I do the introductions very informally. I ask for someone's name.
Me: "What's your name?" Student A: "Tim." Me: "What do you do for fun?" Student A: "Snowboard." Me: "Anyone else snowboard?" Wait for hand to go up... Look at Student B with hand up. Me: "What's your name?" Student B: "Carrie." Me: "Have you been snowboarding out of state?" Student B: "Sure, Utah." Me: "Anyone here from Utah? Been to Utah? Want to go to Utah?" It makes me feel a little like a stage performer working the crowd, but it serves my purpose. I use whatever comes to mind to move on to someone else. I try to use some info from the last person I spoke with, but if they didn't give me anything to play off, I go with whatever happens to come to mind. Have more than 5 siblings? Want to move to Hawaii? Liked calculus? Have a pair of bell bottoms? I make several jokes as we talk to keep it light, to let them laugh with each other, and have them leave with some positive associations. All of the students say something out loud, but they don't have to think about what they should say. And because I'm jumping all around the room, students don't worry about being next -- or maybe they ~all~ worry about being next! In any case, the students don't have to generate something to say. I'll be there to prompt them with a question. (Having once been a quiet student, I'm very conscious of not pushing all of my students into course-required extraversion.) Another activity I've used is giving pairs of students true/false questions about material they'll encounter in the course, and ask them to come to agreement on all of the questions. Then they form a foursome with another group, and, again, come to agreement. This is great for generating some level of excitement about what's coming later. But it's less fun for me. =) -----Original Message----- From: Marie Helweg-Larsen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 12:19 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Ideas for student introductions first class Hello all I'm looking for a fresh idea for getting to know my students on the first day of class. I'm teaching Research Methods (although this doesn't have anything to do with research methods per se) and I have 30 students and only about 30 min to do the whole "get to know each other exercise". Typically I have students write some basic info on an index card and then I have them discuss something with another student before introducing that other student to class (I typically take notes on the index card they have completed). Over the years I've tried all the usual ideas of having them introduce each other, have them find odd similarities between themselves and another student, have them say what they look forward to and fear about the class, who they would they have dinner with if they could pick anyone, what famous people they met, etc. Those ideas worked fine (although it can be a little dull with 30 students saying similar things) but I am looking for something new and interesting. Any ideas? It can be a little off beat - it just can't take a whole lot of time! Thanks Marie -- ********************************************* Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 ********************************************* --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
