Prep: Make two circles of chairs, one inside the other. Chairs on the outside circle should face the inside chairs so that participants can match up and speak to each other in pairs. There should be one chair for each participant. If the number of participants is odd, include yourself in the circle.

There are many possible questions you can use, but it works best if the questions at the beginning are easier to talk about. Think get-to-know questions rather than probing or difficult questions. As the activity progresses, the questions can become more challenging.

This is a sequence of questions for a group of teachers in a workshop:

Talk about the neighborhood you grew up in and some of your earliest memories.

Talk about your favorite and least favorite teacher from elementary school.

Talk about an early experience learning math.

Talk about what you like about being involved with education.

Talk about one thing you would like to improve in your classroom or education in general.

Talk about a lesson plan that worked and one that didn’t.

Talk about where you hope to be five years from now.

Instructions for the group:

• Introduce yourself to your partner.
• You will talk with one person for a few minutes. Leave time for each of you to answer the question.
• Ask the first question. Everyone talks in their pairs.
• When I call switch, the outer circle should stand up and move one seat clockwise. The inner circle should stay in the same place.
• Introduce yourself again each time you switch.
• Ask another question.
• If time permits, continue the conversations with different questions until the outer circle rotates back to the beginning.

Reflection with the group:

• What was this activity like for?
• What can we learn from this activity?

This activity is from the fantastic book, Moving Beyond Icebreakers by Stanley Pollack and Mary Fusoni.