(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 [...]

Jen Stanchfield’s workshop The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation. Jennifer Stanchfield and Josh Meyer presented a Holistic Approach to Teaching focused on brain-based learning, differentiated instruction and positive behavioral supports.

Today’s Wood ‘N’ Barnes Friday Lesson:
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 [...]

Facilitation is an art that involves a combination of practice, observation, knowledge of theory, and creativity. Effective facilitators act as creative “designers” of lessons and experiences.  Through careful observation of all the elements involved in a group’s personality and setting, they intentionally choose and order activities in order to maximize learning opportunities.  Many educators call [...]

In last Friday’s author’s lesson entry at Wood ‘N’ Barnes I posted: “Bringing Learning to Life Through Reflection”:
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. [...]

Every Friday in October I’m offering a new free downloadable lesson regarding experiential-based group facilitation and processing. This week’s lesson focuses on increasing involvement and facilitating “buy in” and trust with group participants Click here to check it out.