Break Room
The Break Room is a great place for participants to share information about themselves. The key is to keep the conversation light and informal, and allow participants to connect with each other. Notice the Break Room Starter your facilitator trainer has posted in our course. The Break Room is the place to share good news (“Hey y'all, I'm a grandma!”) or other information that is not directly course-related.
Break Room starters can be purely fun, or might have connections to your course content. The following is an example of a Break Room starter one facilitator has used in the Multiple Intelligences course during the Bodily Kinesthetic (BK) module:
"How do you BK? No, I don't mean a Whopper and fries! I love to take hikes in the woods with my boys. When things get a little too stressful, a good fast walk around the block does wonders for my attitude. I have to say I've never had a bad day skiing either! How do you express your BK intelligence?"
This posting is often enough to help the fitness gurus find each other... and those of us who really DO love a good Whopper now and again seem to make ourselves known as well!
Notice that in addition to asking the question, this facilitator shared information about herself. Your level of self-disclosure will determine the extent to which your participants will share. As you let down your guard, your students will do the same.
Some instructors like to check out the weather around the nation or the world, or ask about pets and children. There are lots of ways to make connections.
Think of the Break Room as those moments before, after, and during class when folks aren't talking about course stuff, but when your participants learn about you, learn about each other, and become friends.
Posting Break Room Starters
Break room starters can be lots of fun, and the best ones beg to be answered! Here are some samples, adapted from those shared by PLS facilitators and participants:
- We all have been exposed to some great (and occasionally not so great) educators over the years. I was fortunate enough to have a series of outstanding social studies teachers from middle school through high school that convinced me to become a social studies teacher myself. Who was your favorite teacher and why?
- I am a huge music fan! Every day in my classroom, I have music that pertains to the day's topic playing as my students enter the room. This idea came from my Art History professor. If you had to pick one song to represent you or the course you teach, what would it be?
- My book club is meeting in a few weeks to choose books for the coming year. What books have you enjoyed and that you would recommend?
- Staff development training can range from motivating and practical to ...not so much. What was the topic of the most interesting in-service program you have attended, and what was the most critical kernel of information you took from it?
It's always a good idea to avoid religion and politics, but if participants bring something up, remember that the Break Room is their spot to chat. As long as posts remain kind and appropriate there is no need to interfere. Especially in schools with religious affiliations, students will often include spiritual references in their posts. Just as participants share their opinions in a face-to-face class, they may feel comfortable sharing them online as well. Respectful posts are acceptable, even if everyone in the class does not agree with the content. As in a face-to-face class, it's not appropriate for the facilitator to “choose sides” in these discussions, but simply to monitor the conversation for appropriate posting.