Advisory periods typically last 15 to 30 minutes, offering a good opportunity to have round-table discussions about current events, events at school or in the district or other topics, such as bullying or racism. Teach students at the beginning of the school year about the format of round-table discussions, where everyone has an equal say, and how you want this time to go. Break students into groups of seven, and have them float from one group to the next. Guide the discussions and keep the students on topic.
Advisory time also is appropriate for team-building activities. Advisory time allows teachers to develop a personal relationship with each student in the group, and team-building activities provide students with a change to learn more about each other as well. Effective team-building activities for middle school students include the shoe game and tie a string. In the shoe game, each student takes off one shoe and places it in a pile. The teacher divides the class into two teams, and the first team to find all its members' shoes and sit down on the floor wins the game. In the string game, the teacher starts by passing a ball of string to a student, who then passes the ball on, leaving a trail of string behind it. The only person who can talk is the person holding the ball of string. Once that person is done sharing her feelings, she passes the ball on until everyone has had a chance to speak. The web formed by the string represents how we are all interconnected and how a group works.
Advisory time provides an opportunity to focus on school-wide character-building lessons. These lessons on honesty, self-esteem, self-discipline, hard work, kindness and respect can all be included in character-driven curriculum. Set aside one day each week for a character lesson with your students, or organize the entire school to do character lessons during advisory time for one week each semester.
Advisory time can be used for school-wide or classroom community service projects. These projects can focus on collecting food for the local food bank, making items to sell to raise money for a homeless shelter or collecting needed items for areas affected by disaster. If the project is school-wide, set up a competition between classes and grades and have a reward party at the end of the project for the classroom and grade that collected the most items or money.