Today, my daughter and I (she will be a sophomore this fall) were discussing first day activities. She indicated to me that she absolutely despises the "stand and say your name and share a fact" thing that many teachers do. Though I tried to tell her we do that because we don't want to mispronounce names, she said it just feels too on the spot. Hmm.
So, I asked for an alternative idea. I did come up with a variation of the "two truths and a lie" game (I've used it for myself and they try to guess which statement is the lie) using Google Slides. I could share the slideshow with them, each of them has a slide to put their name, and they would list their two truths and a lie. Then, I would stand at the front, when their slide comes up on display they say their name and I repeat it and then I read the three statements and the class can "vote" to see which they believe is the lie and then it would be revealed. She actually liked that idea!
But, I refuse to use the same icebreaker for each class (since I have some kids more than once a day) so I need more ideas. Thus, tonight's YouTube search was team builder activities for learning names. I ran across this simple, non-threatening video (again from @markcollard) called Name Impulse. The beautiful thing is they only have to say their names. That's it. You go around the circle saying the names, trying to beat the previous time, and then eventually in reverse... and then eventually at the same time! Anyway, check it out.
It's DAUGHTER APPROVED. She said this would work, so now I just have to decide what class to try it with this year. I plan to go around the circle twice with first and last names SLOWLY so I can hear their names really well (and so I can make notes on my sheet about pronunciation) and then move on to first names for speed as shown.
What do you think?
I like it, it looks like fun. Thanks for posting I'm always looking for ways to mix it up!
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