At the beginning of each term, in junior- and senior-level courses, I have my students get to know each other.
At the beginning of each term, in junior- and senior-level courses, I have my students get to know each other. Every teacher in America does that, right? But what does it really mean to know someone? Students can’t learn with one another if they are not first comfortable with one another.
On the first day of class, I ask students to find the person in the room who scares them the most, someone they might have known in grade school, but not anymore, someone they see in the halls, say "Hi" to, but whose last name they do not know, or someone who is a mystery to them. Afterward, I have them sit by one another.
"Swap phone numbers and return to your original seats," I say in a voice that clearly expresses my desire to have this done quickly. They act, but hesitantly, glancing nervously about. Their next assignment is to sit down and write a journal entry including everything they know, or think they know, about that person. What assumptions have they made? What did they decide they knew about this person before ever speaking a word to them?
I then proceed to tell them that their assignment for the coming Monday is to have dinner with this person. The school cafeteria is off limits as they are required to spend, at minimum, one hour in one another's company. Coffee is fine, if you don't have the cash to eat a meal, but the minimum one-hour time limit isn't negotiable. It can go as long over that hour as you like, but not a minute under. Students are also required to have their waiter snap a photo of them together. When dinner is over and they've parted company, my students' last assignment is to do a post-encounter journal. In it they write about what they experienced, what they talked about and what they learned. A lead question is, "Who is this person really and, reflecting back on your original writing, are they who you thought they were?"
One week after the class begins, we share our journals, photos, memories and laughs. I've never had a student claim that it was a negative experience. They don't all become fast friends with one another, but at the very least the person who intimidated them the most in my class is no longer a threat and is possibly an ally.
Mark Gudgel
Lincoln Southwest High School
Lincoln, NE
For more ways to encourage students to cross social boundaries in their schools, go to www.mixitup.org.
