Think of a field, profession, or area of knowledge connected to this course. Find one person whose work matters but who is often overlooked, underrecognized, or left out of the history books. You might find someone who shares your culture, background, language, or interests. Spend 10–15 minutes learning who they are, what they did, and why they matter.
Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? Read Post »
Community Dictionary: Identify a group or culture you belong to that shares goals, language, or habits. Recall a time this community made you feel included. Choose a word or phrase from your group’s vocabulary, define it, and explain its use. Add links or images to help others understand. Share with the class.
Community Dictionary Read Post »
How It’s Going: Let’s take a few moments to check in about how it’s going. Use our course site to share a meme, image, video, song, animal photo, etc that depicts how it’s going right now for you at this point in the semester.
5 Questions Jam Session: Collectively, we will come up with five questions to help us get to know one another a little better. After you write your answers, you can keep them, pass them along randomly, or trade with a classmate. Share with the class by reading your own responses or another student’s responses.
5 Questions Jam Session Read Post »
Blind Contour Portraits: Find a partner. Create a blind-contour portrait without looking at your paper. Follow the step-by-step instructions. Your goal is not to produce a realistic drawing, but to notice as many details as you can while looking only at your subject.
Blind Contour Portraits Read Post »
Write Your Manifesto! Compose YOUR manifesto in the style of past artists, designers, innovators. This exercise will help you to start thinking about what matters to you; what drives you. Be as poetic, abstract, or passionate as you want.
Write Your Manifesto! Read Post »
2-Minute Intros: Each person will introduce themselves to their partner for 2 minutes. The person talking can tell their partner anything they want about themselves. The goal is to keep *talking* for the full 2 minutes. The other person’s job is to *listen* without saying anything.
Time Machine: Pretend you could get into a time machine and go back in time to visit yourself at the beginning of the semester. What do you know now that you wish you knew then? Write a letter to deliver to your past self explaining how this semester went for you and how you figured out what it takes to succeed in this class.
Building the Skeleton: Conceptualize an idea by breaking it down into simple, structured parts. Think of your main idea as the “spine,” your supporting points as the “ribs,” and your examples or evidence as the “limbs.” This visual and structured approach helps you to organize your thoughts clearly.
Building the Skeleton Read Post »
Collaborative Playlist: Let’s create a collective playlist of our favorite music of the moment. Share at least three tracks per person. By the end of the semester we will have a curated playlist that showcases the mood and character the class.
Collaborative Playlist Read Post »
