Suggestion 125. Pair students up to introduce each other

IF YOU WANT TO:

• Relate to students as individuals

• Encourage students to get to know one another

• Create a relaxed atmosphere

Pairing students up to introduce themselves first to one another and then to the class.

In seminar courses, most faculty members ask students to introduce themselves briefly to the group. A professor of English has students pair up for a few minutes to interview each other about their backgrounds, literary interests, and expectations from the course. He then asks members of each pair to introduce each other to the group as a whole.

"I think this approach tends to establish an atmosphere in which students feel free to talk," he explains. It also helps set a pattern for discussion in which students are expected to listen to one another and to address their comments and questions as much toward one another as toward the instructor.

Limitations on Use of Suggestion

  Discipline:  None
Course Level:  None
 Course Size:  Not more than 50
        Mode:  None

Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California

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