Self-Introductions

Description
Group Activity | 20 minutes

Self-introduction is a straightforward step to build community with students. How intentional you are about facilitating self-introductions can make a big difference. This activity helps to Express Care by inviting students to connect their personal identities to the learning community. Click here to download this page as a PDF. This activity can:

Help educators learn more about the student inside and outside the classroom.
Demonstrate and set expectations for a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Give students a safe and easy way to share personal details and meet one another.

A diagram showing three elements of self-introductions: sharing a connection a previous person, preferred name and pronoun, and role in your program.

Instructions

1. Introduce yourself.

When you speak to your students, you model expectations for how they should interact with one another. So when you introduce yourself, here are some points to consider including: your name, pronouns, your own relationship to math (e.g., did you like math growing up? How is math relevant for your daily life?), and hopes for students as they participate in the learning process.

2. Set up the conversation structures.

Tell students what to include in self-introductions. For example, in addition to names, we recommend asking students to share pronouns to demonstrate inclusivity. In order to build flexibility and autonomy, you can offer ice-breaker questions and invite students to answer questions they feel most comfortable with. Providing conversation structures on a board or paper can also be helpful.

3. Make connections among students' self-introductions.

To help establish a sense of community, verbally make connections among students as they share. You can also embed this in the introductions by asking students to share something they relate to with the previous student's introduction.

4. Guide the order of students as they share.

“Popcorn” style can disrupt the momentum of conversation and even lead to social anxiety. Instead, facilitate the order of introductions either by calling on students with a heads-up (e.g., “I’ll hand it to x, and if y you can go after x that would be great”) or establishing an order of speaking.

5. Offer your impressions and affirmations.

Finally, after everyone has introduced themselves, conclude the activity by sharing some themes from what was shared. For example, “sounds like some of you really like math and others not so much, that’s totally okay and great, we are all in this together!” Also, remind the students that you are committed to building a welcoming and safe space with them where everyone can learn and have fun with math. Invite them to make this commitment as well.

Tips and Tricks

Online adaptation. If you're using video calls, the amount of visible faces and lack of non-verbal cues can make many students feel intimidated about when to speak. Make sure to give precise directions about the order of speaking.

The importance of correct pronunciation. Remembering and correctly pronouncing students’ names is critical to helping them feel valued, an important aspect of being culturally responsive. Consider explaining these values to your students before you begin. Taking phonetic notes can help you practice and remember.

Mixing math questions and personal questions. When you mix math questions with personal questions, you show students that you care about them as whole people. By letting students choose which personal questions to answer, you can keep them from an unwanted spotlight. This also allows autonomy over what and how much they would like to share.

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