Up next in English 1500 and 2500: Relentless Welcome #2

ConnecTivity Scan

Purpose of activity (one sentence describing goals): Placing an emphasis on student growth in connecting with other students that they are working with during class activities

Materials or resources needed (if any): Live document created before the onset of your first student learning activity – CT Scan – ConnecTivity Scan

Description of activity (steps, time required, guidelines, deliverable): At the beginning of the semester, ask students to create a Google Doc titled “ConnecTivity Scan”: this document should include their own name, a section to list group member names, a section to note important discussion points or questions, and a section for general comments. This is a document students will return to throughout the semester as a way to reflect on their own work in a group context, share their ideas with group members, and account for shared material. 

Anytime that students need to work in a group or pairing activity, the students go to the journal and write down the name of their partners, record the discussion points, and comments at the end of the activity that they can look at the document later on. The students would provide feedback, reflections, or kudos to their partners. At the end of the semester, the class may  look at the CT Scan together.

Wheel of Names

Purpose of activity (one sentence describing goals):  Get to know each other and have a chance to greet each other in a way they don’t in other courses. 

Materials or resources needed (if any): 

• A pack of index cards 

Description of activity (steps, time required, guidelines, deliverable): 

• Use the Wheel of Names to put students in groups of four
• Have them introduce themselves to one another
• Write on separate index cards:
  • One super power they would like to have
  • Where they are from
  • One fact most people don’t expect about them
  • One place they’ve traveled
• Shuffle the index cards, then pull them one by one and guess who wrote what answer 

Potential adaptations:

Second-Day activity: “Tourist Attractions of Hometowns” 

• Have everyone share their hometown and one famous landmark, good restaurant, or ‘must-see’ thing in their hometown
• Write a short description of that thing in the format of a tourist attraction advertisement
• Draw a map with each student’s hometown and create a small 3-fold brochure featuring each student’s hometown attraction