Energizer or Energizing: Recognizing When the Sponge is Full

An intentionally designed and facilitated learning experience – grounded in dialogue education principles, naturally – can be a thought-provoking and engaging opportunity. Until it isn’t, because sometimes too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. An educator once shared with me, “At a certain point, the sponge is full and students aren’t able to be present to learn.” When that happens, the learner struggles to focus on the content.

At these times, participants need a break away from the learning to reenergize, regardless of how engaging the content might be. Here is where the difference between energizing design and facilitation and an energizer is vitally important.

Energizing

When we energize our design and facilitation, we purposefully ensure that what we design and how we facilitate promotes active engagement. My colleagues and I like to use learning tasks such as card sorting that encourage visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning. We deliberately plan to have participants move and talk as they explore a topic. We invite individuals to move from one table to another to change their vantage point and their table partners. We ask that they choose a different partner for each new learning task.

We can intentionally design learning tasks to be energizing, such as when we plan for movement within a task, or add an impromptu energetic twist, such as when we change our plan from sitting at your tables to “Let’s stand and gather together to review our results.” The common factor in our energizing design and facilitation is that we encourage learners to stay focused on the learning.

Energizer

An energizer is different in that we deliberately ask learners to step away from the learning. The sponge is full; they need a break. Energizers provide that break: they give participants an opportunity to disengage and rest their brain cells. Energizers may be active – think stretching or moving to music, or calming – perhaps doodling or breathing exercises. However we do it, energizers are designed to reinvigorate the brain by pulling it away from the task at hand and giving it a learning-free task to engage in.

There are a number of articles and research studies out there, including this one from Edutopia, that highlight the importance of brain breaks. In fact, engaging in brain breaks that are not connected to the learning has been shown to accelerate the learning upon reentry. Our brain continues to process information even when we hit the pause button. And the pause seems to infuse a new energy so that when the learning is reengaged with, we have more brain power to focus and connect.

Energizing design and facilitation practices and energizers are both incredibly important to effective learning experiences. The secret is to know the difference and incorporate both as needed. Our energizing practices tend to be more planned in nature, thoughtfully overlayed into a design to maximize engagement. Energizers are more often inserted into an experience at the facilitator’s discretion – added in when we notice the energy is waning or eyes are beginning to glaze over. We can sometimes predict these dips – for instance, the time slot after lunch is notorious for low energy moments. At other times, we don’t expect it but we can sense it – the sponge is full.

As a facilitator it’s important to design to encourage energetic participation, and to facilitate in ways that encourage active involvement on the part of the learners. It is equally important to have a number of energizers ready that are likely to resonate with the group that you are working with. It’s fine to have your favorites, but remember to insert energizers that seem to match the group’s overall norms and the energy of the moment.

Even though an energizer may be added in and not designed in, we need to be thoughtful and purposeful in their use. When we do that, we may just find that energizers can play an important part in making the learning-centered events we offer more meaningful and engaging for our participants. 

Here’s to wringing out the sponge!


How do you differentiate icebreakers, warmups, and energizers?


Marta Koonz is a depth psychologist, group facilitator and life coach. In addition to being a Certified Dialogue Education Teacher (CDET), Marta is also a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coach Federation (ICF). She holds a PhD from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Depth Psychology: Jungian and Archetypal Studies. Her dissertation research focused on bringing a soul-centered approach to life coaching partnerships. www.rediscoveringsoul.com

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