Cocktail Party
Students work in small groups to learn more about each other.  Develops a community of learners, encourages students to interact with one another, and lays the foundation for sound relationships and an appreciation for diversity.
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Definition Matching
Students work in teams to match words with their definitions.
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Dialogue/Talking Circles
Found in the traditions of most cultures and applied in many modern-day contexts, circle processes promote openness and shared voice amongst individuals of a group in order to celebrate, build community, make decisions, or address conflict (thank you to Tarek Maassarani for this handout).
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Fishbowl Debate
Students work in teams to develop arguments in favor of a particular perspective or point of view.  The various groups then debate the various views.
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Free Write
Opens up new ways of thinking and reacting that is not confined by structure.  It can tap into higher level thinking, even though it thrives in “lower-level” writing.  Allows for freedom of expression by eliminating the need for perfect structure and grammar.
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Group Poetry Creation
Gives students the opportunity to create something collaboratively in a creative and artistic way.  It also provides a format for reflection that can create safer avenues of participation because it does not require speaking in front of the entire class.  Yet, your ideas are still shared with the entire class.
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Group Work(ing) Definitions
Students work in groups to develop a working definition of key words to be used throughout the course.
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Hand Ranking/Insta-Poll
Students use the fingers on their hand to rank their reaction/response to a particular statement, activity, or assignment.  Allows a non-threatening and safe way for various learners to chime in on a certain topic.
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Human Likert Scale
Students move around the learning space to represent where they stand on a given topic/question/statement.
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Individual Impulse/Community Sympathy
Highlights the various interests, talents, and experiences that students bring to classroom and can be used to enhance the learning experience.  It also gives students ownership over determining how the classroom rules and guidelines are to be structured to meet the unique nature of each learning community.  When students have ownership over developing those guidelines they are then also more likely to adhere to them and self-enforce.
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Needs Assessment
Generates buy-in and shared responsibility for creating and sustaining a positive and relevant learning experience.  Values the input, ideas, needs and wants of the learners and helps establish a partnership model of education (Eisler).  It gives students ownership over their learning experience.
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Opinion/Reflection Spectrum
Students show how they feel about a particular theme, question, or statement by placing their initials along a spectrum.
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Quote Matching
Gives students a fun and competitive way to learn the philosophies and ideas of key individuals.
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The Fact is Right
Activity is based off the Price is Right activity where contestants have to guess the correct price of a product and solicit help from the audience in determining which price is right.  It is also based of the game, “two truths and lie,” which asks someone to share three things about themselves and others have to guess which of those three things are true and which one is false.
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Ten Line Poetry Creation/Reflection
Activity involves the thoughts and ideas of the entire class and asks them to generate something as an individual that values the input of everyone.
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Truth, Justice, Peace, and Mercy
Students take on the roles of Brother Truth, Sister Peace, Brother Justice, and Sister Mercy and engage in dialogue about their role in conflict and what concerns them in conflicts.  Originally designed by John Paul Lederach
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Visualizing Themes
Students work in groups to turn a concept or idea into a visual.