Assignment Spotlight: 2 Truths and a Lie

I love icebreaker activities and would play one at the beginning of every class if I could! While time usually does not permit for this, I ALWAYS play one on the first day of class! This semester was no different. This semester I played the game "2 Truths and a Lie". If you've never heard of it before, I explain how to play it in this blog post and how it went on my first day of classes.

Objective:

Players tell two truths and one lie about themselves (in any order). The object of the game is for everyone else to determine which statement is actually the lie.

Instructions:

Each person has to think of three statements about themselves. Two must be true statements, and one must be false. The more unique or interesting the statement, the better! Thus, it’s recommended to avoid common statements like “I like ice cream,” as most people could say this and it would not be as interesting as something much more unusual like “I enjoy eating bugs.” I usually tell my students to try to be as creative as possible.

After classmates play the game and try to guess the lie, the original person explains which one was the lie and usually gives some more information about the true statements. Because the true statements are usually very unique statements, it's a great way to learn little known facts about others.

My experience:

I did this activity in my live synchronous online class via Zoom. To role model the game for my students, I went first giving them my 2 truths and a lie. I then asked them to consider which statement was the lie. Then, to continue to build suspense I broke them up into break-out groups of 5 to 6 people each BEFORE telling them which one was my lie.

I gave students about 8-10 minutes in their break-out groups and "dropped in" on each group to be sure they were progressing well. When I brought them back I asked them to share some interesting things they learned about their classmates. We learned some very interesting things such as one student's previous work in a gold mine, one student who had royalty patronage and lots of students from other countries. I then went back and and told them my lie and talked more about my 2 truth statements.

I had a lot of fun playing this game and felt it was really effective in "breaking the ice" on the first day of class. I was then able to go over the course syllabus and Learning Management System and students were more comfortable, turning on their cameras, interacting with each other and asking questions.

What kind of ice-breakers do you use on the first day of class or throughout the semester? Share your thoughts, experiences and ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group by clicking the link HERE. Also, as a treat don’t forget to GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE to the 3 Secrets to Teaching Online Successfully.