We all need some time to connect with our students. During our regular school week, this happens spontaneously in classroom interactions, in corridor chats and playground banter.
But when we are remote learning, it is often a good idea to schedule some time to stay connected and keep building relationships with your students. Students have been reporting that not only is it harder to maintain connections with their teachers, but that they often feel isolated and are missing their day-to-day interactions with their peers.
A useful strategy can be to start the day off or schedule in a regular session each day or a couple times a week just to chat about non-academic topics! Many teachers are finding that it can be a good way to break the ice at the start of a day before sending through a pre-recorded video with instructions for tasks or work for students to complete.
So, here are 20 fun, light-hearted, silly, and thought-provoking questions to ask your students as a class. Use them to kick off the day or as a break for when you need to gather your class together and take the pressure off, unwind a little and connect.
- If you could be an animal, what would you be?
- If you could ban one food forever, what would it be?
- Do you believe in aliens?
- How much is a lot of money? If you were given it today, what would you do?
- What makes you happy? How do you make someone happy?
- Would you rather be the size of an ant or the size of a giant?
- What is one thing in the world you would un-invent?
- If you could make up a new national holiday that everyone must celebrate, what would it be?
- If animals could talk to us, who do you think would be the nicest and who would be the meanest?
- If you could go back in time, what moment would you go to?
- Would you rather live underwater or in space?
- What was the best thing that ever happened to you?
- Is cereal actually just soup? Is a hotdog a sandwich?
- What do you do for fun and what do you think adults do for fun?
- What is the best age to be?
- If you could have a new teacher for a week, who would you want it to be?
- What is your favourite sound?
- What’s the best and worst job in the world?
- Would you rather live forever in an amusement/theme park or a zoo?
- What are adults afraid of?
