Activity
Ongoing engagement, Reflective activities, Warm up activities

Thick Greetings

Maha Bali

Maha Bali

Mia Zamora

Mia Zamora

Autumm Caines

Autumm Caines

Laura Gibbs

Laura Gibbs

Rebecca J. Hogue

Rebecca J. Hogue

Try out a slower and more deliberate opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves.

Share:

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

To respect the dignity of each person by providing a slower, thicker, and more deliberate opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves (as described here).

USEFUL FOR

Warm up activity in the beginning of class, or reflection towards the end of class. Can be an introductory activity, but probably more appropriate for older students or later in the semester.

PREPARATION

Minimal: Instructions and list of questions students will choose from.

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Explain the activity to students and how much time they will get.
  • Show them the list of questions and give them the list to take with them to breakout rooms (either share the slides or copy the questions into the chat box).
  • Put students in groups of 3 and let them know how much time each person has to respond to the prompt of their choice. Usually around 4-5 minutes and if they finish early, they should still keep going or choose another prompt. Others need to just listen and not respond, though they could respond with gestures and facial expressions.
  • It is up to you whether to debrief afterwards on how it felt for students or key things they learned. You don’t want to have people reveal things that were said in the intimacy of their trio to the whole group.

DURATION

Around 5 minutes to explain and give people a chance to read the prompt options; Around 12-15 minutes in each breakout room, and then any debrief time you choose to include (not necessary).

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

  • You may choose to send the prompts to students in advance so they have time to prepare, if some of them have difficulty thinking on their feet.
  • While this can be done for one prompt that participants choose, the facilitator can suggest a particular prompt and then let participants choose the other two, or any combination of facilitator-chosen and participant-chosen prompts.
  • If you cannot use breakout rooms, this can be an out class activity for trios of students to do together online (or pairs on the phone or exchanging voice notes on WhatsApp) and report a reflection on how it felt for them.
  • You can use the same format but with prompts related to reflecting on course material or key learning from a course module. If you cannot do small groups synchronously, you can assign students to meet separately and do the activity together and then reflect without revealing what others have said.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Space to share the questions (Google slides, docs, chat of the video conferencing tool) and breakout rooms.

USEFUL RESOURCES

View a list of possible questions to use (Google Doc, opens in a new tab).

Watch Video

ABOUT

  • Educator prep: None
  • Student prep: None
  • Video conferencing, Breakout rooms, Shared online space, Cameras off option
  • Duration: 5-30 mins

This activity is one of a series of activities from Equity Unbound, focused on equitable online community building. 

Find out more

Do 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

Alternative Approaches to Grading

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…?

Top Tips

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 for Social Justice in Teaching

Activity

Language Portrait

Activity

Lost in Translation

Activity

Wheel of Life for Student Self-Help

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

Trauma-Aware Teaching Checklist

Resource

Loglines

Activity

Appreciative Interviews

Activity

Pop-up Psychogeography Journey Journal

Guide

Choosing the Right Community Building Activity: Safety Tips

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

Theatre 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

Share an Object From Home

Activity

Room 101

Activity

Purpose to Practice

Activity

Pass the Ball & How Do You Make Rice?

Activity

Meditation

Activity

Wild Tea / Mad Tea Party

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

Annotate the Syllabus