Job interviews are considered some of the most stressful, nightmare-inducing encounters modern humans have to face. The stakes are high — someone is going to use the results of this interaction to decide whether or not their company will employ you or not. The cost of failure is unemployment or being stuck in a job …
I’m thrilled to announce that starting in mid-January, I begin a new position at the public media outlet KQED as an online learning manager. KQED serves the people of Northern California with a community-supported alternative to commercial media. They provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions; convene community dialogue; bring the …
LinkedIn is certainly a powerful professional networking tool. But it also has its own embedded biases. For example these “Congrats to X PERSON for Y years at Z company” basically assumes it’s a good thing that someone stayed someplace and didn’t leaving. That isn’t NECESSARILY something to be congratulated. One could just as easily say, …
I came across this powerful conversation with Esra’a Al Shafei, a young activist, blogger, and entrepreneur from Bahrain. In 2017, she talked about her work in the Middle East fighting for democracy and the rights of oppressed minorities and LGBTQ individuals during a plenary session at the Digital Media and Learning conference. Such a powerful and …
In this ice-breaker, the group has to pick between two contrasting objects, based on their initial gut feeling, and then explain their choice. It’s a fun and active way for people to get to know each other and say something unique about themselves to the group. And it helps people to find commonalities among other …
I Am An Oak Tree is an ice-breaker adapted from an improv game. It’s designed to get people relating to each other, acting creatively, and creating mini-narratives. Activity Youth stand in a circle. Ask one person to stands in the middle and proclaim “I am an oak tree,” while making their body into a tree …
Today is a two-fer in my extended week sharing my favorite ice-breakers. I’m going to share with you two games I like to have students play a lot: “Wah” and “Name Wah.” Wah “Wah” is an quick and energizing game that is about coordination, observation, and timing that lots of student programs use. “Wah” Instructions …
“Robot Factory” is a fun team-building ice-breaker that gets kids creative juices flowing. It scales well for groups of different sizes. It involves no supplies or preparation. I’ve found it engaging for middle school to high school age youth. The objective of Robot Factory is for each team to work together to communicate what their …
Zoom In, Zoom Out is an ice-breaker designed to help students to explore how good stories engage the reader by focusing on tiny details and by telling universal truths. We’ve used it to good effect to get our students creative juices flowing at the beginning of our youth programs. The ice-breaker requires no supplies or …
Over the weekend, I needed a break from the terrible condition of the air in the Bay Area due to nearby wildfires. So I headed over to one of the most peaceful places in the city that I know: the Osher rainforest at the California Academy of Sciences. The five story rainforest did not disappoint. …