Before engaging in a SchoolSims simulation, it is crucial to provide participants with appropriate background information and context. This can include briefing them on the scenario’s objectives, providing relevant materials or readings, and ensuring they have a clear understanding of the simulated environment they will be interacting with. Preparing participants beforehand helps establish a solid foundation for their engagement and sets the stage for meaningful learning experiences.

Clearly defining learning goals is essential for successful facilitation of SchoolSims simulations. Educators and facilitators should outline the specific knowledge, skills, or competencies that participants are expected to develop or demonstrate through their engagement with the virtual scenarios. This clarity of purpose ensures that participants remain focused and can actively work towards achieving the intended learning outcomes.

One of the strengths of SchoolSims simulations is the opportunity they provide for reflection and discussion. Facilitators play a vital role in guiding these processes. After participants have completed the simulation, facilitators can lead reflective activities that encourage individuals to analyze their decision-making, consider alternative approaches, and reflect on the consequences of their actions. Open-ended questions, group discussions, or journaling can be effective strategies for facilitating meaningful reflection and promoting deeper learning.

Feedback is an integral part of the learning process, and facilitators should strive to provide timely and constructive feedback to participants. SchoolSims simulations often include built-in feedback mechanisms, but facilitators can enhance this process by offering additional insights and observations. Personalized feedback that highlights strengths, identifies areas for improvement, and offers specific suggestions for growth can significantly enhance the learning experience and encourage participants to refine their skills and strategies.

Collaboration among participants can greatly enrich the SchoolSims experience. Facilitators can create opportunities for participants to work together, discuss their approaches, share insights, and learn from each other’s perspectives. Collaborative activities, such as small group discussions or role-playing exercises, can foster a sense of community, promote diverse thinking, and deepen understanding of the simulated scenarios.

To ensure the transfer of learning from the SchoolSims simulations to real-world contexts, facilitators should encourage participants to reflect on how the knowledge and skills gained can be applied in their professional practice or daily lives. Engaging in post-simulation discussions, action planning, or follow-up activities that connect the simulated experiences to real-world scenarios helps participants make meaningful connections and solidify their learning.

Facilitating SchoolSims simulations is an iterative process. Facilitators should regularly seek feedback from participants to assess the effectiveness of the simulation experience and make necessary adjustments for future sessions. Reflecting on facilitation practices, evaluating participant outcomes, and incorporating insights gained from each iteration contribute to ongoing improvement and refinement of the facilitation process.

Aspiring leaders need experience as leaders, and SchoolSims provides aspiring leaders relevant experiences that help them grasp the complexity of these leadership roles. One of the best ways to use SchoolSims with aspiring leaders is to establish monthly meetings for one hour each month. Invite a group of between 2 – 50 aspiring leaders to these monthly meetings and lead them through one simulation per month. The following is a schedule of recommended simulations for aspiring leaders:

• September – Academic Goal Setting
• October – Dress Code
• November – New Teacher Evaluation
• December – Special Education
• January – Girls’ Basketball Coach
• February – Disruptive Teacher
• March – Cultural Competency
• April – Cyberbullying
• May – End of School Year

Novice leaders need experience in the intricacies of school leadership, and SchoolSims can provide these experiences in a safe environment. For example, leadership development personnel could invite between 2 – 50 novice leaders to their monthly meetings and finish these meetings with a simulation that lasts approximately one hour. At each decision point, the facilitators could point out opportunities for novice leaders to reach out to a mentor principal to ask for advice on how to lead in that situation. When novice leaders experience the power of reaching out to a mentor, they will be less likely to feel as though they are the only school leader facing the difficult decisions before them. The following is a list of recommended simulations for each month:

• September – School Safety
• October – Student Support (Transgender)
• November – Middle School Turnaround
• December – Comprehensive Role of School Counselors
• January – Virtually Leading a School Counseling Program
• February – Recognizing and Reporting Abuse and Neglect
• March – Finding and Leveraging Voice (ELL)
• April – Community Partnerships – Digital Readiness
• May – Student in Crisis

Many district-level leaders find it challenging to provide relevant and engaging professional learning for their experienced leaders. One solution to that challenge is for a leadership director, assistant superintendent, or superintendent to facilitate one School Sim at the end of monthly admin meetings to build leadership capacity amongst their experienced leaders. SchoolSims provide natural pauses at each decision point, which are excellent opportunities for experienced leaders to discuss how their experiences shape their current decisions or how their implicit biases came into play during a decision point. The following is a list of recommended simulations for each month:

• September – Difficult Conversations – Race
• October – Equity: Exploring Beneath the Surface
• November – Navigating the Politics of Equity-Based Budgeting
• December – Stakeholder Management
• January – Managing Diversity in a Growing Community
• February – Emerging Challenges of Distributed Leadership
• March – Cultural Competency
• April – Difficult Conversations – Race
• May – Administrator: First Week on the Job

Many teachers have a natural curiosity for what happens when the principal’s door is closed. Teachers who experience SchoolSims tend to come away with a broader perspective of what happens at the building-level, promoting a more positive culture and climate.

Incorporating the SchoolSims Simulation Library into your teacher candidate programs will allow you to provide experiential learning opportunities in a safe space, just like a pilot obtains using a flight simulator. Simulations enable participants to tackle difficult situations, make decisions, and deal with the consequences of those actions in a safe environment, gaining practice that they can tap into when necessary. Our simulation categories include topics such as equity, social-emotional issues, difficult conversations, and more, all while aligning with CAEP and InTASC professional standards.

Providing school counselors with simulations for manufacturing experiences will allow them to practice dealing with challenging scenarios in a safe space and strive to implement comprehensive, developmental programming addressing student needs. School counselors understand that students should equally demonstrate growth in their career, academic, and social/emotional domains to succeed. Simulations can be used synchronously, asynchronously, or both. Simulations are proven to improve judgment and decision-making so that school counselors are ready for the challenges of the job. It is essential in the field to have open conversations and provide guidance and support to the current and aspiring leaders of the counseling profession.

Simulations enable aspiring counselor students to tackle difficult situations, make decisions, and deal with the consequences of those actions in a safe environment, gaining practice that they can tap into when necessary. Start building experience for aspiring counselors in dealing with bullying, student performance, school safety, and more using CounselorSims in your higher education program.

Most facilitators prefer synchronous because of the natural back-and-forth communication between people in the same room. However, when SchoolSims are used asynchronously, the aspiring, novice, or experienced school leaders feel more freedom to repeat the simulation three or even four times to try new decisions and learn from decisions they may not ever choose in real life. When school leaders make decisions within a simulation in the same room as their peers, they tend to make decisions that won’t make them look foolish in front of their peers.

SchoolSims are better in person because of the natural back-and-forth communication between people in the same room. However, some facilitators of SchoolSims like Zoom better because Zoom offers polls (quick results at each decision point) and breakout rooms (less distraction than a room of people talking).