As I started to gain more confidence with the content and teaching methods I used during class time, one nagging question still unsettled me. What do I do with those awkward moments after I’ve set up whatever materials I’m using that day, but before class officially starts? Especially in the first few weeks of the semester when I haven’t developed a rapport with the students quite yet. This is particularly awkward in virtual settings when “setting up” isn’t really an issue and you can’t rely on the fluid ease of in-person conversations. I would just sit there, staring at blank faces on a screen waiting for 9:30 to roll around. If you’re a consummate extrovert with a Masters in small talk then this doesn’t sound like a big issue for you. But for me, it would always make me feel uneasy, leading me to ask uncomfortable “getting to know you” questions or worse, break out my groan-inducing dad jokes. Thankfully, I’ve found a better alternative: Class Openers.
What are Class Openers?
Think about when you go to a movie at a theater. As you walk into the dark room and take your seat, there’s usually a slideshow of ads or trivia questions playing on the screen to greet you. Class openers or as Mark Collard calls them Unofficial Starts, work in the same way. They’re quick, optional tasks waiting for students on screen as they log on or enter the classroom. These could be simple ice-breakers or challenges related to the course material. Either way, it’s important that students aren’t forced to do them, but if they want to, they can do the opener and turn in their responses without much effort. So either in the Zoom chat window, on-screen using the annotation tool, or on a 3rd party platform like Padlet. The goal is to get students mentally prepared for engaging with the class. So the task should be something the students would find fun and effortless to do.
Inspired by the plenary openings and activities listed in Rob Plevin’s The Active Learning Toolkit, and Attention-Grabbing Starters & Plenaries for Teachers, below are some of the Openers I’ve used in my class broken down into three main categories:
Ice-breakers
Mini-scavenger hunt
Ask students to take a picture of an object nearby that fits specific criteria. Since I teach a Typography course, I like to tie the activity to letters like asking students to take a picture of an object nearby that looks like a letter or create their initials using only the objects around them. I use the website Padlet for these kinds of Openers since students can easily open the link on their phones using a custom QR code and take a picture right there on the site in one step. I use these kinds of openers early in the semester as they give us a chance at learning about each other through the objects in our surroundings without being too obtrusive.
Drawing with the Annotation Tool
One of the most underused features of Zoom is its annotation tool, which is essentially a set of digital markers that can turn any shared screen into a whiteboard. I use this feature to get students to draw silly faces on empty heads, or show a black and white image on the screen for students to color in.
Word Puzzles
Having a few (no more than 4) word-based puzzles on screen for students to try is a great way to jolt their brains into problem-solving mode. I try to include at least one easy puzzle to tempt students into trying the other three. I’ve even tried simply using Wordle and asking students to help me solve the word by voting on each guess.
Draw a class mascot
Even if your students aren’t all budding illustrators like mine, drawing is always a fun activity. And since there isn’t a lot of time to create the artwork, there’s no pressure to make it detailed or even good. This task gives students a creative, non-threatening way to give their views on how the class went.
Create a meme about the class
Similar to the class mascot opener, this one taps into the students’ sense of humor while trying to gauge their feelings about how the class. I use the online meme generator imgflip, then ask them to upload it to the Padlet set aside for this task.
Retrieval practice
Something’s wrong with this image
Show an image that has a not-so-obvious error in it. Students should be able to figure out what’s awry using the knowledge they’ve received from a previous class. Students could send their answers in the chat or using the annotation tool in Zoom. This works really well if there are multiple errors in the image, so there’s still more to look for even after the first correct answer.
Group the items
Show an image with several examples of an item relevant to the course material. Then ask students how many ways they can be grouped. This task forces students to look for commonalities and differences among the set of items which is another sneaky way of getting them to engage with the material. Obviously, the challenge works best when there are several ways the items can be grouped. For example, I use Pixar movie logos which can be grouped by color, font choice, alignment, etc.
Odd one out
Another sneaky way to get students to think about course material in is to have them spot the odd one out from a set of items. Having to detect a difference in the way something looks, forces students to scrutinize those visual characteristics, so they’re using information instead of simply memorizing it.
Draw an ad promoting the previous class’ lesson
Instead of simply asking students to regurgitate a list of facts they learned in the previous class, this activity asks students to inject their own creativity and humor by framing it as an ad.
Pick a font for a movie poster
This activity is specific to typography, so it’s not as universally applicable as some of the other ideas listed here. It involves giving students the choice of various movie poster templates to complete by adding the title and subtitle in an appropriate font. Each poster is accompanied by a description outlining the movie’s genre so the challenge is picking the fonts they think properly evoke the mood or personality they associate with that kind of movie. I use a shared Google slides deck so all the tools they need are easily accessible without being overwhelming.
Content on ramps
Provocative polls
Leading into the class on a particular topic, have a question on screen that forces them to think about the day’s topic with a poll asking them to pick a side. When enough students have responded to the poll I ask them to explain their votes, which usually leads to a brief discussion about their initial impressions on the topic and segues nicely into the lesson for that day.
Mood Checks
If you’ve ever filled out a customer service survey you’ve seen these diagrams on increasingly irate emojis along with the question, “how do you feel about your service today?” The mood checks class opener taps into the same principle but uses different images to represent the mood options. I use words rendered in different fonts, and ask students to select the font that matches their current mood. When I ask them to explain why a certain font matches their mood, invariably they use familiar, intuitive terms like the “swooshiness” of this, or “squiggliness” of that. This leads perfectly into the lesson on the actual terms designers use to refer to those aspects of letters.
Choose a typeface for a children’s book
I use this simple poll on the day we cover how to pick and pair fonts. The activity is simple, I have a picture of a children’s book with 3 typeface options for the title. When I ask students to explain their votes, the discussion on the idiosyncrasies of each typeface invariably leads into the lesson where we cover how to pick and pair fonts for various contexts.
Further Reading
- Mark Collard explains his use of Unofficial Starts
- Lang, J. M. (2016). Small Teaching. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
- Amber Zertuche, Libby Gerard, & Marcia C Linn. (2012). How do Openers Contribute to Student Learning? International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 5(1), 79-92.
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