Icebreakers We No Longer Use With Students
by Ken Shelton and Matt Hiefield
It that time of year!! Most families, educators, and learners are both excited and anxious about new beginnings. Many students look forward to reuniting with friends not seen since this past June, making new friends, and (hopefully!) taking on new academic challenges. For educators, the new year also provides the chance to finally implement that amazing pedagogical shift planned in Summer PD. Reflective teachers know the importance of building an inclusive classroom culture can/should occur on Day 1. In fact there is a wonderful anecdote by our friend Tom Murray that captures the excitement and importance of Day 1. When dynamic chemistry of curiosity, respect, and collaboration is created, teaching and learning are joyful endeavors.
One of the early challenges and opportunities is to create the conditions for establishing authentic relationships between students who might be strangers as well as enhance those between students who already know each other. This is no easy feat, and the start of the school year icebreaker activities become important tools for breaking down many of these barriers. However, not all icebreakers are equal in their impact. In fact, some “get to know you” activities, although well-intentioned, can actually alienate, or worse, cause avoidable trauma in students. Here are two icebreakers that we will never do again.
Example 1 from Ken Shelton
Let me start off by sharing that I learned how one of my go-to icebreakers, one that I was taught and encouraged to use by grad school professors and by numerous administrators, was a traumatic problem for some of my students. One student, after I had done this “icebreaker” for 3 years (ugh) shared with me how it was unfair and made them feel they were less than many of their classmates. I have to thank that student for sharing this with me and for ensuring I would be mindful of the impact to not do it again. Now on to what the icebreaker was. For my first 3 years as a full-time classroom teacher, I always asked the same series of questions at the beginning of the school year.
- What did you do over the summer?
- What are your goals for this year?
- What are you going to do to meet those goals?
I learned from a former student many reasons why these are not the right questions to be asking and how they may have created a mindset of inferiority. The first question I learned can create the conditions and feelings for a higher value being placed on students that have economic resources available to take the summer trips or do the amazing summer camps. I had some students who took European, Hawaiian, etc. vacations with their families. Their trips were amazing and they loved to share many of the stories with me. However, that question inherently diminishes the value of the experiences the students in the class had that may not have involved travel to an exotic or cool location. I had students that worked over the summer, many of which worked in the family business. I also had students who took care of their siblings. Therefore, I immediately changed the first and subsequent questions to ensure the start of class was not only more inclusive but also culturally responsive for all my students. The questions and subsequent conversations shifted to:
- Did you learn any new skill sets, enhance any existing skill sets, or gain any additional understanding of something (including yourself) over the Summer that we can all benefit from in the class?
- Have you given any thought to the goals you might want to have for the year? Do my support and contributions play a role in the goals you may have set?
- If you have not had an opportunity to determine goals for yourself this year let’s make sure we take the time to discuss together over the next week or two.
The typical icebreaker questions that are easy to ask sometimes just solidify differences and create alienation. Reframing questions to be more inclusive all all summer experiences can better set the state for a healthy classroom dynamic.
Example 2 from Matt Hiefield
I always like to try new activities, and a few years back I thought it would be fun to integrate a google form questionnaire to provide the class with an overall view of the diversity of experience and wisdom that we had collectively. Many of the questions were fairly straight forward and dealt with interests, family history, learning styles, etc. I even had a question that asked students to interview their own parent/guardian about their education and to write a short response.
I told the students to go home to finish their icebreaker responses and that we would look at some of the whole class results at the start of the next class. Well, what I failed to realize that that time was that not all students had connectivity at home and that a few students had parents who had no formal education beyond 5th grade. Although it was true that just about every student in the class had a phone, I later found out that some of the students did not have data plans and simply used the WiFi network at school. Indeed, when we looked at the results of the survey during the next class, about 5 out of my 32 students had not completed the icebreaker. On the face of it, it might not seem like a big deal, and in fact, the class went on to another icebreaker activity as we continued to build classroom culture. Yet, I later realized that creating an activity that excluded students on the very first day of school was just not good practice. As a educator, I had always taken connectivity issues and parental educational background for granted. My good intentions did not work for some students, and I don’t send home activities like that without getting to know my students better.
Conclusion:
Icebreakers are a great way to build relationships and community, but thinking closely about how they can leave some students out is essential. Our students come from diverse backgrounds, and a well-intentioned icebreaker used several years ago just might not be helpful today, or may not even have been helpful then. Icebreaker activities help set the classroom culture for the entire year. When activities alienate some students, then it can be tough to rekindle an inclusive atmosphere. When every student can fully participate, though, the classroom foundation for the entire year is much stronger.
