This summer a lot of my time has been dedicated towards taking part in musicals. Throughout July, I took on the role of Glen Guglia, a disgustingly materialistic Wall Street type in The Wedding Singer. After that show closed, I was right back into it with a production of Thirteen as the lighting designer. The former was a cast full of high schoolers and the latter was a cast full of middle schoolers. Almost every aspect of the two shows were different from each other (the plots, the age of participants, the style of music, the roles I would play, etc.), however one thing remained constant throughout: a sense of community.
Theatrical shows are full of collaboration. Everyone is onstage, attempting to bring the same text to life for an audience’s entertainment. Without successful teamwork, the final product would be a mess. If an environment hasn’t been created where kids feel comfortable with one another, they are far more likely to take a more self-serving route to success, leaving the team on different pages. Conversely, when castmates are comfortable with their peers, they are more likely to solve problems together and lift each other up.
Much the same way, seamlessly functioning classrooms take place in environments where students feel safe and comfortable to branch out among the community. It is practically cliche at this point, but the ice needs to be broken early on. Although students can get to know one another through ‘icebreaker’ topics such as favorite ice cream flavor and favorite vacation spot, by a certain point every student has gone through that array of questions. It becomes tedious to have to answer the same ‘get to know you’ questions every year and no real bond or memory is created out of that experience. Through the musicals, I tried a different form of breaking the ice.
During one of the days of Thirteen’s production, I was tasked with getting all of the energetic middle schoolers hyped up. While it would be important to get them excited, it was also important that whatever I had them do was engaging and helped build the community between those involved. I had a strange idea. There was a line in the show that had gained cult popularity among the cast where one of the lead characters barked like a dog. Every time it was delivered, it received a laugh, so I wanted to use that pre-established inside joke as a building block for my activity. Then, I thought about my target audience. As I’ve said before, they were an energetic bunch. Rather than try to avoid that energy for controlling purposes, I figured it would be easier (and more fun for them) to tap into their excitement. The final step was coming up with a plan for how I would respond if the kids veered too far away from a healthily exciting environment and devolved into chaos.
On the day my quick activity was scheduled, everything had been planned out. I had the room split into two groups, by walking through the middle of everyone and designating who was ‘group one’ and who was ‘group two.’ I then had them all get to know their groups, but to their surprise, I disallowed them from communicating with human language. They had to become dogs. The kids had to crawl around and bark and shake paws to get to know their teams. Once they were well acquainted, they were pitted against one another in a barking match. One team was full of “woofers” and the other side was full of “ruffers,” to ensure we could declare a winner. After the competition, we all joined together to howl at the singular light in the room that refused to turn off.
Of course, this example of an icebreaker is a little bit out there. The absurdity of it all may be a bit too much, but the end result was arguably a success. Although the activity was ridiculous, that’s what made the kids bond. If nothing else, every kid walked away with a memory or a story from that experience, an instantaneous conversation starter. I would even go as far as saying a good portion of the kids enjoyed it and connected with others who felt the same. When everybody in a room is simultaneously making a fool of themselves, there isn’t any space for people’s guards to be up. While rounding up students and asking them to combatively bark at each other might not necessarily be a successful icebreaker, I would recommend using similar elements when planning your beginning of the year activities. Find ways to immediately push students not just to step out of their comfort zone, but leap out of it. It’s kind of funny how it works. On the first day, when kids are pushed to interact in a healthily uncomfortable environment, they will be set up for a more secure classroom experience in the long run.
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