NAME. People introduce themselves and tell what they know about why they have their name (their mother wanted to name me after her great aunt Helen who once climbed Pike's Peak in high heels, etc.). It could be the first, middle or nickname.
• HOW DO YOU FEEL? Ask the students to write down words or phrases that describe their feelings on the first day of class. List the responses on the blackboard. Then ask them to write down what they think you as the teacher are feeling this first day of class. List them on the blackboard in a second column and note the parallels. Briefly comment on your feelings and then discuss the joint student/teacher responsibilities for learning in the course.
• COMMON GROUND. This works best for small groups or for each small group sitting together as a team (4-6 learners). Give the group a specific time (perhaps 5 minutes) to write a list of everything they all have in common. Tell them to avoid the obvious ("we're all taking this course"). When time is up, ask each group how many items they have listed. For fun, ask them to announce some of the most interesting items.
• ME TOO. This also works best for small groups or foe each small group sitting together as a team (4-6 learners). Everyone in the group gest 10 pennies/toothpicks/scrap of papers, etc. The first student states something he/she has done (e.g. water skiing). Everyone else who has done the same thing admits it and puts one penny in the middle of the table. Then the second person states something (e.g. I have eaten frogs' legs). Everyone who has done it puts another penny in the center. Continue until someone has run out of pennies.

These are just a few of the hundreds of icebreakers. Be creative and design your own variations. Don't be afraid to experiment and try different approaches, and above all, have fun and start that most important first day of class on the right foot!

Insubordinate reading

What with classes, sports, video games, and everything else life throws at a hapless student, it can be tough getting in some quality reading time. The solution is obvious; why not just read in school? The problem with schools encouraging students to read is that they rarely encourage students to read materials that they would have picked out on their own. For those of you who get the choice of what to read in class, you are lucky! This entry is for the rest of us.

Reading unassigned material in school can be maddeningly impossible. Granted, there are study halls, lunch breaks, and the walk between classes to put in quality reading time. However, what do you do if you have a book that is so exciting - say you're just coming to the end, or a mystery is about to be revealed, or it's just so good that you can't bear to put it down? Or what if the class is so horrible that you can't sit through it unaided? If you are no longer a student and instead reside in the working world, the following can also be applied to meetings although the repercussions can be a bit more severe.

What to do

Materials
Ideally, you need some form of desk or table to pull this off. A backpack will also facilitate the process. But have no fear if these things are not to be found, this process works for all situations!

Process
If you have none of these things, the best way to go about reading during class is to lean back against something with your notebook or textbook open vertically on your lap. Put your own book inside the notebook and hope that no one notices. Be sure not to let your books tilt away from you or someone will spot what's hidden inside. Without even a notebook to hide your activity, just try to keep your book as far out of the teacher's line of sight as possible and if caught choose a smaller book next time.

If you have a backpack or a large stack of other books place these on your desk so that the teacher can't see the area where you would normally be writing had you been paying attention in class. Now carefully take out your own book and slip most of it under your desk. Slump down low in your seat with your head at a slight angle. It should be down just enough to see the book but not so far as to appear to be reading it. This can be difficult.

Now, if the teacher assigns you something to read during the class period, you've got it made. There are several options here. You can read with the assigned book (this works best with large textbooks) propped up open on your desk, acting as a cover for the personal reading material that you slip inside. You can also lay the assigned material on your desk as a decoy while you read your book conveniently located in your lap. If you are feeling particularly rebellious, you can just read your own book flat on your desk and assume that the teacher won't notice that you aren't reading the assigned chapter because you're so engrossed in the reading and all text looks the same at 20 feet anyway.

If the teacher begins to look at you angrily then slip the book underneath your thigh or bottom and pretend to be engrossed in your notes. It is also wise to pay just enough attention to the lecture to be able to parrot back that last thing that the teacher said, in case you are suspected of not paying attention.
Some cautionary advice

If you are caught, it could result in a long boring talk with the teacher or worse, a detention. So be careful!

Advanced Studies
For those of you who have mastered the challenge of reading in class, no longer take classes, or are more engrossed in your book than ever, take note.
Some other places to read include:

• In the bath
• At meal-times (though this one is a fairly common sight)
• While in a car stopped at a red light (yes, this one's for the driver)
• In very slow moving traffic (not recommended)
• While stopped at a railway crossing
• Or just taking a walk, as evinced by one Researcher's experience:
If you have a lengthy regular walk I can confirm reading is perfectly easy, using peripheral vision to notice approaching obstacles - the only thing you tend to miss are low hanging branches.

Six methods of remembering new words

Often times, students have difficulty attaining new elements of vocabulary. Somehow, you have to trick your brain into storing these new pieces of information. The key is to make sure the new words don’t go into their passive registry, meaning that they know the meaning of the word when they see it, but they don’t use it in conversations. They have to go into their active registry, meaning that the words are being used on a regular basis. This is a list of tricks that helps students learn new words.

1. Make a list with translation
This is one of the most traditional methods. What you do is write down the words and its translation in the native language. This method has been criticized by teachers, because it hinders the developmental process. When speaking or writing, the student find himself thinking in his native language and making parallels with the English language in order to express himself. However, this can be avoided with lots of practice and audio-video incentive, such as movies, TV shows, documentaries. It remains one of the most popular methods of teaching a new language.

2. Make a mind map
This method is a great way of presenting a vocabulary set, such as: the days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons, colors and so forth. It is most efficient when you plan the outline beforehand and ask the students to help you complete the empty spaces. There are computer tools that make good mind maps, such as www.text2mindmap.com. This is particularly helpful if you use colors (for smaller students) or for people with a photographic memory.


3. Write the words in a sentence
A good way to attain new vocabulary is to contextualize. After presenting a new word, ask the students to form sentences with that word. The more creative and distinctive the sentence is, the more chance the children have of remembering the word. For people that lack creativity a good option would be to make personalized sentences, that would be much easier to remember.

4. Record the words in phrases or collocations
According to the new develompents in linguistics and teaching, words do not exist in and of themselves. It is best to get the students used to the word with frequent collocates and common phrases. The teacher can set the example by including useful and frequent phrases with new words as they come up and writing these on the board.



5. Make a story including the words
This option is useful for higher level students. It makes the words more memorable, but can present difficulties for people who lack creativity. An alternative for this would be a collaborative story done by a group of students. This method is also known as the story method.

6. Do a drawing or some kind of memory trigger
This is great for artistic students. You could make a “gallery of new words” section of the class wall or bulletin board. Another memory trigger could be based on a translation. Here is one example: The word for Spanish is arroz. Imagine a hail of arrows flying towards your bowl of rice.

Family snapshot

If you teach young learners who are all the same age and live in the same town, opportunities for sharing and comparing life experiences can feel more limited than they would be in a multi-national class of adult learners.

One nice idea with adults, for example, is to invite them to take a 'snapshot' of their lives 5, 10 or 20 years ago, depending on their age, which they can then compare with classmates.

But you can take the 'spiral' approach with young learners, and ask them to think about their own families.

Procedure

• Ask the learners to do a little research and find out what their parents or grandparents were doing on the same day (for fun – it doesn’t have to be exact) 10, 25 or 50 years ago.
• Learners come to the next lesson with that information and exchange with each other. You can build the results into a shared 'snapshot'.
• You can also ask the class to report on their shared snapshot: it might be possible to summarize the notes, perhaps in survey form, generating some basic statistics.
Extension
• Another question which takes the same approach is to ask young learners to find out who the first person in their family was to settle in that town, and build a timeline. They can also ask where their ancestors came from: you can record this on a map.
• If you are teaching a class of adult learners, you can of course ask the same question about their own lives.

101 things you can do the first three weeks of class

Introduction

Beginnings are important. Whether the class is a large introductory course for freshmen or an advanced course in the major field, it makes good sense to start the semester off well. Students will decide very early - some say the first day of class - whether they will like the course, its contents, the teacher, and their fellow students.

The following list of "101 Things You Can Do..." is offered in the spirit of starting off right. It is a catalog of suggestions for college teachers who are looking for a fresh way of creating the best possible environment for learning. Not just the first day, but the first three weeks of a course are especially important, studies say, in retaining capable students. Even if the syllabus is printed and lecture notes are ready to go in August, most college teachers can usually make adjustments in teaching methods as the course unfolds and the characteristics of their students become known.

These suggestions have been gathered from UNL professors and from college teachers elsewhere. The rationale for these methods is based on the following needs:
1) to help students make the transition from high school and summer or holiday activities to learning in college;
2) to direct students' attention to the immediate situation for learning - the hour in the classroom:
3) to spark intellectual curiosity - to challenge students;
4) to support beginners and neophytes in the process of learning in the discipline; 5) to encourage the students' active involvement in learning;
6) to build a sense of community in the classroom.

Ideas for the first three weeks

Here, then, are some ideas for college teachers for use in their courses as they begin a new semester.

Helping Students Make Transitions

1. Hit the ground running on the first day of class with substantial content.
2. Take attendance: roll call, clipboard, sign in, seating chart.
3. Introduce teaching assistants by slide, short presentation, or self-introduction.
4. Hand out an informative, artistic, and user-friendly syllabus.
5. Give an assignment on the first day to be collected at the next meeting.
6. Start laboratory experiments and other exercises the first time lab meets.
7. Call attention (written and oral) to what makes good lab practice: completing work to be done, procedures, equipment, clean up, maintenance, safety, conservation of supplies, full use of lab time.
8. Administer a learning style inventory to help students find out about themselves.
9. Direct students to the Learning Skills Center for help on basic skills.
10. Tell students how much time they will need to study for this course.
11. Hand out supplemental study aids: library use, study tips, supplemental readings and exercises.
12. Explain how to study for kind of tests you give.
13. Put in writing a limited number of ground rules regarding absence, late work, testing procedures, grading, and general decorum, and maintain these.
14. Announce office hours frequently and hold them without fail.
15. Show students how to handle learning in large classes and impersonal situations.
16. Give sample test questions.
17. Give sample test question answers.
18. Explain the difference between legitimate collaboration and academic dishonesty; be clear when collaboration is wanted and when it is forbidden.
19. Seek out a different student each day and get to know something about him or her.
20. Ask students to write about what important things are currently going on in their lives.
21. Find out about students' jobs; if they are working, how many hours a week, and what kinds of jobs they hold.

Directing Students' Attention

22. Greet students at the door when they enter the classroom.
23. Start the class on time.
24. Make a grand stage entrance to hush a large class and gain attention.
25. Give a pre-test on the day's topic.
26. Start the lecture with a puzzle, question, paradox, picture, or cartoon on slide or transparency to focus on the day's topic.
27. Elicit student questions and concerns at the beginning of the class and list these on the chalkboard to be answered during the hour.
28. Have students write down what they think the important issues or key points of the day's lecture will be.
29. Ask the person who is reading the student newspaper what is in the news today.

Challenging Students

30. Have students write out their expectations for the course and their own goals for learning.
31. Use variety in methods of presentation every class meeting.
32. Stage a figurative "coffee break" about twenty minutes into the hour; tell an anecdote, invite students to put down pens and pencils, refer to a current event, shift media.
33. Incorporate community resources: plays, concerts, the State Fair. government agencies. businesses, the outdoors.
34. Show a film in a novel way: stop it for discussion, show a few frames only, anticipate ending, hand out a viewing or critique sheet, play and replay parts.
35. Share your philosophy of teaching with your students.
36. Form a student panel to present alternative views of the same concept.
37. Stage a change-your-mind debate. with students moving to different parts of the classroom to signal change in opinion during the discussion.
38. Conduct a "living" demographic survey by having students move to different parts of the classroom: size of high school. rural vs. urban. consumer preferences...
39. Tell about your current research interests and how you got there from your own beginnings in the discipline.
40. Conduct a role-play to make a point or to lay out issues.
41. Let your students assume the role of a professional in the discipline: philosopher, literary critic, biologist. agronomist. political scientist. engineer.
42. Conduct idea-generating or brainstorming sessions to expand horizons.
43. Give students two passages of material containing alternative views to compare and contrast.
44. Distribute a list of the unsolved problems. dilemmas. or great questions in your discipline and invite students to claim one as their own to investigate.
45. Ask students what books they've read recently.
46. Ask what is going on in the state legislature on this subject which may affect their future.
47. Let your students see the enthusiasm you have for your subject and your love of learning.
48. Take students with you to hear guest speakers or special programs on campus.
49. Plan "scholar-gypsy" lesson or unit which shows students the excitement of discovery in your discipline.

Providing Support

50. Collect students' current telephone numbers and addresses and let them know that you may need to reach them.
51. Check out absentees. Call or write a personal note.
52. Diagnose the students' prerequisites learning by questionnaire or pre-test ant give them the feedback as soon as possible.
53. Hand out study questions or study guides.
54. Be redundant. Students should hear, read. or see key material at least three times.
55. Allow students to demonstrate progress in learning: summary quiz over the day's work. a written reaction to the day's material.
56. Use non-graded feedback to let students know how they are doing: post answers to ungraded quizzes and problem sets, exercises in class, oral feedback.
57. Reward behavior you want: praise, stars, honor roll, personal note.
58. Use a light touch: smile, tell a good joke, break test anxiety with a sympathetic comment.
59. Organize. Give visible structure by posting the day's "menu" on chalk- board or overhead.
60. Use multiple media: overhead, slides, film, videotape, audio tape, models, sample material.
61. Use multiple examples, in multiple media. to illustrate key points and . important concepts.
62. Make appointments with all students (individually or in small groups).
63. Hand out wallet-sized telephone cards with all important telephone numbers listed: office department, resource centers, teaching assistant, lab.
64. Print all important course dates on a card that can be handed out and taped to a mirror.
65. Eavesdrop on students before or after class and join their conversation about course topics.
66. Maintain an open lab gradebook. with grades kept current. during lab time so that students can check their progress.
67. Check to see if any students are having problems with any academic or campus matters and direct those who are to appropriate offices or resources.
68. Tell students what they need to do to receive an "A" in your course.
69. Stop the work to find out what your students are thinking feeling and doing in their everyday lives.

Encouraging Active Learning

70. Have students write something.
71. Have students keep three-week-three-times-a-week journals in which they comment. ask questions. and answer questions about course topics.
72. Invite students to critique each other's essays or short answer on tests for readability or content.
73. Invite students to ask questions and wait for the response.
74. Probe student responses to questions ant wait for the response.
75. Put students into pairs or "learning cells" to quiz each other over material for the day.
76. Give students an opportunity to voice opinions about the subject matter.
77. Have students apply subject matter to solve real problems.
78. Give students red, yellow, and green cards (mate of posterboard) and periodically call for a vote on an issue by asking for a simultaneous show of cards.
79. Roam the aisles of a large classroom and carry on running conversations with students as they work on course problems (a portable microphone helps).
80. Ask a question directed to one student and wait for an answer.
81. Place a suggestion box in the rear of the room and encourage students to make written comments every time the class meets.
82. Do oral show of-hands multiple choice tests for summary review and instant feedback.
83. Use task groups to accomplish specific objectives.
84. Grade quizzes and exercises in class as a learning tool.
85. Give students plenty of opportunity for practice before a major test.
86. Give a test early in the semester and return it graded in the next class meeting.
87. Have students write questions on index cards to be collected and answered the next class period.
88. Make collaborate assignments for several students to work on together.
89. Assign written paraphrases and summaries of difficult reading.
90. Give students a take-home problem relating to the days lecture.
91. Encourage students to bring current news items to class which relate to the subject matter and post these on a bulletin board nearby.

Building Community

92. Learn names. Everyone makes an effort to learn at least a few names.
93. Set up a buddy system so students can contact each other about assignments and coursework.
94. Find out about your students via questions on an index card.
95. Take pictures of students (snapshots in small groups, mug shots) and post in classroom, office, or lab.
96. Arrange helping trios of students to assist each other in learning and growing.
97. Form small groups for getting acquainted; mix and form new groups several times.
98. Assign a team project early in the semester and provide time to assemble the team.
99. Help students form study groups to operate outside the classroom.
100. Solicit suggestions from students for outside resources and guest speakers on course topics.

Feedback on Teaching

101. Gather student feedback in the first three weeks of the semester to improve teaching and learning.

The Name Game

The Name Game is a collaborative learning exercise which accomplishes a variety of important things:

• It makes you learn your students' names quickly and it makes your students learn each other's names quickly.
• It creates a sense of fun and involvement in the early weeks of the semester.
• It demonstrates that collaboration has advantages over working in isolation.

Lots of professors play a variant of the Name Game, but our version is based on what we call "the group mind" technique. We tell the students that we have three weeks (or three classes or whatever) to learn each others' names and that we are all responsible for insuring that everyone does it. We explain that cultures all over the world have developed strategies for insuring the social distribution of knowledge, such that if one person is lost, the knowledge is retained somewhere else in the group (you can skip this step if you teach, say, engineering and don't want to talk about fuzzy stuff like culture). We encourage them to help each other in the learning process.

Start by having seven to ten students introduce themselves and then ask an individual in the group to name other individual: "Luke, which one of these people is Rick?" "Rick, point to Susan." "Susan, what is the name of the person sitting next to Attila?"
If Susan doesn't know the name of the person next to Attila, we'll say, "Ask Attila" or "Ask Luke!" In doing it this way, we can keep everyone on his or her tiptoes, because anyone might be made responsible for an answer at any time - and everyone knows that someone nearby can be counted on for help. No one is made to feel stupid, because the entire group helps out.

At the beginning (and sometimes at the end) of each class in the designated period, we play The Name Game: "Susan, is Attila here today?" "Bob, what is the name of that woman coming in the door?" "Kathy, point to two people named Mike."

This is also a nice technique to interject into the middle of a long class, just to shake up people's minds and get their attention revved up.

Common Visual Aids

Flip Charts/Posters

ADVANTAGES:
- easy and inexpensive to make and update
- portable and transportable
- left in view of the audience
- good for interaction with the audience
DISADVANTAGES:
- unsuitable for large groups
- anxiety-provoking for facilitator with poor handwriting or poor spelling

Slides

ADVANTAGES:
- professional in appearance
- good for large groups
DISADVANTAGES:
- formal and impersonal
- shown in the dark
- not good for discussion and interaction
- more difficult to update than other visual aids
- require special equipment

Videos

ADVANTAGES:
- professional in appearance
- good for large or small groups
DISADVANTAGES:
- more expansive than other visual aids
- requires special equipment
- not good for discussion and interaction
- require accurate cueing

Overhead Transparencies

ADVANTAGES:
- good for large gropus
- easy to create
- easy to transport
- provide an informal atmosphere
- open to interaction with groups
- easy to update
DISADVANTAGES:
- impermanent; they yellow with age
- require less common equipment

Computer Projections (e.g., PowerPoint™)

ADVANTAGES:
- professional in appearance
- evidence of preparation
- good for large or small group
- easy to integrate with classroom discussion
- animated
- up-to-date technology
- easy to update
DISADVANTAGES:
- require special equipment/facilities
- require initial training to create
- require significant time to create
- require basic graphics/composition skills

Samples, Examples, and Mock-Ups

ADVANTAGES:
- real-world/authentic
- three dimensional
- sometimes inexpensive and readily available
- experience may be tactile/auditory as well as visual
DISADANTAGES:
- sometimes difficult or impossible to acquire
- often difficult to handle or distribute
- require storage space
- usually out of natural environment