Help! NO One Is Talking On The Zoom! Distance Friendly Conversation Starters

When the pandemic hit, teachers were desperate to see kids faces.

Nine months later, most of us are pretty zoomed out. But as real as Zoom fatigue is, getting students engaged in distance learning is not a loss cause. You can check out other posts on this site about motivating students who are unmotivated, games that can be played to start or end a lesson and even free resources that can be remixed for student lessons, but what about a good old conversation starter?

In pre-Covid times I remember writing conversation starters on Jenga blocks and beach balls for interactive games that could be played time and time again, but even without the tangible items, a good conversation prompt goes a long way.

In addition to offering a way to get to know students, you can make note of responses that might warrant further exploration. You can invite students to share a thumbs up or down emoji to represent their understanding, support or similarities to answers shown. You can start the class with a prompt and give participation points for answering or even create a prize box of trinkets or fun activities that students can earn for responding.

You can use this list of conversation starters as a pull a prompt from a jar or bowl that kicks off the class period, or you can write a few on note cards and play pick the card to let the kids have some ownership of the game.

Check out the ebook, Get Teens Talking for more teen friendly ideas for boosting engagement or 8 Minute Miracles for kid friendly activities that teach SEL.