Community-Building+Techniques

This annotated list of community-building techniques is intended to provide English Language Arts teachers with ideas for how to create classroom community through short, introductory activities with students. Please contribute your own ideas and links to this list by clicking "Edit this Page," adding to the list, and then clicking "Save." Click a link below to jump to that category:

[|Ice-breakers, Name Games, and Get-to-Know-You Activities] [|Metaphors, Skill-builders, and Exercises] [|Trust-building and Status-Awareness Activities]

Ice-Breakers, Name Games, and Get-to-Know-You Activities
([|back to top]) __Adjective Introductions__ (10 minutes) - Each student introduces himself with his name preceded by an adjective that begins with the same letter (e.g., Marvelous Mike, Bored Breanna). Useful for learning names and what students might think of themselves. //Variation//: Each subsequent student has to repeat all the preceding names and adjectives.

__Name Circle__ (with thanks to Ted Miltenberger) (10-15 minutes) - Students and teacher stand in a circle; each participant says her name until all have been said; once the game begins, a player says first her name, then the name of someone else on the circle, and begins to move toward that person. The other person has until the first person arrives at her place to do the same: say her own name, someone else's, and move toward a new place on the circle. //Variation 1//: Instead of saying her own name first, the initiator says only the name of the person she is moving towards; this speeds up the game. Variation 2: Substitute some other kind of personal information for names in the same game structure: participants must say their own and someone else's (?) before moving to a new spot on the circle. Useful for learning names independent of seating chart.

__Partner Introductions__ (10-30 minutes) - Instead of introducing himself to a new group, a student introduces a partner who then returns the favor; this takes pressure off of the speaker.

__Two Truths and a Lie__ (20 minutes) - description //Variations//

Metaphors, Skill Builders, and Exercises
([|back to top]) __Machine__ (5 minutes for groups, 10 minutes to present) - One-by-one as a class or in small groups, students add "moving parts" to a metaphorical machine (for example, a "first day of school" machine); each part must involve a repeated movement and a repeated phrase (for example, one student mimes taking notes and chants "Late work will not be accepted"); each part must complement the others (i.e. it must be in keeping with the theme and must decrease in vigor and volume after its initial entrance to allow the spotlight to pass to the next part. Useful for helping students and teacher to summarize and represent the most important parts of something.

__Numbers__ (with thanks to Peter Brook) (2-10 minutes) - from their seats, students attempt to count from 1 to (?) without a pre-assigned order of speakers, and without repeating or overlapping voices. For example, the teacher invites students to begin; someone randomly calls out "One" and cannot speak again until all other students have called out a number; another student randomly calls out "Two"; when two students simultaneously call out "Three" the count returns to 1. Useful for learning how to participate in discussion without raising hands and with the assurance that everyone's voice is heard. //Variation//: Try it with eyes closed.

__Support and Challenge__ (with thanks to Ted Miltenberger) (5 minutes) - Students pair off with a partner of more or less equivalent height (Note: you may substitute another word for "height" if you feel it will make some students self-conscious) and stand face-to-face on either side of a real or imagined line on the floor. When the teacher says "Start," each student places both palms against her partner's and pushes hard enough to elicit a real push in response, but not so hard as to push her partner over; when the teacher says "Stop," students stop pushing (Note: it's important to explain how the "Start" and "Stop" will work before beginning to avoid injury!). Useful for teaching peer review or any other partner work involving the value of "supporting" (by not pushing your partner too hard) but also of "challenging" (by pushing hard enough to require real force in return).

Trust-Building and Status-Awareness Exercises
([|back to top]) __Trust Circle__ (with thanks to Ted Miltenberger) (10-30 minutes) - Students stand in a circle. A volunteer is blindfolded. A "passer" makes eye-contact with a "receiver" before gently sending the blindfolded person walking across the circle toward that other person (Note: passer and receiver should be told to send and receive by touching the person's arms or shoulders). The receiver catches the blindfolded person, turns him around, makes eye contact with a new receiver, and sends the blindfolded person across the circle again. Useful for building trust and teaching responsibility for others. //Variation//: Add another blindfolded person to be passed and received; here it is important to warn the blindfolded students that if the teacher calls "Stop" they are to freeze in place until someone retrieves them.

__Eye-Lasers__ (with thanks to Augusto Boal and Ted Miltenberger) (5 minutes) - Students pair off and stand face-to-face. Without breaking eye-contact (as if her eyes were "lasers"), each student in the pair takes a turn leading her partner by moving her feet and her gaze; once both have taken a turn leading, they attempt to lead simultaneously, negotiating control of where they move. Useful for teaching peer review or other partner work which involves shared control. //Variation//: instead of using only their eyes, students hold an object between them (palm to palm, hip to hip, etc.) the goal is to move about the room without dropping the object, and eventually to share control of the leadership.