(Excerpt from Tips & Tools: The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation, Wood ‘N’ Barnes Publishing 2007)

Group facilitation is like cooking....
When you first start cooking, you follow the tried and true recipes from family, a friend or colleague, or a cookbook. As your skills increase you start to improvise and vary the ingredients. Successful educators vary ingredients all the time to keep things interesting or to “spice up” their group work and teaching, but they always keep in mind the key ingredients that make it happen. There is a lot of room for creativity, style and adaptation in cooking, but key rules and ingredients are needed in order for a cake to rise or a sauce to thicken. When leading group activities, one must balance the parameters of the situation, the needs of the group, and their own creativity and style.

Key ingredients for creating positive learning environment

• Start off with style! Introductory Activities set the tone for a program, and future group interaction. Think carefully about appropriate beginning activities that include introductions, “breaking the ice” and goal setting. Take time for this process. Sharing commonalities builds trust and empathy. When people are given an opportunity to share with each other in a comfortable way they build the capacity to go more in depth later in group development.
• Creating an opportunity for participants to interact in a non- threatening and fun way dispels fears about group process and being “put on the spot”.
• Help participants know and use each others names in order to build trust and positive communication and establish a supportive environment. A person’s name is the very important to them. Presenting a series of activities that help group member’s use and practice each other’s names can be very helpful to forming stage of group development.
• Keep on eye on time parameters and plan accordingly. It takes time to sequence and build healthy trust between group members. Time and experience together can build comfort in sharing thoughts, ideas and feelings. Set aside time for the reflective aspect of learning. Be patient with the group development pace. Time spent up front building trust and quality reflective skills pays off later!
• Consider the physical environment when planning or evaluating group experience. Intentionally select the environment; arrange seating based on the goals and needs of the group.
• Create opportunities for both facilitator/teacher and participants to share their clear expectations and goals for the class or lesson.
• When facilitating team building activities participant choice and control is essential. Empowering group members to set reasonable parameters around their participation creates an atmosphere of healthy trust and will actually increase involvement from reluctant participants. In experiential group work, facilitators often aim to create change by pushing comfort zones and creating disequilibrium. But there is a fine line between positive disequilibrium and a mis-educative or potentially damaging experience with participants. Create opportunities for participants to make choices- such as allowing them to pass during group discussion. It will help them buy into the group process.
• It can be beneficial for the group to create agreements regarding group norms or desired behaviors after they have spent some time together. They should be reflected upon and revisited throughout the program. At the start of the school year a teacher might present specific classroom rules and expectations with some student input- as the year progresses having students take ownership of this process while revisiting and discussing group norms and behavior makes these agreements more meaningful and effective.
• Thoughtfully sequence activities to build the capacity of trust and sharing over time (time means something different in relevant terms for a one-day program, a class session or a year-long program).
• Differing learning styles and needs should be taken into consideration.
• Reflection, regularly checking in, and reviewing are integral to group process, so that experiences can be built upon one another and related to real life and future learning.

Playdough Pictionary

Just recently I returned from a trip to Ontario where I had the honor of being this year’s guest speaker at the annual Adventureworks! Author’s Symposium.  I  appreciated the positive energy and enthusiasm of everyone who attended my  two workshops: The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation and Teachable Moments : Processing Tools  & Techniques. It was great to share two days with a talented and thoughtful group of experiential educators. Attendees shared  perspectives from a variety of professional backgrounds including therapeutic program practitioners, school teachers, cultural diversity program staff, camping programs to corporate trainers. To learn more about Adventureworks! and the annual Author’s Symposium contact Adventureworks! at http://www.adventureworks.org

A  Favorite  Activity

One activity from our workshop that many participants were especially enthusiastic about is “Playdough Pictionary”. Groups of all ages and backgrounds enjoy this game. It is a particular favorite of teachers- as it is an excellent way to integrate curricular content into a fun and interactive game!

Play dough Pictionary

This activity was adapted from a game listed in Quicksilver by Karl Rohnke and Steve Butler and created by Ann Driscoll of the University of New Hampshire Brown Center. This excerpt appears in Tips & Tools for the Art of Experiential Group Facilitation.

Directions:

• In classroom settings I like to divide participants into groupings of 5-6  my favorite partner “consensus” method to divide; I then have each group select a “team name” ; using a topic area such as “type of bug” or “type of car”  which is fun, practices consensus and gives students  a sense of ownership within a reasonable structure.
• Give each group a can of play dough.
• Each group selects a first sculptor.
• The teacher or facilitator either gives students a word such as bike, ice cream cone, whale, giraffe, etc. to the sculptors, or for curricular content review objects or concepts from a lesson.
• The sculptor students then hurry back to their group and sculpt the object out of the play dough.
• Whichever group guesses the word correctly first receives wins that round.
• Every group has an opportunity to show off their sculpture and receive appreciation from their classmates.
• A new sculptor from each group is chosen and the game continues till each player has had a turn to sculpt.
• The team switching method throughout this game is useful in increasing the cooperative aspects of this activity and maximizing the movement and social interaction.
• This activity can be used to review concepts in science or other subjects by using topical material.

Outcomes Processing Ideas:

This can be an opportunity for participants to get comfortable working with others in groups.

It is a wonderful way to spur reflection and conversations around creativity and its importance in solving everyday problems from math to a conflict with a peer.  A brief discussion can take place about using creativity to solve problems. It can be the impetus for a conversation on creating behavioral norms in the classroom, and addressing positive competition.

Holistic Approach to Teaching Workshop

Last week I attended the annual Association for Experiential Education (AEE) conference in Montreal.  I enjoyed connecting with a number of enthusiastic educators looking for resources to enhance the art of experiential group facilitation and teaching.  It was especially nice to meet many first time attendees from all over Canada, and to see many classroom teachers in attendance.  Josh Meyer and I presented ” A Holistic Approach to Teaching” on Thursday, and I presented “The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation” on Saturday. In the next few days I will sending out our workshop notes.  We would appreciate additions and comments from those who attended. Thank you for coming with a playful spirit and willingness to share your ideas!

Holistic Approach to Teaching Workshop Concentric Circles

The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation Workshop

Two weeks ago I submitted the post “Bringing Learning to Life Through Reflection” which explored the use of metaphor in reflection. I mentioned that by using a variety of reflective methods—ranging from group dialogue, active reflection methods, artwork and the use of tangible objects, images, or metaphor—we can help participants view reflection as an exciting and dynamic part of group experience instead of “that boring thing you do after the engaging experiential activity.”

A great way to engage participants in reflective conversation and meet the various learning styles of participants is to invite participants to leave their seats and blend dialogue with movement.

to read more click here

Last week’s lesson ended with, “The lasting lesson for facilitators is to find ways to help participants and group leaders transfer these successes back to day-to-day participation in school work, or other life activities.”

Reflection brings learning to life. Educators help learners grow and change and create meaningful and lasting lessons by engaging in reflective practice. The educational philosopher John Dewey (1933) who is known as one of the forefathers of experiential education, believed that in order to truly learn from experience there must be time for reflection. Processing helps learners make connections between educational experiences and real life situations. It helps them recognize skills and strengths by naming them. By recognizing and naming the skills and strengths used in an experience, they become more cognizant of their inner resources and can call on them in future life situations. Processing or reflection helps learners make connections from the skills they use in a “contrived environment” such as a classroom, challenge course, corporate training, or therapeutic group session to real life issues such as resolving conflicts with their peers, co-workers, or family, dealing with frustration, expressing their opinions appropriately, managing stress, and/or setting goals and priorities.

By using a variety of reflective methods—ranging from group dialogue, active reflection methods, artwork and the use of tangible objects, images, or metaphor—we can help participants view reflection as an exciting and dynamic part of group experience instead of “that boring thing you do after the engaging experiential activity.” One of the most effective ways I have found to help people create meaning from their experiences is the use of metaphor and symbols as part of reflection.

Creating Meaning With Metaphor

Often people can more easily express themselves through a symbol or picture than through verbal means. Image cards, pictures, artwork, and tangible objects can be used as meaningful and Click here to read more.