Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 4c7334eb80ba8cbc6e000edec091add4aadaf3af340acb232b645dbefcc320db

# Be Intentional... Take Inspiration

Participants open a session by writing what they hope their audience will believe, feel, and do on color-coded notes, then revisit the collection at the close to capture peer ideas.

**Time:** 15 minutes. Split into two segments: 10 minutes at the start of the meeting and 5 minutes at the end.
**People:** 4 to 24. Individual writing, paired discussions (or trios if an odd number), and whole-group review.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Articulate intended audience outcomes at the start of a session and select reference ideas from peers at the end.
**Use it when:** Staff development workshops, planning sessions, or community meetings where grounding in shared intentions at the start and end is useful.
**Skip it when:** Brief operational meetings or tactical standups where exploring audience hopes is out of scope.

## Materials and tools

- Sticky notes in three colors (yellow for Believe, blue for Feel, green for Do; 3 pads per table)
- Writing pens (1 per person)
- Three poster papers hung on walls, labeled BELIEVE, FEEL, and DO
- Digital whiteboard platform (e.g., Mural, Miro, or Padlet) for remote or hybrid delivery
- Smartphones or cameras for participants to capture notes (optional)

## Before participants arrive

1. Hang three posters labeled BELIEVE, FEEL, and DO in visible spots around the room.
2. Place writing pens and three colors of sticky notes at each table.
3. Display the color key: yellow for Believe, blue for Feel, green for Do.
4. If running remotely or hybrid, prepare three columns on a shared digital whiteboard with matching color tags.

## Say this to open

Welcome. We are framing today's work around the real impact we want to see. Look at our focus prompt on the screen: 'What do you hope the people we serve will believe, feel, and do this term?' On your sticky notes, write one response per note: what you hope they believe, feel, and do. Match your note colors to our wall labels: yellow for Believe, blue for Feel, green for Do.

## How to run it

### 1. Write intentions (3 minutes)

Read the opening script while pointing to the displayed focus prompt (for example, 'What do you hope our students will believe, feel, and do this semester?'). Give participants 3 minutes of quiet time to write their ideas on three separate sticky notes: one for Believe, one for Feel, and one for Do. Writing fewer notes or keeping them private is allowed.

### 2. Post and pair discussion (4 minutes)

Direct participants to post their notes onto the matching labeled posters around the room. Participants then pair up with an adjacent colleague (forming a trio if numbers are odd) and share one thought from their notes, splitting the 4 minutes evenly so each speaker gets equal time.

### 3. Opening synthesis (3 minutes)

Call the room back together. Invite two or three volunteers to share a key hope they heard from their partner. Summarize shared themes visible on the posters and connect them directly to the day's agenda.

### 4. Closing gallery walk and wrap-up (5 minutes)

At the close of the meeting, direct participants back to the posted notes. Give everyone 3 minutes to walk the room, read peer contributions, and take a photo or jot down one or two notes as personal guideposts. Use the remaining 2 minutes to hear two brief volunteer responses to the closing debrief question.


## Debrief questions

- What common theme stands out across the Believe, Feel, and Do charts?
- Which specific note did you capture, and how will it inform your work this week?

**Finished output:** Three public clusters of intentions and individual photos or written notes of peer ideas for follow-up.

## Remote

Use a digital whiteboard with three columns labeled Believe, Feel, and Do. Ensure participants use the corresponding digital sticky note colors (yellow for Believe, blue for Feel, green for Do). Give participants 3 minutes to post sticky notes individually. Open breakout rooms of two or three for 4 minutes of discussion. Bring the full room back for 3 minutes to highlight two or three visible patterns. At session close, allow 3 minutes for participants to browse the board and take a screenshot, followed by a 2-minute closing debrief.

## Hybrid

Have all participants, in person and online, post directly to a shared virtual whiteboard using their personal devices or laptops. Participants should use the corresponding digital sticky note colors (yellow for Believe, blue for Feel, green for Do) on the virtual whiteboard. Display the virtual board on the in-room projector screen. Form partner pairs within each cohort (in-person pairs talk face-to-face; remote pairs use breakout rooms). Both cohorts browse the shared digital board during the closing gallery walk.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may write on personal devices or dictate responses to a partner instead of handwriting on paper.
- Posting notes to the wall or shared board is optional; participants may keep notes at their seats.
- Anyone who prefers not to walk to the wall during the gallery walk may review nearby notes or ask a partner to bring a few over.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants write broad institutional slogans instead of concrete human experiences.**

Provide a concrete model: 'Believe: I can solve hard problems. Feel: Welcomed and safe. Do: Ask for help when stuck.'

**A crowd forms around one poster during the closing walk.**

Ask half the room to start at DO and work backward while the other half starts at BELIEVE.


## Terms used here

- Bookend practice: A paired facilitation structure where an exercise starts at the opening and concludes during the closing of a meeting.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in CASEL's SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook, contributed by Catherine Murray and credited as inspired by The PD Book by Elena Aguilar and Lori Cohen.

Retained the CASEL prompt structure (Believe, Feel, Do) and bookend format. Clarified step timing to handle pairs or trios, explicitly listed digital whiteboard tools in materials, integrated display instructions into the opening script, and added explicit digital color-coding instructions for remote and hybrid settings.

[CASEL](https://signaturepractices.casel.org/be-intentional-take-inspiration/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/be-intentional-take-inspiration-sel-3-signature-practices-playbook/