Activity
Introductory activities, Warm up activities
Share an object from home
Maha Bali
Encourage students to share something of themselves.
Share:
ACTIVITY PURPOSE
This activity encourages students to share something of themselves.
USEFUL FOR
Introductions, warm up, and personal sharing with agency.
PREPARATION
Let students know ahead of time what you want them to ‘bring’ with them to the class session, whether a digital or physical object.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Ask students ahead of time (e.g. one class session or week before you meet them) to prepare to share with the class one object from home or a photo or online space that represents something. For example, it could be something that supports their wellbeing – and so it could be an object at home they use (e.g. yoga matt, baking pan) or it could be a photo (e.g. of a place that relaxes them or of themselves having fun somewhere) or an online space (E.g. a social media account they follow that they go to for their wellbeing or that they enjoy).
- Synchronously, students can each share their object or photo or link, one by one, and others comment.
- Asynchronously, students can post photos or links on a shared Google doc with a short explanation or on their own blogs.
DURATION
If done synchronously, it could take 2-3 minutes per participant in a large group. It can be done asynchronously, but if it matters for students to give feedback or comments on each others, make sure you encourage them to do so.
ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES
Students can share via chat, uploading pictures inside the video conferencing tool, or you can set up Google docs/slides where photos and links can be inserted. Or you can have students screenshare and show things or use their camera directly to show an object or show a photo from their phone, for example.
You can use this activity for pretty much any topic – for very young kids learning geometry, they can bring an object from home that is a square or cube or such. For any discipline, it can be something connected to the course – e.g. if learning about identity, it could be an object that represents an element of your identity; if learning about advertising, it could be a link to one of their favorite ads; if learning about food chemistry, it could be a recipe or item at home that represents something students are learning about food chemistry; if journalism or political science or business or economics it could be a headline from a news site relevant to the topic of the date
Another variation could be to have this as a regular thing you do every class, but have different students responsible for sharing each class session. So for example, 2-4 students each class session share for the first 10 minutes of class.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
Just a space to share photos like Slack, Google docs, Google slides, or your own synchronous class tool that allows uploading photos or screensharing or sharing of links.
USEFUL RESOURCES
N/A
ABOUT
- Educator prep: None
- Student prep: None
- Asynchronous
- Objects
- Duration: 5-30 mins
This activity is one of a series of activities from Equity Unbound, focused on equitable online community building.
Find out moreDo you have an activity that you would like to suggest?
Do you have feedback or suggestions?
More activities
Learning path
Community Building
Curated Activities
Guidance and help
Curated Activities
Reflective Activities
Curated Activities
Ongoing engagement
Curated Activities
Liberating Structures
Curated Activities
Setting the tone activities
Curated Activities
Introductory activities
Activity
Sailboat Retrospective for Reflection
Activity
Live, Love, Learn and Leave a Legacy
Activity
Roses, Thorns, and Buds
Activity
Decolonising Academic Writing through Spoken Word Poetry
Activity
Origin Stories
Activity
Learning to Love
Activity
Getting at Metaphor
Activity
Checking in with GIF, Emoji or Meme
Activity
Personalised Conversation Cards
Curated Activities
Warm up activities
Activity
Guess The Topic Mingle
Activity
Ikigai: Help Students Find Their Purpose
Activity
Something behind you
Activity
Auditory Affect
Activity
Creativity Booster: 16 Squares
Activity
Creativity Booster: An Ode to the Other Hand
Activity
Creativity Booster: 5 Senses
Activity
Creativity Booster: Yes, Let’s!
Activity
Ice Cream/Broccoli: Reflection on Enjoyment and Value
Activity
Create a Fake Photo Group Assignment
Activity
What We Don’t Know About Each Other
Activity
Share Music and Create a Class Playlist
Activity
Would You Rather?
Activity
Creating Escape Room Experience For Students
Activity
I Wish My Students/Teacher Knew
Activity
Using Metaphors to Express Thoughts
Activity
Using Dominoes in Teaching
Activity
Desert Island Songs
Activity
The Shape of You
Activity
Words From Your Names
Activity
What Can You Do With A…?
Tips For Increasing Engagement In Discussions
Activity
Choose a Plant
Activity
Which Picture Best?
Activity
Imaginary Buffet (or Potluck)
Activity
PowerPoint Karaoke
Activity
Office Hour Scheduling via Google Calendar
Activity
Tiny Tales
Activity
Cognitive/exam Wrappers for Metacognition
Activity
Self-assessment Tool (of social justice in your teaching) from DISCs (Disciplines Inquiring into Societal Challenges)
Activity
Language Portrait
Activity
Lost in Translation
Activity
Wheel of Life for Student Self-help
Activity
Alternative Approaches to Grading
Activity
Thick Greetings
Activity
Estimate workload
Activity
Simple Metacognitive Activities
Activity
Tiny Demons/Drawing Monsters
Activity
Start/Stop/Continue
Activity
Survey students early in the semester: Pre-Course Survey
Activity
Pass the Paper
Activity
Gratitude Journal
Activity
15% solutions
Activity
Two-minute paper
Checklist / tool
Karen Ray Costa’s Trauma-Aware Teaching Checklist
Resource
Loglines
Activity
Appreciative Interviews
Activity
Pop-up Psychogeography Journey Journal
Guide
Some Safety Considerations for Online Community Building
Activity
While We Wait
Activity
What kind of animal are you?
Activity
Two by Three by Bradford
Activity
Troika Consulting – Adaptation for Class Community Building
Activity
TRIZ
Video discussion
Trauma-Informed Pedagogy & How is Your Heart?
Activity
Tour of Where You Are
Activity
Third Places for Ongoing Community Building
Activity
Theater of the Oppressed: Opposites
Activity
Theatre of the Oppressed: Image Theatre
Activity
Teaching Ethics with Theatre of the Oppressed and Liberating Structures
Activity
Surrealist Free Drawing Introductions
Activity
Studio visits
Activity
Structured Dialogues
Activity
Room 101
Activity
Purpose to Practice
Activity
Pass the Ball & How Do You Make Rice?
Activity
Meditation
Activity
Wild Tea / Mad Tea
Activity
Introductions: Story of Your Name
Activity
Human Scavenger Hunt
Activity
Four Ideas for Checking In
Activity
Daily Creates
Activity
Critical Uncertainties
Activity
Conversation Cafe
Activity
Collaborative Storytelling
Activity
Collaborative Literature Review Matrix
Activity
Authentic Open Letter/Video Addressing Students
Activity
Asynchronous & Synchronous Introductions
Activity
9 Whys of Liberating Structures
Activity
Spiral Journal
Activity
