By: Mel M.

How do you engage online students who you have never met?  You see their emojis or avatars, you hear their voices, but sometimes their cameras are off and you feel shut out of their worlds. 

I have a quick, fun icebreaker that allows students to express their individuality with you and their peers. It gives you a glimpse into their lives and a chance to connect to them throughout the year. 

Here are the simple steps:

1. Open Jamboard on the App Launcher Icon (the nine circles on the top right corner of your Google mail page).
2. Press the plus sign on the bottom right corner of the Jamboard screen.  To share the Jamboard, you press SHARE (big blue button) and change General Access from Restricted to Anyone with the Link.  Then switch from Viewer to Editor.  Now, all students may add to the Jamboard.
3. At this point, you may want to play around with the features of Jamboard so that you know at least as much as your students!  Students may use sticky notes, text boxes, images, or draw to add their ideas.   Most students already know this.
4. Now all you need to do is give them something to reflect on or create.  Your prompt could be based on something you are reading, a critical thinking question, or an icebreaker question.  

At the beginning of the year, I ask my students to do one or more of the following:

1. Include their favorite quote.
2. Include their favorite place to vacation (either an image/photo/name).
3. Include their favorite food (image/photo/name).

For a response to literature, I might ask my students to respond to one of the following:

1. Who is your favorite character? Why?
2. What is your favorite line/sentence from the chapter?  Why?
3. Draw how you think ____________feels during this scene.
4. If you could insert yourself into the story, what would you do?

To provoke healthy debate, I will ask my students to take a side on an issue.  Then, they explain their rationale for choosing a side.  They may research online and include facts in the Jamboard as well.  I set up the Jamboard with two opposing opinions such as:

Pro School Uniforms Con School Uniforms

5.  The best part of Jamboard is that students see other students contributing to the page in real time.  The contributions are inspirational.  Sometimes, students even respond to others’ posts!

6.  Hint: You decide if you want your students’ posts to be anonymous or not. 
It is easy: ask them to label their responses or not. I have to admit, students are more accountable when they share their names and are less likely to share inappropriate posts.

For more online games check out our Formative Assessments that Entertain.