Ice-Breaker Tuesday: What's in a Name

In today's ice-breaker activity, I'll share an activity I adapted from a recent ice-breaker activity I read about that instructed students to create name tags to introduce themselves in class. Read more about it in today's blog post.

I read a recent blog post that shared a fun "Name-tag" activity that educators can do on the first day of class to help students introduce themselves. I liked it so much, I decided to find a way to adapt it to an online environment. The activity asks students to use a piece of card stock paper and notate the following items:

• Name
• A symbol that means something to you
• An interesting fact
• Something you're good at
• A hobby
• Where they teach (this activity was for education students; for my class, I would ask what nursing role they function in or desire to function in because I teach RN-BS students)

Then students flip the card around and write their name story including the following points:

• Who gave you your name? Why?
• What is the ethnic origin of your name?
• What are your nicknames, if any?
• What do you prefer to be called?

I decided to use this activity as a VoiceThread introduction. I created a powerpoint template that students can download and complete, then upload to VoiceThread. Then I had students narrate their name story. I think this can be a fun way for students to learn more about each other and also practice using VoiceThread, which we will be using often in our class.

I'd love to hear your ideas on this ice-breaker. Share them in The Online Educator Facebook Group!

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