Icebreakers & Closing-Makers
| GETTING TO KNOW YOU |
Give all students the table listed below. Ask the students to write down their three favorite foods, places they would like to visit, and movies. After they have finished, the students more around the room in order to discover the name of each classmate and to find which students share their particular interests. When students discover a classmate with similar interests, they write down the name os that student on their table.
After each student has talked to every other student in class, have the students return to their seats. Next, ask a student to stand up, tell the class what his interests are, then point to and name the students with similar interests.
The purpose of this exercise is to enable the students to know their classmates (and instructor, if she/he chooses to participate).
FAVORITES!!!
| FAVORITE FOODS |
PLACES TO VISIT | FAVORITE MOVIES |
| 1.
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1.
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1.
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| 2.
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2 . |
2.
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| 3.
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3.
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3.
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| THE NAME GAME |
Have students sit in a circle. One student begins by telling her/his name and one fact about herself/himself. The next student tells one fact about herself/himself and then repeats the fact about the student who went before her/him. The thirs student states a fact about herself/himself and repeats the facts about the other two students. This continues until every person in the room has shared something and repeated every other fact. The instructor should go last.
The purpose of this ice breaker is to enable students to remember their classmate's names and to create associations.
Variation:
Follow the above directions except have the students share a fact that begins with the letter of his/her first name.
This may make remembering their names easier.
| CREATIVE SENTENCES |
Have the students sit in a circle. Tell each of them to think about the frustrations or questions they have about taking the class. Have the students write down these frustrations using the letters of their first name for example: KAREN [taking a speech class]:
1. What Kinds of speeches do we have to do?
2. Audience reactions
3. Will we have to do Research?
4. How Easy is the grading?
5. How can I become less Nervous?
The purpose of this is to ease student fears or concerns regarding the class. It is a good way to go over the syllabus and your expectations without having to read the syllabus to them.
Closing-Makers
| ROUNDUP REVIEW |
Make ten (you can make more if you need to) posters with the headings of several important chapters or themes for the semester. Tape the posters ip around the room. Have to students go around the room writing facts about each of the themes under the appropriate headings. Students must not copy facts that are already listed on the poster and they must initial the facts they added. The student that has the most correct statements initialed wins a prize.
The prize could be candy or extra points.
The purpose of this closer is to help students study for a final exam.
| TIC-TAC-TOE MEETS MATCH GAME |
The object of the game is to get a tic-tac-toe by matching answers from the "X" or "O" Team to the board members.
Choose nine students to sit in the front of the classroom. Give each student both and X or an O card; then organize the students into three rows of three. They are the tic-tac-toe board. Divide the rest of the class into two teams [as evenly as possible]. One team is X and the other is O.
The instructor will ask one student from the X team a question. He/she must then write the answer down on a sheet of paper. If he/she does not know the answer, the question goes to a student on the other team, who then must write down the answer.
Once one student has written down the answer, then that student asks one of the nine board members the same question. When the board member responds with a correct response, the X or O team member who asked the question holds up his/her paper to show there is a match. If the students' answers match, the board member will hold up his or her X or O card. However, if that board member doesn't know the answer, no letter is placed.
The purpose of this closer is to review for the end of the semester.
| TABOO |
For each team, make a list of 5 to 10 words or phrases that describe a key term from the semester. Next write the key term on the top of a blank sheet of paper. Students will use these sheets to brainstorm their own lists.
Divide the class into teams as evenly as possible. Give each team a sheet of paper with the key phrase on it. Explain to the students that they should not show their key phrases to the other teams.
Give the teams 5 minutes to brainstorm as many words as they can think of that relate to the key phrase. Have them write their ideas on the blank sheet of paper. Give each team your list of words for each phrase. Tell them to compare their list to your list and scratch off all of the words that are the same.
Have each group turn over their brainstorming papers and number their paper for as many teams as you have, minus their own team. A student from each team will read the words not crossed off the list. The students from other teams will write down the key phrase they think is being referred to by each team.
After each team has gone, the instructor will tell the class which teams had which key phrases. They can then discuss what words were crossed off the lists.
Variation:
Take words, phrases, dates ect. From the semester. Create headings from these categories. Under each heading put key ideas that relate to it. Divide the class into two groups. Have one member of each group come up and convey the phrase to his/her teammates without using the five best clues.
For example:
Peripheral cues
Language
Fear
Color
Scent
Dress
The purpose of this closer is to strengthen student' brainstorming skills while reviewing key phrases.
| CLASSMATE BINGO |
Write down 16 questions numbered 1-16. Hand these questions and a game board to each student. The students must then go and find classmates that know the answers to the questions. Once a student finds a person that knows the answer to a question, he/she has the classmate sign his/her name on the game board. No student can sign a game board more than once.
The first person that gets four answers across, down, or diagonal wins.
The purpose of this closer is to reinforce classroom relationships and to review potential test questions.
Game Board!!!
| 1. name answer |
2. name answer
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3. name answer
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4. name answer
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| 5. name answer |
6. name answer |
7. name answer |
8. name answer |
| 9. name answer |
10. name answer |
11. name answer |
12. name answer |
| 13. name answer |
14. name answer |
15. name answer |
16. name answer |
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