Play Doh Pictionary and Charades Race are two of my favorite activities for integrating academic or training content review and reflection with community building and social and emotional learning. Since Zoom has enhanced breakout room capabilities I have been playing both games online with wonderful...
Facilitating a sense of choice, control, and ownership from the very start of learning and group experiences is fundamental to maximizing engagement and buy-in. In past posts, I've shared about this principle and ideas for cultivating it (see "Make Thoughtful Activity Choices" and "Setting the...
Group Drawing is my favorite reflective activity to close a group experience, lesson, or workshop. I made it up on the fly with an in person group more than twenty years ago when I had just a few moments left in a session and wanted...
When my travels to facilitate professional development came to an abrupt halt in March, I couldn't imagine how I would bring my experiential facilitation, teaching, social and emotional learning, and teambuilding practice online. Before that time, I had turned down offers to facilitate online professional...
Excerpt from Experiential Tools Newsletter Oct 2nd, 2020: In the midst of learning about exciting new updates on Zoom, helpful new apps, the latest tech tools, and creative activities for hybrid environments, it is important we don't lose our focus on the "why" behind our choices...
Over the past six weeks, I’ve been facilitating online “Inspiration and Support Sessions” with educators and facilitators from all over the world. In these co-creative small-group weekly series, we explore ways to meaningfully engage participants/students and promote voice, choice, dialogue, and reflection in online and...
This article from the Inspired Educator Blog Archive is as important today as it was a decade ago — if not even more so now in our new online and in-person at a distance teaching and facilitation environments where building connection is essential. I still...
It has now been three weeks since my in-person workshops with educators, facilitators, and students came to a screeching halt because of the Coronavirus crisis. Since then, I, like most of you, have been navigating the balance between focusing on keeping my family and community...
A Multipurpose Activity for Community Building, Reflection, Review, Data Gathering, Peer Teaching, and Formative Assessment In past posts, I’ve explored the idea of re-purposing icebreakers/rapport builders for exploring academic or training content, or as an active way to engage a group in reflection and dialogue. Team...
Over the years, this article has been one of my most popular blog posts. I originally shared the "Full Plate Time Management" lesson example in my Inspired Educator, Inspired Learner book, and in a 2014 blog post. Since that time, numerous readers have shared that...
Over the last year I've received many messages and posts from workshop participants from Austin to Kalamazoo, with photos of boxes of keys and captions of "You were right! My hardware store had a whole box to give me!" For decades I have been collecting vintage...
It’s that time again! Schools and Colleges are back in session or gearing up for the first day. Fall programs and trainings are kicking off. For those of you looking for strategies to build rapport, a sense of community and increase engagement here is a...
This bestowal of name and identity is a kind of symbolic contract between society and the individual. The name differentiates the child from others; thus, society will be able to treat and deal with the child as someone with needs and feelings different from those...
Successful facilitators and educators consciously think about their style and continually develop it in a variety of intentional ways, including reflection, feedback, continued education, and experimentation. As new facilitators, we often emulate the educators and leaders who positively impacted or inspired us. As we mature...
We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play. ~ Charles. E. Schaefer, pioneer in the field of play therapy Never underestimate the power of play in learning! Play is a serious subject. There...
An icebreaker is meant to build a foundation of respect, rapport, trust, and a willingness to share that is essential to a productive and supportive learning community. Often icebreakers do the opposite of what was intended, placing individuals in awkward situations too early in the...
Excerpt from the Inspired Educator Blog Archives: Back in 2011 I shared this activity here as a favorite strategy for harnessing the power of play to teach, review, and reinforce academic or training content. It has continued to be a favorite active review and even reflection...
The teachers, corporate trainers, high school advisors and other educators that I work with are constantly trying to create a balance of learning in their classes and groups. The challenge is to stretch their time to include building a strong learning community, facilitating reflection, and...