Breaking the ice: The power of first-day classroom activities

By Michelle Guile

Looking to get a class full of new faces fired up and engaged for the coming semester? Why not try a ‘show-and-tell.’ Or maybe you could run an activity using a shared digital white board?

Create an environment where
the learner is expected to participate,
the instructor is willing to listen,
and where learners are actively engaged from the onset

“Icebreakers reduce both student and instructor anxiety,” reports the Lansing Community College, Center for Teaching Excellence. “[They] foster both student-student and faculty-student interactions; create an environment where the learner is expected to participate, the instructor is willing to listen, and where learners are actively engaged from the onset; convey the message that the instructor cares about getting to know the students; and, make it easier for students to form relationships early in the semester so they can work together, both in and out of class.”

So, how do you use icebreakers to increase student engagement? Share your ideas in the 1 PSB Community on SLATE

---

Michelle Guile is a professor and academic advisor with the Pilon School of Business.