You: The Video Game - A Back to School Icebreaker & Community Builder

As an introvert, I'm not a giant fan of icebreaker/get to know you activities that require awkward conversations with people you don't know. I'm not the only one - plenty of students feel the same way! Last year I came up with a beginning of school activity that introduces content, allows me to learn about each student, and begins to establish classroom community connections— AND it's cringe free! :) Our kids really enjoy this activity - there's lots of opportunity to be creative and it's culturally relevant with its video game tie-in.

No Cringe Icebreakers
In this activity, You: The Video Game, students share the things that make them unique and learn about their classmates' lives, but there's no uncomfortable conversations. Instead, students pretend their lives have been turned into a video game. They create a "screenshot" of their imaginary video game that includes 10 symbols, and write a bit of text to explain the meaning behind each symbol. They also name their game, and identify their game's final "boss battle" - aka a challenge they face in their life. Below is my teacher example - I use it to model expectations, and introduce myself to students.



Building Classroom Community
Once students complete their Slide, they'll add it to a digital Slides gallery. Students will individually explore the digital gallery of classmates' video games screenshots. They'll use the "speaker notes" section underneath each slide to identify connections they have with classmates.

A Little Content
As part of this activity, I introduce the concept of symbols. We analyze visual symbols, and then explore the difference between concrete symbols and abstract symbols. This sets students up for later work analyzing texts, and preps them to begin examining graphics and images for potentially deeper meanings (hello, information literacy!). 


Resources
If you adapt this idea for your own classroom, I'd love to see what you create! If you'd like access to my resources for this project, you can access them here in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.






 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

QR Codes and Orientation

Image
There really isn't anything better than hearing a thirteen-year-old whisper to his friend, "This is the coolest library ever!" I can't help but grin when students get excited about lessons. Happily, it's almost a guarantee that they'll dig anything involving the iPads -- library orientation is no exception. I've talked before about creating videos about each section of the library for my orientation lesson. In the past, I've asked students to choose the appropriate video from a list on their iPad's camera roll that corresponds to the stop number. Inevitably, some kids select the wrong video, or get horribly lost. This year, to combat that problem, and also up our cool quotient, I've added QR codes. I'm using the free app " Scan ," which worked perfectly on our iPads to display both text and open URLs. In class, I explained QR codes, and then students practiced using the app by scanning a handout at their table. Each table f
Read more

Updated Facebook Template

Image
For the last couple of years, we've been using a PowerPoint Facebook page as a final product for a research unit. When we used the template last year, my students were quick to point out that the template was "old school" - Facebook has made major tweaks to the layout and design of its site, which weren't reflected in this version. This year, I finally got around to updating the template to reflect Facebook's current look. Click here to download the  new template for PowerPoint 2010 . No, it doesn't have the timeline interface (I'm not using it yet on my own personal Facebook page, so I don't feel comfortable enough trying to recreate it), but otherwise it reflects many of the recent design changes. It is hyperlinked, so when you're in "View Show" mode, you can click on "Wall," "Info," and "Pictures," and go directly to those parts of the PowerPoint - making it behaving like a traditional Facebook page.
Read more

Supporting Social-Emotional Learning with Library Bulletin Boards

Image
  As librarians, we cover so many different standards. Information literacy? Check. English Language Arts? Check. Reading? Check. STEM? Check. Computer science? Check. Over the last year or two, I've added social-emotional learning to the list of skills and competencies I teach through library instruction.  Some strategies are super obvious - like direct instruction as part of my teaching, but other methods like book displays and bulletin boards are more subtle. One primary focus of my library program is supporting students' mental health, which is directly tied to the SEL strand of emotional regulation.  Emotional regulation refers to the ability to manage and express emotions in a healthy and appropriate way. Emotional regulation is essential for secondary students, who are navigating the challenges and complexities of adolescence. During this time, my junior high kids feel a huge range of intense emotions, from excitement and joy to frustration and anger and everything in be
Read more