Class Warm Ups and Rituals
Classroom warm ups or icebreakers and rituals promote a sense of regularity and stability and even comfort that is part of a trauma-informed approach to learning. They also recognize the tremendous challenges and ongoing struggles students and faculty have faced and continue to face.
Warm ups can include asking students, either as a class or groups, to respond to prompts such as:
- One thing you can’t tell about me just by looking at me is [blank] and it’s important for me to tell you that because [blank].
- Share a rose [pleasant thing], thorn [worrisome thing], and bud [hopeful thing].
- Story of your name [in which students describe their name and its meaning to them].
- Ask a different prompt question each class, e.g., favorite food, dessert, fruit, and invite students to decide the prompt for the next class.
Or try a physical warm up: ask students to rise and do twists, arm swings or jump in place. Physical activity and movement are excellent ways to ground and center students.
Rituals can include:
- Ring a bell, gong or singing bowl and ask students to really listen until the sound truly can no longer be heard.
- Freewriting for a minute (writing without stopping and without thinking).
- Single line drawing without lifting the pen (if doesn’t matter if it’s not an art class).
- Drawing a spiral for a minute.
- Breathing deeply in and out several times (sit up, back straight, feet on floor). Deep exhalation naturally lowers the heart rate and blood pressure.
- The hands are powerful tools for calming the mind. Try slowly squeezing each finger from base to tip on one hand and then the other.
- On a loose piece of paper, students write what’s spinning in their heads for a minute, crumple the paper dramatically, then, on cue, stand and toss it into the recycle bin you’re holding. (They’ll love it and laugh, especially when they hit you in the head.)
Some rituals recommended by New School faculty include:
- Begin class with a minute or two of silence. Invite students to get comfortable and pay attention to their breath. Then read a prompt and give students five- to ten-minutes to free-write. The prompt could be a short poem or piece of prose or an excerpt from a class reading, and students are guided to engage with the prompt without censoring themselves. This leads to sharing and discussions.
- Play music for a few minutes at the start of class. Students determine the playlist.
- Begin each class by offering students three minutes to make themselves more comfortable. They could use this time to stretch, check their phones, talk quietly with a classmate, journal, close their eyes, or engage in another activity that grounds them.
- For each class session assign one or two students to report on news items that interest them. Spend a few minutes discussing them as a class.
- Start class by having 2-3 students share an image or an object that inspires them.
- Consistently build in time for students to talk to one another (while still relating it to course material) so that a sense of community is created and sustained.