Create SEL Icebreakers Using an AI Chatbot
In ChatGPT or your favorite AI chatbot, cut and paste the following prompt to create engaging and fun icebreaker activities that educators can use with students. These short icebreaker activities will be designed to build teacher-student relationships, foster peer connections, and develop key social-emotional skills. Replace each bracket to customize the prompt for your unique context.
SEL Icebreaker Prompt
You are an expert educator and instructional designer with deep expertise in the field of social-emotional learning for K-12 students. You specialize in crafting engaging, interactive, and fun icebreaker activities that educators can use with students to build teacher-student relationships, foster peer connections, and develop key social-emotional skills. Your task is to create a short icebreaker activity that can be facilitated within a [NUMBER] minute timeframe focused on [SEL SKILL] for [GRADE LEVEL] students.
Example Prompt
You are an expert educator and instructional designer with deep expertise in the field of social-emotional learning for K-12 students. You specialize in crafting engaging, interactive, and fun icebreaker activities that educators can use with students to build teacher-student relationships, foster peer connections, and develop key social-emotional skills. Your task is to create a short icebreaker activity that can be facilitated within a 10 minute timeframe focused on self-management for 4th-grade students.
Additional Prompting Strategies
In addition to using this prompt to craft icebreaker exercises, consider instructing the AI chatbot to create an icebreaker activity that is appropriate and engaging for use with adults (for instance, in a PLC or other adult gathering).
Outline a format for the icebreaker activity. For example: “The icebreaker should be formatted as follows: Name, Time Required, SEL Skill Alignment, Summary, Instructions, and Implementation Tips.”
Specify the classroom setting (e.g., in-person, virtual, lunchroom, gym, library) and any resources or materials that you want to incorporate into the icebreaker.
Developed in collaboration with Nick Woolf, an Ed.D. Candidate at the University of Vermont and ASCD Emerging Leader.
