Icebreaker Grab Bag
This collection of icebreakers provides a variety of activities to choose from and implement throughout the semester.
Sample Activities
This section catalogues resources that are appropriate for a variety of classroom settings. Each activity includes the overview, goals, and instructions for implementing the activity successfully and includes advice on how to best utilize it. Several resources fit into more than one category, so you may find them under multiple tabs. If you have any feedback about these resources or would like to have an additional activity included, please use our contact form to reach us.
Name Story
In this icebreaker activity, students will have the option to share their first name, middle name, last name, nickname or any name that has a history or story of significance for them.
School You, Inc.
In this activity, students imagine creating a school designed to maintain oppressive norms, considering what institutional oppression looks like and how it is perpetuated.
Perfectly Logical Explanations
This activity guide is intended to serve as an example of how to engage with “perfectly logical explanations” or dominant narratives raised in classroom discussion.
Mapping Social Identity Timeline Activity
In this activity, students will create a visual map of their socialization in some aspect of identity (race, gender, sexual orientation) throughout the course of their life.
Dominant Narratives
Students will discuss dominant narratives – explanations or stories told in service of the dominant social group’s interests and ideologies.
Group Process Activity
This collection of activities assists instructors in developing group cohesion, thoughtful engagement, and reflective responses to challenging material.
Dialogue Blocker Activity
This activity is designed to help students recognize common dialogue blockers, why people use them, and to become more aware of how they inhibit important conversations.
Invisible Knapsacks
This activity uses independent reflection and small-group discussion to guide students in understanding white privilege as a concept and recognizing the ways their relationship to whiteness benefits or disadvantages them and impacts daily life.
Growth Mindset Activity for STEM
Students will explore the concept of having a growth mindset, examining the science behind intelligence and its development.
