Here are some worth checking out as a team, as recommended by my colleagues, my friends, and my own eyes and ears. They could think about wanting to learn more about your field or simply that their friends were enrolled in your class, too. Split students into small groups and have them develop a product, logo, brand name and marketing strategy before presenting their idea to a panel of sharks (those who will judge their ideas). A retreat is a meeting that is typically designed and organized specifically to facilitate the ability of a group to step back from their day-to-day demands and activities for an extended period of concentrated discussion, dialogue, and strategic thinking about the organization's future or about specific issues. To plan a group retreat activity, you would want to first decide on the activities and games that the group will love to engage in. Leaders: Learn how to create and execute strengths interventions with groups and teams. . Download The Best Classroom Activities for College Courses to engage and motivate students. Its a great way to bring in fresh voices and ideas without draining your budget. Ask them to write down a list of questions about the source material they are viewing or respond to a discussion prompt related to the course material to generate conversation. Bingo makes an excellent choice of retreat games for large groups. A student organizations culture deck might include how they fit into the broader campus culture, what its like to be a member of the organization, and how problems are addressed. These projects empower our students to effect change through awareness, advocacy, activism, and aid. Have students put each goal in a quadrant then assign due dates. College students look forward to the opportunity to share who they are and learn more about others. 3. Park: 20 minutes. Student Center and Campus Activities, the Recharge & Connect Retreat aims to connect people to each other and the world around them through the use of structured . An Advent Calendar for the Entire Group. can be applied to student organizations. To host this party, decide whether or not the party will have a theme. We provide a variety of retreat themes that include dramatic skits, meaningful activities, and music, making every retreat a unique and Catholic experience. There are workshops to design, food to order, and so many other components needed to make a retreat a high-impact experience. Setting goals for yourself, especially as a teenager, can be a challenging and intimidating task. When not writing curriculum or working with students, youll find him enjoying a book, hiking or baking. But be sure to set aside time for each team member to reveal which song they picked and why. Benefit Mindset examples Activity 3: Creating cultures of contribution. Hosting a respected guest to address the group is an excellent way to motivate team members. You could even exchange the final products as gifts at the end of the retreat, display them in your office, or use them to tell the story of your retreat to other departments. One way to immerse students in the organizations mission, vision, and values is to create a culture deck. And, if youd like to foster personal reflections, ask everyone to hike in silence for a bit, paying attention to the soft sounds of nature and their own thoughts as they roll in. You can follow up the lunch with fun activities like icebreakers, a dance session, or other activities on your to-do list. If you are looking for. Wed love to know! Its easy to forget to build breaks into the schedule. Just as you deliberately welcome new guests into your home to make them feel comfortable, the club advisor or lead facilitator should take a moment to express how excited they are that everyone is gathered together whether virtually or in person. You can have a workshop dedicated to trust activities with an extensive debrief, plus you can sprinkle in shorter activities such as problem-solving games between other workshops. High-energy songs can also work beautifully to get everyones energy up at critical times, while softer tunes can be played in the background during brainstorming sessions. You do not have to make hiking competitive. (Ill cover how to design a good energizer and why later on in this post.). 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. Simply spring it on them, just before presentation time, so that theyre challenged to get creative in utilizing whats around them. It is a good idea to divide a large group into small teams while playing to encourage full participation from all the group members. We have some recommendations for you here, specific to higher education. Before the retreat, tell everyone that theyll need to bring in an item of personal significance to share. This group activity is fun and allows students to collectively learn. After youve covered a topic or concept in your lecture, divide students into small discussion groups (or breakout rooms online). In the middle, students list negative self-talk they find themselves using. % Do some good in the world and within your community. There are numerous ways to create group agreements. Regardless of the brainstorming topic, students need some basic tools to help the session along, including: For some students, spending time alone or in small breakout groups is ideal for bringing out their creativity. Tell older children to divide a sheet of paper into three columns. Check the weather forecast to be adequately prepared for the weather condition. stream Icebreaker games are one of the best group games for retreats. For online courses, instructors can make use of Zoom rooms to organize teams or groups. You would want to avoid serving any food or refreshments at this time to avoid choking on both laughter and food. Address: 325 Charter Oak Road, Petersburg, PA 16669. Ask students to repeat this process for several rounds to help familiarize themselves with a variety of standpoints. She's a proud graduate of Emory University, where she majored in Creative Writing, and of Nova Southeastern University, where she earned her master's degree in College Student Affairs. Lemonade, lemon desserts, lemon dcor, all yellow, etc. Group retreat activities are games and events that groups can partake in during a retreat. Distance from Univ. The lack of resilience is interfering with the academic mission of the University and is thwarting the emotional and personal development of students.". Student Retreat Activities 24 Pins 3y T L Collection by Annette Smeltzer Bernard and lisa cingel Similar ideas popular now Prayer Station Youth Group Games Have the knots ready tied and have people untie a knot as they ask God to help them let go of worry. But no peeking! RESERVE Explore. Retreats are famously (or infamously, depending upon who you ask) used for setting goals. Students then look at each gallery piece before reconvening for an all-group discussion. Try this free knock-off. I suggest one of my favorites, used by Presence to great success: OKRs. Sophomore Retreat 2021. Whats harder is picking or designing the right activities to use in those workshops. Then other players try to figure out which statements are factual and which one is false. The winner of a round then plays with the next group member. The lunch can also be as simple as snacks accompanied by refreshing drinks. Then, either book a facilitated tour or design a self-guided tour. You can award a prize to the winner. Maybe a bike ride. Activities will include yoga and mindfulness plus the opportunity to engage in outdoor activities. 2 0 obj Each person writes a letter of the alphabet on the cards (one per card), and then teams have a certain amount of time to make words from their letters. . to identify which ideas the group wants to pursue the most. Retreats, which have been used by churches and corporations for some time, are currently being looked into by college presidents and boards of trustees as a means of training and problem solving. Winners can get bonus points for their grade on this activity or their in-class participation grade at the end of the school year. If you want to put your team in Jeopardy, heres a helpful tool for creating your questions (or, um, answers). Whether you paint canvases, sculpt clay, or assemble jewelry, engaging with art gets your creative juices flowing. 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. Remember, an energizer is an activity to wake people up and get them excited to begin or get back to the workshop. Also, you can place a time limit on how long a player can say a word. Or hold a sumo wrestling night, using pillows and cushions to create the suits and fighting area. Breaks provide people a chance to mentally recharge, use the restroom, get snacks, and stretch. For example, for activity no. Dr. Corey Seemillers Student Leadership Competencies and NACAs Competency Guide for College Student Leaders can provide you frameworks. This is a classic for a reason. Dont forget to, What are some of your favorite retreat activities? You can bring the goodness of audio storytelling to life by asking team members to issue a podcast report during your retreat. include having students draw an emoji or write one word to describe their current mood, or placing a sticker dot on a bullseye to represent if they think that the workshop is helping the group meet its goals. Consider volunteering with an organization that youd like to establish a long-lasting partnership with or one that directly benefits students and their needs. Group activities can also help in teaching students to communicate with each other and respect a healthy competition. 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. With these activities, you will be able to achieve the major objectives of the retreat. This way, students benefit from hearing their peers perspectives, as well as getting to practice their debate skills. There are tons of activities you can do on a group retreat. It can be a piece of jewelry, a funny shirt, a family heirloom, their childhood diary, a copy of the resume that got them this job truly anything. xYYoF~7d0JQ7nZN"jFr@;KJ2i1SL.e90dXNjo*qd:[dtZQ.'qLQ8#OGV O$w?5%#DL}Bz|D~)HE,W9_H4g5|k8pE51VS=~q2tE+ZPjMUJW8k5dLS)Pvf%Y~,?9eQL Head to your local karaoke spot or rent out a machine to get to know everyones taste in music, bond over nostalgic tunes, and show off your talents (or enthusiastic lack thereof). Course type: Online (synchronous or asynchronous), in-person. Yet, you hopefully also know the power of such activities. We've put together this list of 18 awesome campus activities ideas to help you get started with your planning for this semester (or next semester). Creating connections in your classroom will ensure your students are engaged. To make it easier to sort through, we've broken down the list by category. About the author: Justin Terlisner (he/him) is a student affairs professional who focuses on helping students thrive through dynamic leadership education and inclusive supervision practices. Engaging in team games and activities during a retreat can be relaxing for small and large groups alike. Here is our list of the best group retreat activities. Anton Villado, an organizational psychologist, says that the best icebreakers do three things: But a weak icebreaker likely wont produce these benefits. A retreat is an enduringly popular ancient practice of Christian spirituality. After the special guest may have addressed the group, there should be a question and answer session where attendees can open up on unclear areas. The game is quite straightforward as players say a word each to tell a logical story. Guess The Country: A player names things peculiar to a particular country like a movie, celebrity, or flag description without mentioning the exact name of the country. Students then look at each gallery piece before reconvening for an all-group discussion. 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. Participants are given a time limit to design and create an item of clothing out of a newspaper, which requires group brainstorming and delegation of tasks. Handling Life's Lemons. If your group is already energized after their break, feel free to substitute an icebreaker activity. Chris Merlo: Open-ended questions don't take any planning. We will provide van transportation for students from the IC Campus Center at 8:45am and return to campus at 5:30pm. Instructors should group up college students into small teams. <>>> While the theme varies, the message is always the same: "In Jesus Christ, the son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all, as a . If you need a host for the activities, then you can also make a reservation before the retreats day. (Preserve), What is it we dont have and dont want? The paper is passed around until each team member has added to the original solution. Tours are great group retreat activities that expand your group members knowledge about different places. Some closing activity ideas are, When all is said and done, thank the students for attending the retreat and remind them to, to help you improve future retreats. Then connect with an expert host or a coach who will guide the lesson. After a set amount of time, have students return and present their ideas to the whole group. 2.3 Sentence Completion 3 College Icebreaker Games with a Purpose 4 Getting Comfortable in a New Group 4.1 My Most Embarrassing Moment 4.2 Back to Back 5 Team Formation 5.1 Comic Chaos 5.2 Paper Bag Skits 5.3 Know Your Roommate We do so by slowing down our breathing so that we feel more of whats going on around us. As a student affairs professional, you probably love crafting icebreakers, running team-building activities, and facilitating goal-setting sessions with students. 21 Team-Building Activities for College Students [Plus: Free List of 45+ Activities] | Top Hat Blog Educators Students Events Subscribe to the Top Hat Blog Join more than 10,000 educators. All items at the party were lemon themed. Many retreat centers offer educational activities. One way to immerse students in the organization's mission, vision, and values is to create a culture deck. execute an efficient retreat for their student organization. Team-building activities can be broken down by their benefits into three types: These activities can fit almost anywhere into your retreat schedule! Part of the joy of this activity comes from feeling an overall sense of appreciation and recognition from your teammates. Learn about Online Office Games. Ignite Retreat Shark Tank Shark Tank is a great interactive team building game for college students. Mellody Hobson Color Blind or Color Brave? A final debrief activity to extract the key learning points and a commitment activity to identify action steps can wrap up a retreat nicely. If a tribe is united only by agreement, as soon as times change, agreement has to be reestablished., Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Danger of a Single Story, Show a people asone thing, as only one thing, over and over again and thatis what they become. 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. Both of these competencies can ground your leadership workshops in research-based topics. As a student affairs professional, you probably love crafting icebreakers, running team-building activities, and facilitating goal-setting sessions with students. Play an Icebreaker Game. Singing and dancing along is optional. Check out these team-building activities for college students to try in 2021! After all, most of your coworkers have likely seen (and done) it all. Wrap up this process by using dot voting to identify which ideas the group wants to pursue the most. Done right, it provides closure for the experience while motivating students to follow through on the goals they set and maintain the relationships they built. Led by faculty and student leaders, our . Choose the right role models Source: Peerspace Having a memorable guest speaker or facilitator is key to hosting a great youth retreat. March 9, 2021. 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. A welcome party is particularly great for a group with members from different geographical locations going on a retreat. 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. Team building isnt just for the corporate workplace it can also be used in the classroom to encourage collaboration, problem-solving and decision-making. Set a time limit for designing and building a spaghetti tower (one thats structurally sound, of course). In a normal year, the weekend before the spring semester starts is marked with a collection of the sophomore class getting together with deans from the Division of Student Affairs and heading up to the mountains for some bonding activities (for an idea of what that looks like, here's a blog post from . With temptation constantly lurking, we often need a time for recuperating. (Just dont tell Gallup I told you about it.). Benefit from hearing their peers perspectives, as well as getting to practice their debate.... Of paper into three columns groups can partake in during a retreat of paper into three columns Peerspace! 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( or infamously, depending upon who you ask ) used for setting goals for yourself, as! Can partake in during a retreat can be relaxing for small and large groups alike your retreat significance share! To identify which ideas the group wants to pursue the most field or simply that their friends enrolled! Infamously, depending upon who you ask ) used for setting goals for yourself, especially a! In an item of personal significance to share who they are and learn more about field! A memorable guest speaker or facilitator is key to hosting a great interactive team isnt! Can get bonus points for their grade on this activity comes from feeling overall. Limit on how long a player can say a word reveal which song they picked and later! Winner of a round then plays with the next group member use the restroom, get snacks, facilitating...