For many students it is hard to picture a teacher having a life outside of the classroom and when a student runs into a teacher at the supermarket buying a case of beer for their Superbowl party, time seems to stop and their mind explodes. However, as teachers we are very aware that our students have a life outside of school time that includes sports, clubs, studying, family issues, and jobs. Although we know that students have other things to do other than homework after school, sometimes as teachers we don't know what our students are actually doing outside of class. This is an important issue because how do we connect to our students if we don't even know what interests them aside from which class they like to complain the most about? This is where ice breakers come into play and where "spying" on your students outside of your classroom is a good idea.
When I refer to "spying" on students I mean watch how they interact in the hallways when they are not being forced to sit in a chair and pay attention. Who do they hang out with? Do they linger in the hallway often? Do they rush to classes? Are they pushing the same kid everyday? Are they loud and smiling or solemn? By observing the students in this position we can note a lot about their behavior when not being watched by a teacher.
Icebreakers are the types of games that teachers normally play with students so that the class can get to know them better. These games are essential in my opinion because in a normal class time, the students are learning about the subject at hand not realizing common connections and making friends. Although some teachers are not worried about students making connections, connections make the class feel more comfortable with each other and allow for more open-minded conversations. Some examples of icebreakers include the human knot and two truths and a lie. The human knot is when the group intertwines their hands and arms and then have to untangle themselves. Two truths and a lie is when each student writes down two interesting facts about themselves and one lie, then they read them aloud to the class and the class has to decide together which of the three statements is a lie. The icebreaker that I did with the 7th and 8th graders had two parts. Part one was that everyone had five minutes to write down five interesting facts about themselves. Once they were done the students are instructed to wad up their paper with their name and facts on it and throw the papers around the room for exactly one minute to mix up their papers well. After a minute students are expected to stop and pick up a wad of paper off the floor and sit back down in their seats. For part two, students will then go up one by one and introduce the person to the class by reading their interesting facts aloud and allowing two follow up questions from their peers. In order to let the students get to know the teacher better, I also threw my facts into the mix and had a student introduce me as their student teacher.
By doing these two activities the first week of classes, I found that a lot of students have commonalities:
-They love horror movies and about 80% of every class agreed they wanted to watch the new PG-13 movie called "The Visit". I know this because as soon as I asked who liked scary movies the entire class exploded with talks about their favorites and how bad they all wanted to see the new possessed grandparents movie. Also, they really liked the "Insidious" movies.... questionable but okay.
-They love sports: mainly soccer, football, and dance.
-Most students enjoy listening to hip-hop and rap. Keep in mind that these students mentioned listening to J-Cole and 2Chainz both of who use sex, drugs, and sometimes guns as a common song theme. I'm hoping that my 12-14 year old students do not know what "Planes" by J-Cole actually means when he says, "ain't nobody gonna see you on your knees in your Prada's".
-A surprising amount of students enjoy anime themed shows and books, which I didn't even know was a big following until now.
-The biggest similarity was that every student had a diverse background. Many were Latinos, Jamaican, Italian, Arabic, Asian, Chilean, and different branches of Native American. This is a similarity and a difference in itself.
Even though these commonalities seem trivial, for the most part people just need that one "in" to spark up a conversation with someone else, especially preteens who are awkward as hell and are super sensitive. That is a whole other blog post though....
Besides the movies and sports, these students bring other issues into the classroom, not just their likes and dislikes. Just from being here one week I have already heard four students tell me they were adopted, about a dozen mention that they can't afford new school shoes and it's a waste of money (even though they need them for their school uniform), and have been informed of at least five students who are recovering from behavior issues founded from their home lives. These students don't leave their home issues at the front door, they are carried on their backs all day and may prohibit them from having a full educational experience. Regardless of the student, each one has their own lives and their lives outside of the classroom are just as important as their lives in the class.
The lesson learned from this post is that students are expected to be students while in the classroom but teachers need to be sensitive of the differences and lives of the students outside of school.
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