Ice Breakers
Establishing a safe and supportive learning environment
When thinking about establishing an environment conducive to learning and developing there are many issues to consider, from personality to physical needs, everyone must be involved, engaged and protected. Within this assignment I will examine how to set up and maintain ground rules or learning agreements that underpin behaviour and respect for each other throughout the learning journey.
Planning your session
There are many different techniques available to begin a teaching session or training course. The most commonly used are called Ice Breakers and they aim to do exactly that. Ice Breakers can vary from general self introductions around the group to physical team …show more content…
The route I would take would be to begin by asking each person one thing they would like to happen during the session and one thing they would not like to happen, this then gives the group and the teacher a general idea of expectations. For example a member of the group could say they would like to start each session on time and they would not like to be interrupted. The group can then discuss how to achieve the positive outcomes and how to avoid the negative scenarios by drawing up an agreement to include everyone’s suggestions. The teacher should be involved but not leading the discussion so that the group can come to their own conclusions. Another way to do this is to hold a ballot box and ask the group their hopes and fears for the session, then together afterwards the group can put strategies in place to ensure that each member is happy, relaxed and included. The teacher’s role in this idea would be to make sure the agreements or rules were mainly positive for example rather than ‘No Swearing’ a agreement to use ‘Appropriate Language’ would be more beneficial and open to discussion at a later date depending what the group felt was appropriate at that time. It is also the teacher’s responsibility to adhere to and model the rules or agreement at all times, as this consistently provides clear expectations of behaviour and
When thinking about establishing an environment conducive to learning and developing there are many issues to consider, from personality to physical needs, everyone must be involved, engaged and protected. Within this assignment I will examine how to set up and maintain ground rules or learning agreements that underpin behaviour and respect for each other throughout the learning journey.
Planning your session
There are many different techniques available to begin a teaching session or training course. The most commonly used are called Ice Breakers and they aim to do exactly that. Ice Breakers can vary from general self introductions around the group to physical team …show more content…
The route I would take would be to begin by asking each person one thing they would like to happen during the session and one thing they would not like to happen, this then gives the group and the teacher a general idea of expectations. For example a member of the group could say they would like to start each session on time and they would not like to be interrupted. The group can then discuss how to achieve the positive outcomes and how to avoid the negative scenarios by drawing up an agreement to include everyone’s suggestions. The teacher should be involved but not leading the discussion so that the group can come to their own conclusions. Another way to do this is to hold a ballot box and ask the group their hopes and fears for the session, then together afterwards the group can put strategies in place to ensure that each member is happy, relaxed and included. The teacher’s role in this idea would be to make sure the agreements or rules were mainly positive for example rather than ‘No Swearing’ a agreement to use ‘Appropriate Language’ would be more beneficial and open to discussion at a later date depending what the group felt was appropriate at that time. It is also the teacher’s responsibility to adhere to and model the rules or agreement at all times, as this consistently provides clear expectations of behaviour and