Jun 06, 2014 Gallery Walk: Active Group Reflection and Information Gathering

This time of year I find myself facilitating vision and goal setting retreats, training programs and project oriented planning meetings with many schools and organizations. Time and time again I find the “Gallery Walk” activity a useful tool when I want to gather information on experiences, opinions and questions from group members. It is a simple and effective method for getting a group moving, reflecting and staying engaged in a topic and making sure everyone’s voice is represented. It is a helpful technique for generating a list of group input on a subject, such as solutions, goals, questions, to use as a reference later in the training or program or for goal setting.

Purpose: Active Engagement, Reflection, Conversation Starter, Goal Setting Tool, Differentiated Instruction Technique

Facilitation Suggestions:

• Tape a number of large pieces of paper spaced apart so that participants have to move around the room.
• Label each chart with a review question, statement, or issue/problem related to academic topic.
• Give participants markers and ask participants to move from paper to paper and write down their thoughts.
• I usually ask them to do this quietly as individuals and play music in the background allowing this process to begin with quiet self-reflection that isn’t influenced by dialogue with others (knowing that they will be engaging in small group dialogue as the next step).
• When the papers are full of comments, take the participants on a gallery walk or tour of the room reading and discussing their comments. *I usually facilitate this “touring” by creating pairs or small groups to visit and discuss each sheet for about 10 minutes before opening the discussion up to the whole group. I find starting the dialogue in smaller groups increases comfort and generates more engagement and thoughtful discussion when the group does come back together as a whole.

Questions for facilitating the group discussion might include:

• What did you notice as you read the charts?
• Are their themes or patterns that keep arising?
• Was there something that surprised you?

Variations: Enjoy and learn from a real gallery walk, using artwork/drawings instead of words.

Reference: I learned this activity many years ago during a vision-setting meeting with Pauline Chandler of Antioch University New England. You can find versions of this activity in a number of books including: The Ten Minute trainer! 150 Ways to Teach it Quick and Make it Stick by Sharon Bowman.