Many of the inspired educators that I work with have shared variations of this playful party game for active review and formative assessment in the classroom or training sessions. Similarly to Play Dough Pictionary and Charades Race “Bag of Nouns” doubles as a playful group...
There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the positive impact of exercise on brain development and function – and therefore memory and learning throughout life. Exercise has the long-term effect of improving blood flow thereby improving the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the...
This time of year I find myself facilitating vision and goal setting retreats, training programs and project oriented planning meetings with many schools and organizations. Time and time again I find the "Gallery Walk" activity a useful tool when I want to gather information on...
This post was originally published in March of 2013. As the school year comes to a close I have been using this technique quite a bit with great success. I am posting this article again as a reminder to educators and group facilitators looking to...
This time of year I find myself facilitating a number of student team-building programs, "step up" days where students visit their new school and new classmates for the first time, field days, and camp trainings. The advisory leaders I work with often ask for activities...
One of the tenets of experiential education is that people learn best when they perceive a sense of control, and have choice and ownership in their learning experiences. Think about creating opportunities that build this sense of choice and control for participants or students from...
This evening as I sit cutting out quotes with "new year" and "new beginnings" themes in preparation for some upcoming workshops, I have been reflecting on the power of strong beginnings. Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book Inspired Educator, Inspired Learner that explores this...
A century ago, John Dewey emphasized the importance of engaging learners in reflection. He believed that our experiences shape us, and when reflective practice is part of the learning, meaning and relevancy is created, initiating further growth and change (Dewey, 1933). Reflection is a key...
Reflection brings learning to life. Reflective practice helps learners find relevancy and meaning in a lesson and make connections between educational experiences and real life situations, increases insight, and creates pathways to future learning....
The art of teaching and group facilitation requires a careful balance of challenge, observation, encouragement, guidance, and the ability to know when to step in to help learners, and when to step back and let them learn through struggling with a problem. Sometimes educators have...
In today's post, I offer another activity that is useful for exploring how complicated communication can be, and how miscommunication arises. This activity is sure to initiate meaningful reflection and dialogue with the groups you work with....
In yesterday's post I shared one of my favorite activities for jumpstarting reflection and conversation with groups about communication and the pitfalls of miscommunication called "Telegraph". Others that I use for this purpose are "Zoom", "Tin Can Pass", and "Communication Break Down" which I...
One of the most fundamental aspects of team-building and developing a positive learning and working environment is effective communication. Communication skills are an incredibly important social-emotional skill necessary for success in the 21st century workplace. Group facilitators and educators often look for activities to practice...
The teachers, corporate trainers, high school advisors and other educators I work with are constantly trying to create a balance of learning in their classes and groups. These interactive strategies help learners practice, review, synthesize and discuss academic material. Through playful collaborative learning teachers increase...
During this "back to school" and fall program kick off time of year educators engage groups in introductory activities, ice-breakers and get to know you activities. Regardless of the types of groups you work with it is useful to have a repertoire of simple and...
On Thursday I shared one of my favorite methods for sparking conversation and building rapport in groups that I call "Team Tally". This group commonalities questionnaire serves as a “get to know you” or group celebration activity that involves friendly competition between teams of students...
It's time once again for back to school and fall program kick off. Here is an activity that is perfect for building rapport in new groups coming together for the first time, or for exploring commonalities and group building in existing groups of all kinds. Team...
My summer travels forced me to take a break from the blog. Today I’m inspired to write again after reading Adam Clark’s comment on my June post about “Making the Most of Transitions”. “Great post here with lots of useful suggestions for transitions! Even though we...