Inservice Teaching Thought #3 –
Give the “111 Things About You”
a try.
We are winding down inservice week so I’m brainstorming
things to not only engage students but also to get to know them. For the past eight years or so, I’ve been
using the 111 Things About Me Assignment.
On the first day of class, I don’t go over the class rules
or syllabus. Everyone else does
that. Or I just assume everyone else
does that. That’s boring. The last thing I want to be is like anyone
else. I want to be a purple cow. And one way I strive for that is through my
knowledge of and relationships with my students. This helps me create a classroom culture that
I’ll put up against anyone. And that
brings me back to my
list of 111 Things About Me.
I share a document with students. The document contains the numbers 1-111. Students are then asked to fill in a detail
or fact about themselves for every number.
I tell them that these can be trivial information (I’m left handed, I
have a little brother, I don’t have a uvula) to significant details (I struggle
to read, I suffer from anxiety, my parents are divorced) to
shocking/heartbreaking thins (my little brother died from cancer, my father is
serving 12 years in prison, I learned last year that I was adopted).
I give students a week to complete this. I also share my latest example of 111 Things
About Me with them. It’s not just a
great way to get to know students. It’s
also a great way for students to generate topics for essays. If fact, when I read over this, I will star
or note which details would work for specific essays. If I see, I overhauled an engine this summer
with my father and grandfather, I would note how this would make for a great
rite of passage essay or if I read how a student has to make supper for his
siblings on weeknights, I would mark how this would make a great how to essay.
And for some days, I will use these facts and details to
create questions for a bingo game I play with students as a get to know-you
activity.
Give it a try.
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