Name and Motion - SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook
Name and Motion - SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook is a circle dialogue exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- Determine how the room can be set up to accommodate everyone in a circle.
- Share that the purpose of the activity is to learn each other’s names and get to know one another while having fun. Mistakes, always a part of learning, are also part of the game.
- Invite the group to form a circle and explain how the game works:
- Each person will take a turn saying their own name while making a motion that represents something they enjoy doing. (Facilitator models.)
- Each participant in turn will repeat the names and gestures of those who have gone before, and then will add their own name and gesture. It’s fine if what you choose happens to be chosen by someone else, too. We’ll see if that happens!
- Together, take a quiet moment to think of what we want to share and the gesture that will help people remember it.
Run this exercise live
The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.
What participants need now
Materials:
This is a participant-safe snapshot, not a response form. It sends nothing back to the facilitator.
Prompts to use +
Determine how the room can be set up to accommodate everyone in a circle.
Share that the purpose of the activity is to learn each other’s names and get to know one another while having fun. Mistakes, always a part of learning, are also part of the game.
Invite the group to form a circle and explain how the game works:
Each person will take a turn saying their own name while making a motion that represents something they enjoy doing. (Facilitator models.)
Each participant in turn will repeat the names and gestures of those who have gone before, and then will add their own name and gesture. It’s fine if what you choose happens to be chosen by someone else, too. We’ll see if that happens!
Together, take a quiet moment to think of what we want to share and the gesture that will help people remember it.
Run this with your AI assistant +
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.
Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Name and Motion - SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Determine how the room can be set up to accommodate everyone in a circle.; Share that the purpose of the activity is to learn each other’s names and get to know one another while having fun. Mistakes, always a part of learning, are also part of the game.; Invite the group to form a circle and explain how the game works:; Each person will take a turn saying their own name while making a motion that represents something they enjoy doing. (Facilitator models.). Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from CASEL; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including CASEL.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.