Amping Up Your Zoom Sessions

CHANGE!
There has been so much change.  As educators we have had to adapt to a new, online teaching world.  Many of us are using zoom or other ways to teach using live video.  My first couple zoom sessions were exciting and thrilling, but after a couple weeks it became routine.  I needed something to further engage my students and make things a little more fun.  Below are some ideas to help enliven your zoom sessions.

Welcome Activities

These are activities that I start off my zoom session with.  These are silly ice breakers and get to know you activities.

1. That's Me:




When you login to zoom, there is a button where students can react with clapping or a thumbs up.  To play this game, the teacher makes a statement. For example, I stayed up until midnight last night.
Then all the students who stayed up until midnight will react to that statement.  In order to play, have a few statements ready.  At the end of the activity, ask the students if they learned something about a classmate or if they noticed their classmates had similar reactions.

2. Name Game:
Zoom also allows you to edit your name.  For this opening game, the teacher will choose a topic.  For example, what is your favorite tv show character.  Then the students change their name to answer the question.

3. "Where is" Game
One of the silly things about zoom is that everyone's square box pictures are all placed in different spots.  No one's computer places the images in the same spot.  So for the where is game, you will say a students name and everyone points to where the student is on their computer.  It is very silly, but the kids think it is funny to see where everyone's pictures are located.

4. GIF Game
*Make sure to remind students only to use appropriate gifs
For this game, the teacher will make a statement.  For example, how did you first feel when you found out school was cancelled?  Then, the students find a gif and paste it in the chat box.  At the end, you vote on who had the funniest gif reaction.

5. Would You Rather
I play this with the students.  But they can share their answers by using the reaction button.  For example, would you rather make a tik tok video or watch disney plus?  If students would prefer the first thing you say, they click the clapping hands.  If they prefer the second thing you said, they give the thumbs up.

6. Weird Picture
For this game, the teacher takes a picture of something, but it super close to the camera so the students can only see a portion of it.  Then, the students have to guess what the picture is.

7. Pictionary
With the whiteboard function on zoom, you can also play pictionary and use the share screens so different students can draw.

I hope some of these ideas might be able to help you out. :D

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