Suit Yourself

Intentional Close
An intentional close makes space for participants to reflect on their learning and progress, assess their level of confidence, and identify personal next steps. It encourages participants to recognize the contributions they and others have made to the meeting or learning session and highlights the importance of the work.
Description

Participants reflect on and then share valued takeaways from the experience using playing card suits as a novel way to categorize a focus area for their response.

When and Why

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Use this activity when you would like the group to hear a broad range of what was perceived as valuable from the engagement. The novelty of using suits of cards to group responses engages participants with fresh energy at the end of a session. It also helps lift some of the cognitive and emotional load after a meeting or lesson with dense content and/or possible dissonance.

How to Facilitate

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  1. Reflect on the current context, the demographics of participants, and the purpose of this engagement. 
  2. Randomly pass out a playing card to each participant. Each suit describes a category of responses:
    • Hearts: Something from the heart. How did you feel? What did it mean to you?
    • Clubs: Things that grew—new ideas, new thoughts, a new point of view.
    • Diamonds: Gems that last forever. What are some of the gems of wisdom gathered from people or content?
    • Spades: Used to dig in the garden. Generate conversation about planting new ideas or things participants dug up during class.
  1. Give one minute of quiet time for each participant to jot down (or think about) their answer.
  2. Select one of the following ways to share:
    • Ask for one volunteer from each ‘suit’ to stand and share their response. Receive with ‘thank you for sharing’ rather than commenting on the responses.
    • Ask participants to turn to a neighbor and share their response.
    • Invite each participant to answer aloud to you as they walk out door or hand in their written response as an exit ticket.

Modification

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  • In a virtual environment, participants can select a suit to respond to in chat or in breakout rooms.

Example

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Suit Yourself

References

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Adapted from Playing with a Full Deck: 52 Team Initiatives Using a Deck of Cards, by Michelle Cummings (2006), Training Wheels, Inc.

How does Suit Yourself support SEL?

Social Awareness/Belonging:
Participants are encouraged to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. Facilitators create an experience of acceptance, respect, and inclusion within a group or community.

Responsible Decision-making/Curiosity:
Participants have an opportunity to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. Facilitators design an activity that leads to the pursuit of knowledge and different perspectives and contributes to attention, engagement, and learning.
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