Introductory activities, Warm up activities

Share an object from home

Encourage students to share something of themselves.

Educator prep: None

Student prep: None

Synchronous or Asynchronous

Objects

Duration: 5-30 mins

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.

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.