We all know that it’s important to spend the first few weeks building classroom community. Teachers gather their icebreakers and team building activities and plan a few weeks of getting to know their students.
But year after year, this practice became less and less satisfying for me. I started to hear snarky comments about how many times they have played the ice breaker staple Two Truths and a Lie and my Google searches were not yielding anything that felt fresh and new. I don’t even like ice breakers. My introversion really comes out when the dreaded words come up in a professional development session. They are just not my forte.
So, I started from scratch to make activities that felt less perfunctory and instead set the stage for what felt fun, collaborative and truly community building.
Table of Contents
1. Norm Development through Hexagonal Thinking
Hexagonal thinking has been having a moment in education. The origins are hazy, but as far as I can tell, the strategy was developed in business in the early 2000s and made its way to the classroom around 2014. It has been gaining momentum ever since.
It’s a strategy I use a couple times a year, and when I was creating the approach I thought it would be a fun activity to get students talking as a first week of school activity. Here’s how it works:
- Students get a pack of hexagons with values on them.
- Working in groups, they then organize the hexagon to decide which values align and connect.
- Students compare arrangements and discuss the most important convergence of ideas.
Now, talking about values is great, but this is also a great stepping stone for developing norms. I’ve found it’s difficult to get students to come up with norms from scratch (even with the values) so at this point we have a little scaffolding discussion to prime them for developing norms. Once they seem to have a handle on what classroom norms are they work in groups to develop three to five that are most important.
Limiting students at this point is important because it helps them to think about what they really want to see in the classroom.
In the past I’ve been tempted to create a synthesized set of norms for all of my classes, but I think that this actually defeats the purpose. Synthesizing a set of norms makes it seem that we were dictating something that was preset. We know that classes all have different personalities, and if we decide to combine in the end this diminishes student agency and ownership.
What’s the point if the teacher is just going to come up with a set anyway? To students this amounts to wasted time.
After they come up with their three to five norms, I have a little gallery walk and have students walk around to visit the work of each group. Then, we come back as a class to review what we saw and come to consensus on norms.
It’s not a quick process, but I like that students practice some of the routines we’ll use for the year (group work, hexagonal thinking, gallery walk, while-class discussion) and every student has an opinion so it has great participation. Also using multiple structured strategies for engagement means that it’s easier for students to jump in and connect.
2. Application to the Classroom Community
This set of activities is probably my favorite way to start the year. It came about when I was looking at my state standards and trying to figure out how to incorporate the skills surrounding reading and completing a job application. It hit me. I could have students do a riff on a PBL and have them apply to my class.
I love this activity for so many reasons:
- There are multiple opportunities for community building.
- There are built in chances to learn students strengths and interests.
- It communicates the message that everyone has an active role to play in the success of our classroom community.
- It hits on those standards around understanding workplace documents.
- Students practice skills with clear, transferable real-world application.
- It’s fun.
Here’s how it works. After introducing the activity I take on the role of CEO. Students choose from several class job descriptions (like Facilitation Specialist or Literary Associate) and choose the one that best fits their skills and interests and they turn in a resume and cover letter for the job. I conduct mock interviews, and afterwards all students receive a welcome letter with an orientation date (next class) with the employee handbook (syllabus) attached.
On orientation day, there is an onboarding session. This is an opportunity to really play up the simulation. Set up a table outside of the door with check in and name badges, serve light refreshments (possible arranging for students to bring some before they know what they will be used for), and group students by job to hold a networking session.
This is also an opportunity to deliver “company” values, share information about the CEO, explain important procedures and policies.
Facilitating Norms Discussion in Job Application Process
Norms can be discussed here further as well, but I think it makes more sense to have questions about values and norms in the mock interview process. There you can facilitate conversations about job roles and responsibilities as well as shared expectations
In the onboarding session, students can be presented with a list of expectations. Grouped by job role, students can reflect on the relevance of expectations to their specific job. There is value in having each job role reflect on how their specific job role contributes to shared expectations.
These Classroom Community Activities as Burnout Prevention
Preventing burnout can start on the first day of school. There are many factors that can contribute to burnout, but what can ease it are smooth systems. When students know what to expect, there are fewer behavior management issues and you spend less time teaching students processes for the year.
As you implement your activities for the beginning of the year, consider ways you can incorporate the processes you will use throughout the year. Using these more robust activities helps you establish procedures around starting class, working with teammates, participating in classroom discussions, etc. in ways that arts and crafts can’t touch.
Plus, if you’re like me, dragging yourself through a few weeks of activities you loath is NOT the way to start a year. If you’re not feeling it the students will catch on and it will not lead to a positive learning community.
Conclusion
As educators, we understand the importance of building a strong and inclusive classroom community. However, relying on traditional icebreaker activities can sometimes fall short of our expectations. By exploring alternative approaches, we can create a more engaging, collaborative, and meaningful experience for our students.
By incorporating these strategies into your classroom, you provide students with valuable opportunities to develop essential skills, such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, while cultivating a positive and inclusive learning environment. The result is a classroom community that is built on trust, respect, and a shared sense of purpose.
Back to School Resources
- Back to School “Would You Rather” Literature Discussion Pack – works well in Back to School stations and can be revisited throughout the year
- First Week of School Kit – Fun Twist on Classroom Community and Procedures – students “apply” to the class
- Collaborative Classroom Community Norms – Hexagonal Thinking Activity – norm setting with a twist!
