Inspire meaningful reflection and dialogue that goes beyond the traditional sharing circle. Spark reflective writing, exploration of positive character traits, or facilitate strong beginnings and optimistic endings. This method is useful for both individual and collaborative reflection and is used in restorative circles and appreciations,...
Taking the time to welcome students back to school and help them build a positive and productive learning community is more important now than ever before. Over the past month, I have been working with schools across the country who are intentionally building in more...
Rather than opening a program or class with a whole circle introduction I always begin rapport building and reflective dialogue with partner or small group sharing activities and blend in simple, non-threatening -- but relevant, context setting-- questions or an object/picture/quote to use as a...
This summer I am facilitating a number of facilitation workshops for college student leaders. One of the most important topics we explore is the essential practice of sequencing which is of course relevant for both online and in-person facilitation. Here is a post from the...
My "Conversation Starters" Pin Back buttons are a playful and engaging way to start a program or class off with style, and a favorite tool of educators and facilitators in all kinds of settings. Over the past few years I have expanded my collection to...
In my February post, I shared how I have been using my favorite closing reflection activity, "Group Drawing," online with Jamboard combined with breakout groups (Jamboard is an interactive whiteboard that is part of the Google workspace). Art and creative expression are powerful because they...
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...