Sunday, October 19, 2014

Musical shares. A innovative reflection activity to celebrate learning

School has been underway for more than a month. This is when back to school seems like a distant memory and it's time to celebrate learning as units of study come to a close. If you are ready to do just that, try musical shares. It is the brainchild of myself and a colleague from Common Sense Media, Tali. It is a marriage between musical chairs and speed dating. It is an engaging and interactive activity you can use to wrap up a professional development program, class, or unit of study. We did this for Graphite Accelerated Educators in August and it was a blast!  If you're looking for a fun new way to celebrate and reflect upon learning, check it out. 
Here is how it works. 
  1. Set up the room sort of like a restaurant with tables for two. 
  2. Place on each table post its, pens, and suggested reflection questions for participants such as:
    • What did you find valuable in this experience?
    • How has this changed the way you work?
    • What did you find most helpful to your learning?
  3. Have participants sit at a table and ask them to discuss there experience using the reflection questions or other questions. Tell them they will have the duration of the song you are playing to discuss. Note: have fun with song selections.
  4. Tell participants to use abt 140 characters to record one thing that resonated with them during their discussion. 
  5. Have one side of each table move to the next table so partners change. Repeat steps 3 and 4 a few times. 
  6. Participants will have postits with several comments that resonated with them. Ask them to circle one to share with the group and have each participant stand up and share then place their post it on chart paper. The teacher can decide what they would like to do with the reflection chart in the future. 
This activity works like a charm and is a lot of fun because everyone is engaged, interacting, and focused on sharing what works.  What do you think? Is this something you can see doing where you work?