{"id":27018,"date":"2016-01-21T11:20:11","date_gmt":"2016-01-21T16:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=27018"},"modified":"2016-03-29T19:41:16","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T23:41:16","slug":"breaking-the-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2016\/01\/21\/breaking-the-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking the Ice"},"content":{"rendered":"In my very first post, I gave a pep talk for when you\u2019re on your way to office hours<\/a>. Did you read it? Did you go? Are you and your profs best friends now? Do you give each other wardrobe advice and go ice-skating? Well, that\u2019s wonderful!<\/span>\r\n\r\nJust in case you wanted some more concrete advice, however, I have been compiling a list of potential icebreakers that will start you off on the right foot with your winter term profs. What better time could there be to share this list than right now, when you have to break literal ice on your trek to your prof's office and break figurative ice upon arrival?<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe way I see it, there are five main icebreaker categories:<\/span>\r\n <\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Course<\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cDo you mind which edition of [insert text here] I use?\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cAre there any additional resources you could recommend that might enrich my learning?<\/em>\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nThese questions are great if you\u2019re really nervous and you feel like you need a formal jumping off point. However, make sure that the question you plan to ask has not been answered on Portal, in the syllabus, in lecture, or through some other means. It must be exhausting to have to answer the same questions over and over again and you want to make an impression as studious and organized.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Get<\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cHello, my name is ___________ and I\u2019m interested in\/I study\/I work in X, Y, and Z.\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cI took [insert prerequisite\/related course here] and I really enjoyed X, Y, and Z. Here are some ways in which what I learned in that course relate\/can help me in this course: \u2026\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cI am interested in this field because of X, Y, and Z.\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cIn the future, I hope to do X, Y, or Z.\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\nThese types of openers can be great to lead off a conversation in office hours. As intimidating as it may seem, office hours need not be anything more than an informal chat. Professors have a vested interest in you and your academic future because their job is to help shape it. Let them know what you\u2019re up to; who knows what reassurance or advice you may receive in return? At the very least, introducing yourself and what you\u2019re all about will help your prof to put a face to a name and a name to a person.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Comprehension\"<\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat sorts of things should I pay special attention to as I read?\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cI have noticed that [insert theme here] keeps cropping up in readings. I think it\u2019s significant because X, Y, and Z. What do you think?\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m having trouble understanding [Concept X], can you help me?\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\nAsking for clarification or sharing your own insights is great because it allows you to enrich your knowledge and test your own ideas out on an expert in the field. Even if you make mistakes, your prof will help guide you. As long as you\u2019re trying, there is no shame. Remember that you have unique insights and perspectives that are worth sharing. Who knows? Perhaps both of you will learn something new once you start bouncing ideas off of each other and picking each others\u2019 brains.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Course<\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat do you think is the most critical element to a good paper?\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat piece of advice do you wish someone had shared with you when you were an undergrad student?\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\nEvery professor has tips and tricks that they have picked up throughout their own academic journeys. When they share these tricks with you, you\u2019ll get a better idea of how to succeed in their class specifically, and you might also gain a new tool for your own academic toolbox.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Get<\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat drew you to this field?\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cWhat other projects are you working on?<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cIs there any way that I could get involved?\u201d<\/em><\/span>\r\n\r\nTrust me, UofT profs do some really amazing things! It can\u2019t do any harm to ask them about what they devote their time to. You\u2019ll learn more about the field you\u2019re studying and perhaps even hone in on what you might like to pursue going forward. If your professor is working on things that interest you, forging a connection with him or her could lead to some wonderful opportunities.<\/span>\r\n\r\n
\"Don't<\/a>
<\/span> Don't be like this polar bear. If you go in prepared, you'll break that ice with ease!<\/span>
Gif courtesy of: http:\/\/www.gifbin.com\/bin\/072012\/1343148079_polar_bear_ice_breaking_fail.gif<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In my very first post, I gave a pep talk for when you\u2019re on your way to office hours<\/a>. Did you read it? Did you go? Are you and your profs best friends now? Do you give each other wardrobe advice and go ice-skating? Well, that\u2019s wonderful!<\/span>\r\n\r\nJust in case you wanted some more concrete advice, however, I have been compiling a list of potential icebreakers that will start you off on the right foot with your winter term profs. What better time could there be to share this list than right now, when you have to break literal ice on your trek to your prof's office and break figurative ice upon arrival?<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe way I see it, there are five main icebreaker categories:<\/span>\r\n <\/span>
Continue reading “Breaking the Ice”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27018"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28164,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27018\/revisions\/28164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}