Overview
Moving forward, on Fridays you will have the opportunity to meet with the other members of your house to engage in some semi-structured connection and conversation. What you do with this time is relatively open, but there are LOTS of ideas in this document that can help guide you in your pursuits!
Note: Below are the breakout rooms that already exist in the House Zoom account and a list of how they can be used during Friday House Time. Please feel free to reach out to Paige if you’d like to see additional breakout rooms in the future, and continue to read this document for even more specific ideas!
- Rock & Pebble rooms: Mod 1 and 2 students can meet to talk through support & questions
- Self-Care rooms: meal-planning tips & recipe sharing or work on an online puzzle together
- Team-building rooms: get-to-know each other through donut-style chats or use the Fast Friends prompts
- Technical-focused rooms: reflect on wins and share learning experiences from the week (talking about technical learning from a high level is great practice for technical interviews); you could also engage in some technical review through Code Wars or Mythical Creatures
- PD-focused rooms: practice storytelling and sharing why you decided to pursue a career in software development
Establishing Group Norms & a Plan
You might start your time together in the first week by establishing some norms of how you want to engage in the space and deciding on what you’d like each week moving forward to look like.
Some norms to start with might be:
- Make space. Everyone should be given a chance to share.
- Be present. Take a break from your projects and show up to this conversation.
- Make this time valuable. What intention can you set for your time today? How can you demonstrate that you value the other students in your group? How can your group members let you know that they value you?
Please discuss any additional norms you would like to set as a group!
You might also want to decide on what the next few weeks will look like for your house. Do you want to focus on Professional Development this week and Team Building next week? Or Technical Learning this week and Self Care next? Take a look at this document for lots of ideas and then make a plan that works for your group!
Group Discussion (Themes & Activities)
Each week if your Houses can and should look a little bit different. Here are some ideas of activities that may guide you, but the sky is the limit and you are welcome to come up with other ideas too!
Start with an Icebreaker
Here is a list of some random icebreaker questions, but feel free to come up with your own too! Ice breakers are a great way to get everyone loosened up and talking and ready for bigger group discussions!
Technical Activities
- Review Technical Concepts - this is a mixed Front End/Back End group and some of you have expressed an interest in learning what is being taught on the other side of the house. Plus, explaining technical concepts in easy-to-understand terms is great practice for your own learning and for future interviews!
- Share Projects - sharing the details of the projects you’ve made is another great way to showcase your learning and get the opposite program members excited about eventually learning full stack!
- **Do Technically-**Focused Lightning Talks - Lightning Talks are short 5-8 minute talks on a technical concept NOT covered in the curriculum. These should be accessible to all members of the group but could include anything from the importance of wireframing to end to end encryption to the history of CAPTCHA. As long as it is tangentially technical, this can be a fun way to practice your public speaking skills and help your group learn something new!
- Bring in a Guest Speaker - have an instructor, higher Mod student, or alum come in to deliver a technically focused “guest lecture” on something the whole group is interested in learning about. Emma can help find someone to attend!