Making The End Of The Day Meaningful

One of the key practices in adventure and experiential programming is debriefing. The goal of debriefing an experience is to maximize the potential for reflection and a transfer of learning for your participants.

In short, helping people get the most out of something they did or felt in the day.

If we do it after a team-building initiative or a session on the high-ropes, why not do it at the end of the day?

We should.

The camp day is full of transformative moments; sometimes, there’s almost too many to keep track of. By prompting some mindfulness at the end of the day with your campers, it gives them the chance to unpack all of their conversations, moments of growth and feelings and go to bed thinking meaningful thoughts.

This episode of the CampHacker Podcast, prompted by Go Camp Pro founder, Laura Kriegel, is dedicated to the best practices about debriefing your day with your campers. Inside, you’ll find some awesome conversation and pro-tips from 5 seasoned camp directors. Make sure you have a pen and paper handy for this one, you’ll definitely need to do some jotting! You may have heard of the classic (and fantastic) "Rose, Bud and Thorn", but what about "Tweeting the Day?" How about "Char Cloth"? "Key Log"? "Gypsy Jewelry"?

Seriously. Get that note-pad out!

What other debriefing tools and methods would you suggest? Please share in the comment section below. The more ideas, the better our summers will be!

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

• Travis - Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln - James C. Humes
  Joe - SnowCaster - Snow Shovel/Pusher  - https://thesnowcaster.com/
  Paul - Strategic Planning, and Beyond Entrepreneurship by Collins and LazierLaura - Felting!

• Jalisa - Classy - Online Fundraising

  
  http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Char-Cloth/

Your Hosts:

• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - CampHacker.TV

• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams Christian Centre

• Paul Sheridan,  Director at Four Winds, Westward Ho

• Laura Kriegel, Director at Camp Stomping Ground, Founder at Go Camp Pro

• Jalisa Danhof, Assistant Director at Camp Newaygo

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(Thank you!)