The Sailboat
Activity Summary
This reflective activity is useful to bring students together to talk about their experiences at the end of a project: they can reflect on what worked well, and what did not, in order to work better in the future individually and/or as a group.
Activity Plan
1
5 mins
Ask students to arrange tables and chairs so that they can work in groups, then to take their places according to the group division used for the activity/project.
Explain to the students:
- the objective of the activity (share the intended learning outcomes)
- the sailboat metaphor and the four elements/questions which are:
- Wind – what helped you move forward?;
- Sun – what made you feel good?;
- Anchor – what held you back?;
- Reefs – what potential challenges might you face in future projects?
2
10 mins
Students carry out the activity by answering the 4 proposed questions and producing a final shared output that summarises the group’s reflections (e.g., a summary slide, a concept map on an Online Collaborative Board, a post-it note sheet, etc.). You can use an alarm clock to pace the time for the four questions, so as to make it easier to carry out the activity.
3
10 mins
Students feedback to the class / teacher. Option for the teacher to record on the board the main and/or most frequent points from the students.
Tips & Tricks
- The activity allows students to engage in a reflection process at the end of a group activity, project, experience, etc., through the metaphor of a sailboat. By stimulating groups to reflect on specific aspects of their learning experience, the activity promotes critical reading and informal self-assessment.
- Prepare the materials with the sailboat imagine advance, before before conducting the activity:
- you can use any copyright-free images available online, or in the free-to-use collections of major apps
- you can prepare a shared online space (such as Miro, Mural, Google slides, etc.), or print as many sheets as the number of groups and set up post-it notes for students to fill out
- The activity can be conducted in synchronous and asynchronous scenarios, both in-presence and online (through the use of breakout rooms to divide students into groups)
- Each group should choose a representative or a group leader that will present their idea to the class
Additional Resources
This activity is inspired by Sailboat Retrospective by Johanna Torstensson [Miro, online].