Reflection/Discussion Activities

1) Silent Night
Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Whiteboard or Flip Chart Paper, Markers

* Use this activity if students are resistant to speak in reflection or discussion activities
Instructions
1) Inform the students that for this activity they must remain silent at all times. They are not
allowed to speak.
2) Write a discussion question in the middle of the board (or chart paper) and circle it.
Example: What do you plan on doing after high school?
3) Give each student a marker and ask for volunteers to answer the discussion question by
drawing a line from the question bubble and then writing their response and circling it (making
a connected bubble).
4) Inform the students that they don’t have to answer the center question if they don’t want to.
Instead, they can draw a line from one of their classmate’s responses and make a comment or
ask a clarifying question.
5) Encourage every student to make at least one writing contribution to the board (question,
response, or comment). Students can write as many responses as they desire and should
respond to any questions written to their responses.
Example: Eventually you may have something that looks like this
Study what? Where?

Try to find a job.

What kind of work? Study at University

What do you plan on doing after high
school?

Maybe Economics or Business. Maybe

at UMM or UM
Maybe construction? I don’t know
yet. Have a party!
I have a cousin who studies econ at UMM.
Maybe you would like to meet her?

*Advice: As a facilitator of the activity it may fall on you to keep the “conversation” going by
writing numerous questions to the responses.

2) Highs and Lows

Time: 5-15 minutes
Materials: None

Instructions
1) Have the students sit in a circle.
2) Explain that each student will share her/his “high” and “low” for the day with the group. The
“high” being the best or highest part of the day and the “low” being the worst or lowest part
of the day.
Example: My high was meeting new friends and getting to know more about them and my low
was I was bored during the last session.
3) One by one go around the circle allowing each student and teacher to share their high and
low.
 *The activity could be used to reflect upon any given period of time (e.g. high and low of the
week, the conference, the class, semester, etc.)
*Modification: You can add “shout outs” to the highs and lows. A “shout-out” is a verbal
appreciation to another in the group for something she/he did that day (e.g. I would like to give a
“shout-out” to Ibu Manis for giving me some good advice on teaching past tense in English).

3) Think Pair Share

Time: 5-20 minutes
Materials: None
* Use this activity if students are resistant to speak in reflection or discussion activities

Instructions
1) Have the students sit together in groups of 4 students or more (try to keep it an even number
of students in each group 4, 6, 8 etc. If some groups have more than others it is no problem).
2) Explain the “Think Pair Share” format. Essentially, you will start by asking a
discussion/reflection question or writing it on the board. The students will first be given 30
seconds to individually think about their personal answer to that question. Then students will
be given 2 minutes to pair up with the person next to them and discuss their answers
together. Lastly, the students will be given 5 minutes to discuss their answers or what they
talked about in pairs with their whole group. The teacher keeps the time.
3) Repeat the process with other discussion/reflection questions
*Times can be adjusted

4) TAPS
Time: 20-40 minutes
Materials: None

Instructions
1) Ask the students to sit in a circle.
2) Inform them that this is a silent activity. They are not allowed to speak. They must also keep
their eyes closed unless instructed to open them. They are not allowed to see.
3) Tell them that after starting (everyone closing their eyes) you will pick a few volunteers to give
out TAPS. If you want to be a volunteer you have to raise your hand. If the teacher gives your
hand a gentle pull then you can open your eyes and silently step to the outside of the circle
(The teacher will pick 2-6 volunteers depending upon the size of the group).
4) The teacher will read aloud a series of statements that all begin, “Tap someone who…” The
volunteers will listen to this statement and then gently tap the shoulder of up to 3 people in
the circle (whose eyes are closed) that this statement applies to. They are not allowed to tap
more than 3 people for each statement (this number can be modified depending on the size of
the group). If they want to tap less than 3 people that is okay. Be sure to give the volunteers
enough time to give out their “TAPS” before moving on to the next question.
5) The group of volunteers will be given 3-5 statements and then asked to re-join the circle and
close their eyes. The teacher then asks for a new group of volunteers to give out TAPS. This
process is repeated until every student who wants to volunteer has done so.

Statements the teacher reads can include but is not limited to:
“Tap someone who…
- made you laugh today
- you met for the first time today
- you think is interesting
 - is a leader
- you don’t know well but would like to get to know better
- is intelligent
- is strong
- you would trust with a secret
- was there for you in a time of need
- is OUTRAGEIOUS
- has style
- you think will do great things
- is confident
- is a gentle soul
- is creative
- if you were stranded on a desert island you would want with you to help you
survive.
- gives you goosebumps in a good way

6) Tell everyone they can open their eyes. Reflect upon the experience. Some reflection
questions you could ask include: How did it feel to get tapped? How did it feel to give out
TAPS? Was anyone surprised by what they got tapped for/didn’t get tapped for?