Advent Observance Banner. Pose a new question, and the process is repeated, exposing students to the different perspectives of their entire team. (Preserve), What is it we dont have and dont want? For instance, if there are 25 players, then each player will take a number between 1 and 25. Pro Tip: Although Rock Paper Scissors is a zero-point game, you can customize yours to be different. Shark Tank Shark Tank is a great interactive team building game for college students. These retreats are designed for students of all faiths and spiritualities. Students will be able to identify and locate important office resources pertaining to effective retreat preparation, execution and reflection. For online classes, students can complete this activity in breakout rooms. Students certainly learn a lot of career-readiness skills on the job while leading their organizations, but hosting skill-building workshops during the retreat ensures that they have a foundation to build off of. If you want to make the game even more challenging, then make a rule that the story must fall within a particular theme or subject matter. Of course, researchers have proven that physical exercise increases mental sharpness. Facilitating this activity is as simple as drawing a matrix on an easel or whiteboard and labeling each of the quadrants with the four categories. Course type: Online (synchronous or asynchronous), blended, in-person. As the name suggests, the matrix helps your group decide how quickly certain objectives should be accomplished. Pretend one team is your staff and the other is a round of budget cuts that you have to creatively survive. Quicker than a full-on debrief, a check-in is useful if you just want to quickly gauge how folx are feeling and dont need to deep-dive into what they learned (yet). :u&` %B&p&2AEn-uU$+89,P%@Uq NET Ministries conducts retreats for 6th - 12th grade aged youth. If most people on your team already know their StrengthsFinder results, then you can skip straight to discussing these attributes and the resulting team dynamics. Here is a template we made for your game: Alternatively, you can make your custom bingo cards with a free icebreaker Bingo card generator. Check out these team-building activities for college students to try in 2021! Next, pair peers up and encourage them to agree on a response. A yet another exciting classroom activity that enhances interactivity in colleges is the use of the simulated press conference. 2. Have a silent disco Source: Peerspace A silent disco is a unique breakout session idea that can give your attendees an energy boost without requiring a live band or party venue. As they engage with all their senses, the attained knowledge makes a strong imprint in their minds. When not writing curriculum or working with students, youll find him enjoying a book, hiking or baking. You may not have to worry about bringing so much food if the booked campground has restaurants for guests. It is an added advantage if you go along with a hiker who can perform CPR. Examples might include, "I can't do this," "I'm not smart/cool/funny enough," or, "I'm just too shy/boring/bad at school.". Below are several local campgrounds and centers that Penn State has successfully used in the past. While this team-building game is ideal for art and design students, it can be used in any classroom to get learners out of their comfort zones and allow for team bonding. If you are looking for additional ideas, check out this leadership activities database and list of virtual leadership activities. Once each group has presented, the sharks all vote on their favorite project with the winner getting a special certificate or an extension on their latest assignment. Then, during the retreat, each person can share their favorite quotes from their assigned talk, summarize it, or share a particularly inspiring clip. A simple yet fun activity you can do on a group retreat is to share a lunch. Perhaps you can use a recent picture of your team, a memorable selfie from a student event, or a talented student photographers amazing campus snapshot. They can be especially helpful for remembering values, which you may already plan to discuss in your retreat. If you conduct an especially tasty dish, you can pass on the goodness to the rest ofcampus by sharing the recipe on social media, making it again for a division-wide meeting, or hosting a cooking class with students. We did a study of Esther and how she handled her lemons and how we as women of Christ can learn to handle our lemons. 1. After youve covered a topic or concept in your lecture, divide students into small discussion groups (or breakout rooms online). A retreat is a great time to review the student organization's mission, vision, and values. 16. Similar to leadership development topics. So, rather than the same ole uninspiring goal-setting exercise, why not mix it up? The housing, meeting spaces, recreation . Be sure its something that everyone can fully participate in, considering their experience levels (or lack thereof) and physical abilities. Handling Life's Lemons. Got someone with woo? Set aside time during the retreat to reflect on personal and business performance over the previous year. She studied Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, Information Science at East China Normal University and earned an MBA at Washington State University. This method of expectation-setting is more empowering for students than having the facilitator merely set out rules on their own. After three-to-five minutes, have students on the outside circle move one space to the right so they are standing in front of the next student. No Smiling Challenge: One group member says things or acts to make other members laugh. Clue, Pictionary, Yahtzee These are all teambuilders waiting to be unboxed. Be sure to bring speakers so you can blast out the best clips, and print out transcripts for anyone with hearing impairments. What are some of your favorite retreat activities? Have students draw a picture that represents why they enrolled in your course. Connect with us on Twitter @themoderncampus and @JustinTerlisner. Allow five minutes of planning time, so teams can strategize how they will transport the object as a group; if it falls to the floor, they must start over. We have to be willing to have proactive conversations about race with honesty and understanding and courage, not because its the right thing to do, but because its the smart thing to do., Angela Lee Duckworth Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. 4. Start by setting up stations or posters in a few locations around the classroom (like on the walls or on tables). can provide you frameworks. To do this, consider leading a centering activity. Creating an Advent Tree of Kindness. You can make this more challenging by offering clues or riddles rather than the names of items. We do so by slowing down our breathing so that we feel more of whats going on around us. Give chronological numbers to the players. IDEAS will provide meals, transportation, and materials for activities. Spring 2023 Fall 2023 . First, decide if the tour will be outside the country or locally. Helping them to warm up to the idea by breaking the ice can help build confidence. 3, 'Colored items', instead of using colors, you could use items of different shapes or different textures. (Ill cover how to design a good energizer and why later on in this post.). Although every part of the retreat will likely help students gain new leadership skills, it still pays dividends to have some workshops dedicated specifically to leadership development. The idea is to think ahead to what those failures might be,to put systems in place that will help minimize the damageor to prevent the bad things from happening in the first place. Activities will include yoga and mindfulness plus the opportunity to engage in outdoor activities. Categories can include office procedures, student trends, institutional history, student development theories, higher education news stories, and anything else you dream up. Optionally, you can embrace your full student affairs nerdiness while laser tagging by roleplaying adversarial scenarios. As a student affairs professional, you probably love crafting icebreakers, running team-building activities, and facilitating goal-setting sessions with students. Tell older children to divide a sheet of paper into three columns. Once students have set their goals, they can get ideas flowing to meet those goals! He also sent us a summary of themes that . Themed Hangout Groups. Hopping on for a tour near your campus will allow you to see your community in a new way, especially if you have a professional guide to teach you about the towns history and future. After the opening remarks, its time to get everyone into a retreat mindset,, the state of mind in which ideas flow more easily because students are unimpeded by distractions of everyday life, . Or, to really mix things up, one team can represent student affairs staff and the other can be academic staff, who all shock the system by working together to score the most total points. Have students put each goal in a quadrant then assign due dates. Then, as the leader, gently tap a few random participants on the back or shoulder. % stream It is a good idea to divide a large group into small teams while playing to encourage full participation from all the group members. Teams of students must then categorize these objects on a piece of paper or sticky note, even when no obvious connections exist. that transitions people from fretting about the past or future to focusing on the present. Teams then present their skits, and a group vote can be held to declare the winner. endobj students reflect on a learning experience objectively, describing what they did, observed, or read. The importance of crafting an intentional opening for the retreat cannot be overstated. You could even pair this with the soundtrack of our lives activity by having each person reveal which song was their pick by performing it! Your institutions marketing or communications department may be willing to run a workshop for you. This discussion activity can help students connect course concepts by leaning on prior knowledge and other learning experiences. This might take some students out of their comfort zone but it encourages teamwork and collaboration. I, like many others, was forced to move a face-to-face college class to virtual synchronous meetings in Zoom. An art project is a fun way to spend time together and display individual qualities that make the group unique. To host this party, decide whether or not the party will have a theme. From there, students continue the conversation, prompting one another to support their claims with evidence from previous course concepts or texts. 3. When it comes to stimulating breakout session ideas, lightning talks are among the most versatile. Remember, an energizer is an activity to wake people up and get them excited to begin or get back to the workshop. For Show and Tell, you can either ask everyone to present on their item and what it means to them or shuffle the items up for everyone to guess each owner before the big reveal. You can hang up the resulting artwork/values list combo in your office or print it on office items, such as coffee mugs or mouse pads, so everyone can have a copy. She previously worked for Hillel: the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, where she engaged students in co-curricular programming at Cornell University and The University of Pittsburgh. Here are some skills that you can help student leaders improve: Similar to leadership development topics, diversity, equity, and inclusion topics should be integrated into all aspects of the retreat, and should have some dedicated workshops. If you are having a hard time deciding what topics to cover in a dedicated DEI workshop, NACAs Competencies for Diversity and Inclusion can be applied to student organizations. It sets the tone for the gathering and signals to students that theyve entered a space that requires their complete attention. Vocational retreats are open to all Sophomore and Junior students. After you have come up with an Idea for your event lets get to the essential planning components. During the period when you are planning for a retreat, find a place that intrigues the group. Increased feelings of comfort and confidence can lead to a greater abundance of ideas. If you're having a one-day retreat, this game could take place first thing in the morning. The First-Year Retreat and Experience (FYRE) program aims to provide first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented (FGLI/U) students with the resources and community to feel supported, celebrated, confident, and ready to take ownership of your college experience, knowing that you have a special community of friends and advisers to mentor you throughout your first-year at Harvard. Options - Outdoor Bball, Gaga, Meeting Room Game or movie, Gym (10-11) Leave this retreat refreshed and ready to set the world on fire! In this method, each group receives its own piece of easel paper to write their ideas on, then everyone hangs their paper up in the same room. The players will call rock paper scissors shoot simultaneously. If participants dont learn something about each other such as names, hobbies, and other interesting facts then theyll miss the critical self-disclosure component of a good icebreaker. The activities you choose for your retreat will go a long way in determining how much fun attendees have. Thanks to companies like Shutterfly, Puzzle You, and Collage, you can turn any photo into a puzzle. A flat hand represents paper, while a peace sign turned horizontally represents a scissors sign. Bonus points if their article somehow relates to your course material. Prizes can range from bonus points on a recent assignment to a short extension for their next paper or report. Were kinder and gentler to the people around us, and were kinder and gentler to ourselves., Tribes are clusters of people, and people are complex and non-rational at times. And it doesnt have to involve awkward activities such as a trust fall. Engaging, relevant team-building activities for students can energize your classroom and take learning to a new level. Course type: Online (synchronous or asynchronous), in-person. Senior Instructor June Adamson will lead the retreat. Many facilitators refer to games without a self-disclosure component as energizes; they serve a purpose, just not in your introduction session. This activity allows students to see where their peers stand on a variety of different topics and issues. The Students of Color Retreat will take place on January 28, 2023 at KHouse in Ithaca, NY. Bible Jeopardy: Save Image: Shutterstock You Will Need: A piece of paper to write the clues A bowl as a way to introduce the framework for the retreat. endobj For online courses, instructors can make use of Zoom rooms to organize teams or groups. You probably struggle to remember the difference between cirrus, cumulus, and stratus clouds. 5 Interesting Bible Activities For Teens Infographic: Exciting Bible Games For Teenagers 15 Best Bible Games For Teens These activities can be incorporated during Bible class, Sunday class, Bible book club meeting, or even family Bible fun time. These activities are also great as icebreakers or retreat exercises. If theyve been tapped, theyll soon be tasked with slowly moving around the outside of the circle and tapping their teammates to whom they feel each statement applies. they use. . Split your students into teams and give them a time limit to find as many items as possible on a list youve provided. For example, for activity no. Online Office Games is a great way to entertain staff, foster team bonding, build skills, and stoke friendly rivalry during your next virtual retreat. Why hold a retreat? Arrange random objects on your deskanything from paper clips to an umbrella to jewelry (aim for about 25 objects in total). You can award a prize to the winner. Team Word Builder - Using a stack of index cards, break the family into teams and give each member the same number of cards (minimum of five). Whats harder is picking or designing the right activities to use in those workshops. For instance, you can invite a motivational speaker for positive thinking and some form of encouragement. One of my goals is to have my students experience similar dynamics and processes as they would face-to-face. Dont forget to, What are some of your favorite retreat activities? You can have a workshop dedicated to trust activities with an extensive. This retreat gives participants an opportunity to enjoy the results of news and developments in every academic department, as well as a sense of the state of sabbaticals, and a view of the college future as presented by the faculty and the dean. One of the ways you can make attendees come out of their shells during a retreat is to host a welcome get-together party. But pick your activity thoughtfully. Divide students into small groups and have them rotate between each station together, performing some kind of task like sorting their observations into categories. That way, everyone can be part of the friendly competition the whole time. Most cruise lines offer a wide range of fun activities and group games for retreats, vacations, and parties. You do not have to make hiking competitive. Cant pick just one or two? The paper is passed around until each team member has added to the original solution. This way, students benefit from hearing their peers perspectives, as well as getting to practice their debate skills. Then the players with the first two numbers will start the game. Check out more outdoor team building ideas. Mission, vision, and the process is repeated, exposing students to the essential planning components centers Penn... Proven that physical exercise increases mental sharpness booked campground has restaurants for guests stimulating breakout session ideas, check this! Picture that represents why they enrolled in your lecture, divide students into teams and them. Preserve ), blended, in-person children to divide a sheet of paper or.. 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