Part of a short series of posts discussing activities, strategies, or materials that have worked for me in my teaching. Maybe they can work for you, too…
The Thing:
First Day Small Group Questions
This is another in my attempts to “teach something” the first day that doesn’t require much prep (or any books) on the students’ part. I print a series of questions related to the themes of the class (for a class on Religion in America, examples might be: “America has no official national religion. Why do you think this is important?” or “Do you think religion has solved or created more problems in American society?”). I cut these up into individual slips of paper.
The first day of class, I put students in pairs or small groups and give each group a question. They have a few minutes (never more than 5) to just talk about the question among themselves. After the time is up, I ask them to pass their question to another group. This continues for an allotted amount of class time, or until all groups have a chance at all questions.
When done, I work through the list of questions, simply asking pairs to share a little of what they talked about as each comes up. Discussion proceeds from there.
Why It Works:
1 – It gives students a head start.
Again – this stems from the advice I was given to hit the ground running the first day. I create the questions, so I make sure they are topically and/or thematically appropriate to what’s coming throughout the semester. This means students will have dealt with themes & topics in a low-stakes way even before most start reading or watching material. After all, nothing is turned in or graded – just talked about. If I do require written records, it’s usually just to view any unshared responses. Savvy students, however, will know to look for answers to or discussion of these early questions as we go. In some ways, it’s a “coming attractions” reel students can participate in.
2 – It’s a group builder that’s not floof.
The pair/group aspect get students talking to each other right away. They can get to know one another and some things about what their peers think, but without obvious “icebreaker” vibes. This works as an icebreaker, though, because students inevitably start finding points of agreement (or sometimes contention!) or start sharing experiences to make points. Just as it’s a low-stakes way to start learning the themes of the class, it’s a low-stakes way to start learning about their classmates.
3 – It’s another way of building a shared language.
I always record some aspect of what we discuss. This gives me a fund of responses and thoughts to draw on later in activities or lectures. “Remember some of the reasons you thought it was important for America to have no official religion? You may be happy to know the Founding Fathers agreed with you!” Or “The first day, y’all were worried about the place of women in American religious life. Turns out you’re not alone…”
In this way, the exercise can be used to build some continuity into the class and give us a shared discussion history. I always find it useful to let students see how things in a course build on each other, and this lets that happen, since these questions they deal with the first day come back again.
It’s worth noting that this is also adaptable to an online setting, using forums or breakout videocall rooms.
Brantley Craig 