Watch Party Guide
Play can change the world: Quality education for all
Introduction
This guide is designed to support anyone who would like to plan and facilitate a Playful Schools Conference (PSC) Watch Party. The purpose of the Watch Party is to support participants’ reflect on what they are learning during the conference in playful and thoughtful ways. Who should organize a Watch Party?
The guide has three parts.
PART ONE: Planning
Decisions to make before the conference
• School leaders who want teachers, administrators, and/ or staff to collectively reflect on the Playful Schools Conference to promote learning through play in their schools.
• Professional developers who find a location with reliable internet to host a viewing in places with limited Web access.
• Teacher educators who want to use the PSC as part of their candidate preparation.
PART TWO:
Session agendas
Strategies for facilitating daily, 45-minute post-conference conversations
PART THREE:
Next Steps
Suggestions to continue learning after the conference
All three parts come with a “License to Hack” card so you can modify the guide to best suit the learning goals of your group.
Find description and “License to hack” cards here.
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Decisions to make before the conference
Who
Decide who will host the Watch Party and who the participants will be. Invite the participants.
When
Determine which of the two daily PSC sessions work best for your time zone. The conference will be offered on March 27-29, 2023 at 9:0011:00 CET (Central European Time) and from 16:00-18:00 CET. Then factor in time for your Watch Party (we suggest 45 minutes).
Where
Identify a comfortable space with a stable internet connection. If you are hosting online, make a link for participants to join.
What
Collect materials to help participants share ideas. These might include large pieces of paper, pens, post-it notes, a chalk or white board, or other ways to record and share ideas. Consider providing snacks. (If you are online, set up jamboards or padlets.)
How
Each day, there will be a choice between 5-9 workshops to attend. If you meet in person, decide how you will handle the different choices people may make (e.g., you will likely need more than one laptop, you may need headphones or additional space, etc.). Use part two of this guide to plan each day’s post-conference discussion and reflection.
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PART ONE
Discussion Facilitation Guide
The daily watch parties are divided into three parts:
Start
Share the agenda for the session. Use the “headlines” thinking routine to quickly surface impressions of the day (see page 6 for more information).1
&/OR
Start the Watch Party with a playful icebreaker.
Discussion
Use a thinking routine to discuss the content of the day’s PSC.
Closing
End each session with a final reflection (see daily agendas for more information).
The facilitation guide assumes you have 45 minutes for discussions. If you have more or less time, adjust your agenda accordingly.
And if participants don’t know each other, begin Day 1 with introductions.
1 Thinking routines are a set of questions or a brief sequence of steps to develop and deepen thinking. Each day we suggest a number of such routines that were created for use in the classroom. We have modified these routines for the watch parties and have hyperlinked each so you can read more about them. Consider using the routines in your setting.
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PART TWO
(10 MINUTES)
Start:
Day 1 : More Than One Way to Play
• Share the agenda and goal of the Watch Parties (to deepen and extend learning).
• Invite people to introduce themselves if they don’t already know each other and to share which PSC workshop(s) they attended.
• Briefly explain the Headlines thinking routine.
• Give people 1-2 minutes of thinking time to think back over the day’s activities and come up with a one-sentence, catchy summary that captures the most important idea they would like to remember.
• If in person, ask each person to share their headline in a round. If online, ask participants to write their headlines in the chat. Invite one or two participants to say a bit more, as time allows.
PART TWO
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PART TWO - DAY 1: MORE THAN ONE WAY TO PLAY
(30 MINUTES)
Discussion:
Connect, Extend, Challenge
• Briefly explain the routine.
• Give people three minutes of silence to read over the questions and jot down some thoughts.
• Introduce each question in sequence. For each question, invite people to share one connection, extension, or challenge. You can do this in a round or open discussion; keep track of time so you can get to the last question.
• How are the ideas and information connected to what you already knew?
• What new ideas did you get that extend your thinking in new directions?
• What challenges, puzzles, or questions emerge for you?
• Leave time for those who haven’t spoken to contribute.
• Reserve two minutes at the end to ask participants how the routine worked for them: What’s one thing that worked well? What could be changed?
(5 MINUTES)
Closing:
• Thank the group for their participation.
• Choose one of the following options:
• Invite participants to share one word, big idea, feeling, or emoji they are leaving with on a post-it note (or in the chat, if you’re online).
• Invite participants to respond to the following sentence prompts on a post-it note (or jamboard or padlet, if you’re online):
If you have more than eight people, consider breaking into smaller discussion groups of 3-4 people, so everyone has a chance to participate.
“At our school, I wish we could ___”
“At our school, I’m glad we ______”
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(10 MINUTES)
Start:
Day 2: Play with a Purpose
• Share the agenda and remind the group of the goal of the Watch Parties (to deepen and extend their learning).
• Invite people to remind each other of their names, roles, and locations if they don’t already know each other, and name which PSC workshop(s) they attented (if relevant).
• Briefly explain the Headlines thinking routine.
• Give people 1-2 minutes ofthinking time to think back over the day’s activities and come up with a headline that captures the most important idea they would like to remember.
• If in person, ask each person to share their headline in a round. If online, ask participants to put their headlines in the chat. Invite one or two participants to say a bit more, if time allows.
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PART TWO
PART TWO - DAY 2: PLAY WITH A PURPOSE
(30 MINUTES)
Discussion:
Compass Points
• Briefly explain the routine.
• Give people three minutes of silence to read over the questions and jot down their thoughts about some or all of the compass points. Alternatively, draw a compass on a large sheet of paper on a wall or table (or create a compass on jamboard, indicating E, W, N, & S, if you are online). Ask people to get up and write their thoughts in the relevant quadrant.
Invite people to choose one compass point they wish to share. You can either follow the compass points in order, and ask who wants to share their “East,” “West,” etc., or you can ask people to share from any compass point.
• Leave time for those who haven’t spoken to contribute.
• Reserve two minutes at the end to ask participants how the routine worked for them: What’s one thing that worked well? What could be changed? (If you are online, responses can be shared in the chat.)
The four compass points:
E= Excited: What excites you about these ideas? What’s the upside?
W = Worrisome: What do you find worrisome about these ideas? What’s the downside? Where are the barriers or obstacles?
N = Need to Know: What else do you need to know or want to discover about these ideas? What additional information would be helpful?
S = Stance or Suggestions for Moving Forward: What is your opinion of these ideas? How might you incorporate these ideas moving forward?
You could use the Connect-Extend-Challenge routine here instead.
(5 MINUTES)
Closing:
• Thank the group for their participation.
• Choose one of the following options:
• Invite participants to share one word, big idea, feeling, or emoji they are leaving with on a post-it note, or in the chat if you are online.
• Invite participants to respond to the following sentence prompts either on a post-it note, or jamboard or padlet if you are online:
“At our school, I wish we could ___” “ At our school, I’m glad we _____”
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(5 MINUTES)
Start:
Day 3: Play to Change the World
• Share the agenda.
• Invite people to name which PSC workshop(s) they attended (if relevant).
• Give people 1-2 minutes of thinking time to think back over the day’s activities and create a headline that captures the most important idea they would like to remember.
• If in person, ask each person to share their headline in a round. If online, ask participants to put their headlines in the chat.
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PART TWO
(25 MINUTES)
Discussion:
Circles of Action
• Briefly explain the thinking routine.
• Give participants a few minutes to think about potential actions for supporting playful learning in each of the three circles:
• “What can I
do to foster playful learning opportunities…
• In my inner circle of friends, colleagues, family
• In my community (school, workplace, neighborhood)
• In the world (beyond my immediate environment)
• In advance, draw three large concentric circles on a large piece of paper labeled “personal,” “community,” and “world,” or, if you are online, label three columns in Padlet or create three headers in Jamboard).
• Invite people to write their thoughts in the relevant circles.
• Ask each person to share one action they would like to take when they return home.
(15 MINUTES)
Closing:
I used to think ... Now I think...
• Briefly explain the thinking routine.
• Invite participants to reflect for 4-5 minutes on what they have learned about how to promote playful learning and how their thinking has changed. Then, ask each person to complete the following sentence starters, either on a post-it or in an online platform like Padlet or Jamboard: “I used to think ______. Now I think ______.”
• Ask each person to read their sentences to the group.
• Reserve three minutes at the end to ask participants how the Watch Party structure in general worked for them: What’s one thing that worked well? What could be changed? (If you are online, responses can be shared in the chat.)
• Share and discuss next steps (see part three)
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PART TWO - DAY 3: PLAY TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Next Steps - Continuing the conversation
To sustain your learning after the Playful Schools Conference you may:
• Collect a list of actionable ideas. (These might come from the “I wish we could’s…” Idea Box or the Circles of Action responses). Prioritize and set goals for manageable next steps.
• Create an ongoing digital forum to continue a playful exchange with each other.
• Agree to meet again in two months to share actions taken and any emerging results since the conference.
• Partner participants to check in with each other next month’s about what they are doing and how it is going. This can be done in a playful setting.
• Keep the Idea Box as an ongoing invitation to share playful learning ideas at your school. Invite students, families, and others to add their ideas too.
• Organize “playdates” for teachers. Could you devote an inservice day to playful learning? What about inviting gradelevel teachers to take a “Planning playful learning” field trip?
• Set up a book club about playful learning. You might start with the new Pedagogy of Play book.
Add your ideas here:
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PART THREE
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This guide was created by Anita Evans (Erikson Institute) with assistance from Ben Mardell and Mara Krechevsky (Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education).
