It’s hard to figure out what to do in the first 5 minutes of class. How do we bring students into the discussion, easing them into the day while providing value from the get-go?
This is where ChatGPT can come in!
This activity allows professors to:
➢ Personalize an icebreaker for a specific class period
➢ Identify new ways to engage students’ attention
Here are the steps:
- Go into ChatGPT. (To do this, you can click here)
- Copy and paste the following sentences into ChatGPT, and fill in the blanks: “Hi, assistant. Act as a professor. You are teaching a class session on _________. Please generate 3 icebreaker activities for the first 5 minutes of class. Make sure the activities are as engaging as possible. They should ask for student input and encourage active learning.”
- For example, I ran this prompt through ChatGPT for teaching Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven.” It generated these ideas in 4 seconds:
- "The Raven Word Association" - Have students write down as many words as they can that come to mind when they think of the word "raven." Then, have them share their words with the class and see how many different associations they come up with. This activity encourages active participation and promotes critical thinking as the students reflect on their own associations.
- "The Raven Quotation Scavenger Hunt" - Give the students a list of quotes from "The Raven" and have them find the lines in the text. This activity will help the students become more familiar with the text and also promotes active participation as they work in small groups.
- "The Raven Mood Board" - Have students create a mood board that represents the mood and atmosphere of "The Raven." This can be done using images, words, or symbols. This activity encourages students to think creatively and to express themselves visually. It also helps to create a visual representation of the mood and atmosphere of the poem, which can be used as a reference throughout the class.
- Optional Step: Choose 1 of the options and ask for more information and ideas.