Last week was the first week of school, and I wanted to show the students that my class is not going to be another boring class where they are sitting in their desk all period long. They need to know that I'm not only allowing them to collaborate with each other, but that it's required to be successful.
Below are a few activities we did in class that I felt worked really well.
The Big Question
One of the activities we did in our staff meetings before school started was called 'the Big Question". Everyone in the room is given a card face down and told not to look at it. When prompted the students/teachers flip over the card and find someone in the room they have not met and ask the question that is listed on the card. The other person responds to the question and then asks the question on their card. Once each student has asked and answered their questions then they switch cards and then find someone else in the room to repeat the process.
The students did an awesome job with this activity and really seemed to like it. My partner came up with all of the questions, but I'll list a few of them below.
- Where is one place on Earth you would like to travel?
- What would you do with a million dollars if you won the lottery?
- What is your dream job?
- What is your favorite meal of all-time?
- If you could be any Disney character, who would you be and why?
We used it as a get to know you activity, but you could easily substitute content into the cards. I think it would make for a great review game. One extension could be that if a student couldn't answer the question it was responsibility of the questioner to re-teach the concept.
Face-Off
Another game we played was called Face-Off. In this game you will line the students up into two lines that are facing each other. Each student is given a card. It's similar to the Big Question where each student asks and answers a question. The difference comes when the students rotate. Only one line moves a step to the left or right. The person at the front of the line moves to the end.
We used this activity to discuss lab safety violations. Each of the cards had a scenario on them with an improper use of lab equipment. The students were tasked with determining what the violation was and how they would correct it. It worked out great and got students up and moving around.
Four Corners
In this activity we designated the four corners of the room to be different generic answers to statements that we were making. The four corners were labeled as follows
- Definitely Agree
- Sometimes I Agree
- Often Disagree
- Definitely Disagree
Once the areas of the room had been established then I would make statements and the students would move to their position in the room. From there I would have them elaborate on their opinions. I was able to find out some valuable information about my students in a fun way. Some of the different statement I asked are listed below
- The iPhone is the best phone on the market.
- Athletics are an important part of my middle school life.
- I like to work in teams.
- I would prefer to present my findings by creating a video/movie.
- I like to do any homework I have immediately after school.
I have also seen this activity done at EdCamps with teachers. The session was called "Things that Suck and Things that Don't Suck". I would obviously avoid using that title in the classroom though.
You can adapt any of these activities to content throughout the year. What are some of your go-to activities to get students engaged and talking with each other? Please share them in the comments below.
