In past articles I have compared group facilitation and teaching to cooking in the sense that successful educators vary ingredients all the time to keep things interesting or to “spice up” their teaching/group facilitation. In doing so they always keep in mind the key components that make it happen. There is a lot of room for creativity, style and adaptation in cooking but there are key rules and fundamental ingredients needed in order for a cake to rise or a sauce to thicken.

Over the past few months I have been inspired by my experiences facilitating workshops with educators from all over the US and Canada who are committed to enriching the lives of the youth and adults they work with. As I reflect on the feedback from participants in these workshops there were common “ah ha” moments or key learnings that participants took away from these group experiences. These all had to do with the importance of taking time to build a strong foundation of understanding, empathy and trust within groups, empowering learners with choice and control, thoughtfully sequencing activities to maximize learning outcomes and the importance of reflective practice; all key ingredients in recipes for group success. In the next few posts I will share articles on these topics.

Here are some of the “key” ingredients or techniques educators should consider as they build a strong foundation for learning within groups and classrooms:

The experience starts the moment a group enters the room (or even before).

Create a “Hook” to engage participants as they walk in the door. The first few minutes of a class or group session can be a great opportunity to draw learners into a positive learning experience and increase engagement. This can be a way to welcome group members or students into the classroom or meeting space and focus their attention on the tasks at hand. It can help learners transition from the experiences at home, on the commute, or in the hallway that impact learning so that they can be fully present in the learning space. Research on the brain and learning is demonstrating that the first moments of a learning experience are a key opportunity to increase engagement and retention (for more on this subject check out the series on engagement in March and April’s Inspired Educator blog posts).

Start off with style!

Introductory activities set the tone for a program and future group interaction. Think carefully about using appropriate beginning activities that build rapport and trust in incremental ways. Take time for this process. When people are given an opportunity to interact and share with each other step by step they gain comfort with the group process and build the capacity to go more in depth later on.

Make thoughtful choices, beware of the “ice-breaker”.

When choosing “ice breakers” or introductory activities find those that build rapport, camaraderie, connections, shared understanding, commonalities and goals in an enjoyable and non-threatening way. Often icebreakers can do the opposite of what was intended when people are put “on the spot” too early in the group process. When people are asked to perform a task like memorizing names or speaking/standing in front of the whole group before they have built comfort and basic trust they actually might “check out”, become embarrassed, and/or form negative associations with the experience. Try beginning with partnered sharing activities. This gives participants an opportunity to warm up by interacting with just one or two others at a time before sharing with the larger group. Thoughtfully sequence activities to build the capacity of trust and sharing over time.

Choice and control are essential.

People learn best when they perceive a sense of control, they have choice and ownership over their learning experiences. Think about creating opportunities that build this sense of choice and control for participants or students from the very beginning of the program or school year. Empowering learners 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 challenging learners. People do learn from challenges, but there can be a fine line between a challenge that helps move learning forward and what the educational philosopher John Dewey (one of the earliest proponents of the philosophy of experiential education) would call a miseducative or potentially damaging experience.

Create opportunities for students/participants to make choices within an experience. Consider techniques such as:

• adding rules to an icebreaker that allow the “it” person a way out or an option to participate at their own pace
• inviting participants to volunteer rather than calling on them to share
• allowing participants to pass during group discussion

This will help participants experience what John Dewey called “perceived internal freedom” and help them buy into the group process.

Creating situations that allow introverted group members some kind of out or aid gives them an opportunity to participate fully and warm up to the group process. They learn to trust that you won’t put them in a situation that is embarrassing or puts them on the spot before they are ready. This technique used during a warm-up game can pay off later in the group process.

By building trust in this way, group members start to share and engage at their own pace and become more willing to push their comfort zones later on when it really matters.

It is important for groups to learn and honor names.

Knowing and using each others names in a respectful way builds trust and positive communication establishing a supportive group environment. A person’s name is very important to them and should be honored with correct pronunciation and proper use. Presenting a series of activities that help participants use and practice names can be very helpful to establishing a strong foundation of trust and understanding. I like to weave name activities and practice into introductory activities in a “natural” way starting with simple partner greetings and sharing before engaging participants in a whole group name activity. I try to avoid contrived name activities that put people in the “on the spot” too early in group process or require them to feel under pressure to memorize. In upcoming posts I will share some of my favorite methods for introducing and reinforcing names in a palatable way.

Establish and reflect on healthy group norms.

Help group members create an environment where they feel responsible for themselves and each other and are willing to speak up when there is a breakdown in communication or an issue that affects the safety or potential experience of the group. It is ideal when the group takes that responsibility rather than the facilitator or teacher. Group norms are the behaviors that exist in every group, good or bad. It can be helpful for groups to formalize agreements about acceptable behaviors to improve their ability to work together. In my experience it helps to not do this on the first day or hour of class or group but rather after they have spent some time together so they get to know about their group dynamics and what they will be encountering together. Norms should be reflected upon and revisited throughout the year or program. (There can still be leader imposed ground rules or expectations put forward on day one, but participants should be increasingly involved in defining group norms as they move forward and encounter challenging situations together as a group).

Reflect and “check in”.

Intentionally making time for the group to reflect, and “check in” with each other is integral to group process, so that experiences can be built upon one another and related to real life and future learning.

Reflection brings learning to life. 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. Reflection creates relevancy and meaning in an experience and helps learners make connections between their educational experiences and real life situations. The practice of reflection itself is one of the most useful human skills in that it develops insight, one of the hardest important tools to teach and learn.

Regular “check-ins” create a forum or opportunity for participants to share what is working, what they need from each other, and for celebrating successes along the way. Reflective practice is best when it is a dynamic ongoing part of your lessons, not just something facilitated at the end of an experience or as a follow up.

Take time up front to build your group.

It takes time to sequence and build healthy trust between participants and teacher/leaders. Time and experience together can build comfort enhancing meaningful group sharing of thoughts, ideas and feelings. This builds the foundation that will allow you to engage learners in more challenging activities, fosters more responsibility and control over their learning and increases their ability to move learning forward. You will find that time spent from the beginning of your program or school year building relationships, ownership and reflective skills pays off later in many ways!

Like any good good cook, remember to experiment and blend your own personality, creativity and style with the chemistry of the group into the recipes for positive group experiences. Mix it up and add a little spice here and there, just don’t forget those key ingredients that hold it all together and help make the full flavor of the group come experience through.

These methods can also be used later on in a program as reflective or closing activities to tie it all together. Using these activities for the dual purpose of introductions and reflection is a “brain-friendly” teaching technique. Research on the brain and learning shows that learners remember most about the first few minutes of a learning experience, and secondly the last few minutes of a learning experience i.e. the primacy-recency effect (Sousa, 2005, Willis, 2010).

Here is another engaging activity that works well for both purposes. One of my favorite aspects of this facilitation tool is that it is free, involves recycling, and is easily found in most offices and schools.

Computer Keyboard Keys

Last year my friend Andy La Pointe, Career Development Specialist and Challenge course facilitator at You Inc. a Therapeutic Youth program in Massachusetts shared that he had been inspired after one of our workshops on processing/reflection tools. When he walked by a stack of keyboards in the recycle bin it sparked an idea.

When I arrived at his site for another workshop he handed me a bag filled with the pieces of the keyboard that he had recycled stating, “I bet these would be interesting to try with a group”.

We tried them that day with his colleagues. After engaging in a problem-solving activity we asked group members to choose a key that represented their role in the process. I was impressed with the conversation the keys initiated and the connections group members made to various keys. It can be surprising where conversations can go with such a simple tool.

Since that time I have used them as an introductory or transitional activity as well as a processing tool. On the first Monday in January as middle students I was working with entered the classroom after holiday break I asked them each to pick a keyboard key that represented their new years resolution. I was amazed at how the keys were used by students to represent their hopes and goals.

Some examples included:

 ”I chose the escape key because I know I need to make some better choices about who I have been hanging around with- or at least sitting next to in class- at times I need to “escape” from my friends and distractions so I can get my work done and not get into trouble”.

” I chose the home key because I would like to try and get along with my stepbrother better”.

 ”I chose the question mark key because I know I need to ask more questions and get help during homework club time so I can improve my grades.”

A teacher who attended a recent workshop where we used the keyboard keys reported back a few weeks later that she had success in using this activity with colleagues and students at her alternative school. She stated:

“I really liked the keyboard activity you shared with us in our workshop last month. I’ve used it at the end of some team-building work with students and asking the question “What was the hardest part about your work today” and at a staff training using the question “how would you describe your teaching style”.

I will be teaching a demo lesson on Thursday, and would like to use the activity to open class rather than to close it. I see it as a good icebreaker since the kids have never met me before. The lesson is on (Microsoft) Excel and how it relates to a technology education project (truss bridges) they have been working on. The main point I would like to convey is that Excel will make their lives easier by simplifying the math involved. I’ve thought of asking the question “which key describes how you feel about math” or “describes you as a math student”.

Sandi Lindgren who is a social worker with an organization called I Support YOUth! recently shared her experience with this activity:

“I used the keyboard keys yesterday and the group loved it!  I was speaking to a senior class of social workers at a local college about research/surveys (sharing examples from my dissertation) and then about how to find your dream job as a social worker.”

“I used the keys in the beginning as an introduction. I asked them to choose a key that best represents where they currently are in this class’ research process. The professor was delighted with the on-point honest sharing that occurred. I was then able to reference their examples later on in the session. Examples included: The space key for taking a break and not really doing much with homework. The S key for stress. The tab key for taking a break (the old soft drink tab). The group also later pointed out that the tab key moves one forward.”

“The professor picked the command/apple key, sharing that as a teacher (apple) he’s delighted with the learning and processing and he also has to ‘command’ by telling students what to do. The page down key was chosen by someone who feels their process is really slow right now. The caps lock key was chosen by another student who is so stressed they feel like everyone is talking to them in all CAPS WHICH IS YELLING ON THE SCREEN (that was great).”

Recently I picked up keyboards from both Macintosh and PC desktops and laptops. I have been mixing them together when I use them in groups. This led to some interesting and humorous conversations about learning and personality styles.

As with many tools that I have experimented with having no clear picture as to how it would work there have been many pleasant surprises. I encourage you to take a new look at your recycle bin and see what you might come up with!

References:

Sousa, David. (2006). How the Brain Learns. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Willis, Judy. (2006). Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

The term debriefing has never resonated with me. Instead I  prefer the terms processing or reflection to describe this fundamental aspect of experiential learning (the process of intentionally creating opportunities for learners to reflect upon experiences and transfer learning to real life and future learning).

I remember talking to my friend and colleague Dave Lockett about this subject many years ago.  Dave, who was formerly a Navy Seal, shared that he didn’t think “debriefing” fit our field at all as it implies a top down military report out to a commanding officer rather than an educational experience.

While reflecting on this topic last summer when writing an article entitled “Processing in the Middle of the Experience” I looked up debriefing in several dictionaries. The definitions reaffirmed Dave’s observation. This term originated in the military and describes a top down questioning or report out of a pilot or soldier after a mission, followed by instruction from commanders to the individual about what they can share and what is confidential.

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary Definition of Debrief:

Transitive verb:

To interrogate (as a pilot) usually upon return (as from a mission) in order to obtain useful information

The American Heritage Dictionary Definition of Debrief:

de·briefed, de·brief·ing, de·briefs

1. To question to obtain knowledge or intelligence gathered especially on a military mission.

2. To instruct (a government agent, for example) not to reveal classified or secret information after employment has ceased.

Another reason I avoid the term debriefing is that it seems too leader centered and  is very limiting in scope as it implies a one-time report out to a commander. I like to think of processing or reflection as something that starts from the beginning of a program and is woven throughout to create stronger connections between learning experiences and real-life outcomes. Ideally the participant takes more and more ownership and direction in this process as the facilitator/leader/teacher steps more into the background. I use reflective practice to describe this ongoing participant-centered approach to help learners take responsibility for the educational process and its application it to their life.

See my blog post on “Processing in the Middle of the Experience” for more ideas/thoughts on this subject. http://www.experientialtools.com/2010/06/04/processing-in-the-middle-of-the-experience/

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

In my last post I described how I have been re-purposing the well-known ice-breaker Have You Ever? into Anyone Who as a strategy to engage participants in reflecting on or reviewing content from a lesson. I recently had great success using this game in adult staff training days, in guidance groups and in a middle school social studies class. In all of these experiences the level of involvement and discussion went beyond my original expectations. I found the game not only worked as an active review method but also led to engaging conversation, application of the subject material and served as a formative assessment.

I regularly work with students and teachers at a local school here in Vermont. Originally I was brought into the school to facilitate team-building activities to promote a positive school climate and help students practice social and emotional skills. Over the years my role has expanded to integrate the philosophy of experiential education into day-to-day practice, helping teachers differentiate their instruction methods and actively engage students in academic lessons. I have found there are some great activities that serve both team-building goals and as a method for teaching or reinforcing curricular content. Anyone Who is a great example of one these dual purpose activities.

Recently I used it with students in the 8th grade who had been studying Mid 19th Century US History. Their curriculum included topics such as Westward Expansion, the American Civil War and Reconstruction era.  During one of my visits the social studies teacher and I went through the text book and pulled out key events, people and facts from the current chapter and formulated review questions such as: “Anyone who knows who Jefferson Davis was.” “Anyone who knows the outcome of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.”  “Anyone who knows what the Pickwick Papers where.“  “Anyone who can name the confederate states.” We wrote them on index cards and placed them on the question asking spot.

We found students were actively engaged in the game. Many students couldn’t help blurting answers out while they moved. If a person didn’t have the correct answer other students immediately jumped in to help in a friendly and supportive way.

When one student moved impulsively from their spot without knowing the answer and reached the question asking/answering spot, he froze for a moment and then asked me if he could ”phone a friend”. Immediately 5 other students pretended they had open phone lines to help their classmate out.

Students who in the past had not regularly raised their hands in class were actively moving and sharing answers throughout the game. The teacher gained new insights into the more introverted or previously less involved class member’s actual knowledge of the subject. It was great for the high achieving students in the group (who sometimes monopolize class discussions) to see that other students had knowledge and insights to offer the group.

As the game progressed students started to move beyond review questions and answers spontaneously engaging in detailed discussions around topics such as the impact of the railroad on the civil war, and the impact of Westward Expansion on modern day population and industry in their own state of Vermont. The best part was that students were leading the discussion!

I have also used  “Anyone Who” in counseling and guidance groups and found it to be a great way to review factual information or introduce a subject with questions such as:

“Anyone who knows what empathy means”

“Anyone who can name one way to stop a fight without violence”

Though this activity is great for factual review and as a prelude to a lesson I am cautious when using it or any game to discuss feelings and experiences around sensitive issues such as bullying or substance abuse. Using a playful game to share feelings about tough issues could have the potential to trivialize serious and sensitive subjects, put group members in an emotionally unsafe environment for sharing, or cause a group to cross boundaries in a way that can be inappropriate for school settings. As with any activity, carefully consider how it fits with your group’s personality, development, goals and setting for best results.

Many educators report to me that they like Anyone Who because everyone is involved in the review even if they aren’t speaking out or moving from space to space.  Those passively participating can still be learning from the dialogue and review.

The Have You Ever/Anyone Who activities can be used multiple times with the same group. I like to use the Have You Ever? version (see January 13th post) earlier on in a group’s experience together as a “get to know you” activity. Then later in the group’s process re-introduce the game as Anyone Who with the intention of reflection or review. It doesn’t matter if a group has played the game before it is different every time. When participants have familiarity and comfort with the structure of the game itself they are more willing to push their comfort zone with the questions at hand.

References:

Variations on the “Have You Ever” activity are referenced in many publications; I first ran across it in Karl Rohnke and Steve Butler’s Quicksilver, 1995 Project Adventure/ Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Patrick Torrey contributed a reflective variation of a similar game “All My Neighbors Who” in the 2005 book A Teachable Moment-Cain, Cummings & Stanchfield.

Even as someone who has been promoting the importance of integrating movement into reflection or review sessions I was surprised by recent research on the brain that shows just how short people’s attention spans are! In pure lecture situations the attention span of adults starts to wane after about 15-20 minutes, for children and adolescents attention spans are much shorter- about as many minutes as they are years old.

Neuroscientists are recommending that educators find ways to “break up” lectures and direct instruction with intentional opportunities to engage learners in dialogue, reflection and movement.  (See my Summer Reading List post from July 28th for some great resources regarding research on the brain and learning).

Getting students or group participants away from their desks or seats and moving not only breaks up a lecture or presentation, it also helps you differentiate your instruction methods in a way that might help reach your more kinesthetic learners. Brain researchers are also finding that connecting movement with reflection or review of a lesson can help “cement” the lesson. Physical involvement in learning creates what Erik Jensen calls “body memory” (Jensen, 1998 and 2004). If learners reflect on a lesson in an active way they might retain it longer and integrate it better into their life and future learning.

In previous posts I have shared some of my favorite ways to engage learners in community building, dialogue and reflection (see the January, March and April 2010 posts). These same activities could be used after 15 minutes of lecture to get student or group participants away from their seats, moving and reflecting on the material just presented.

One of my favorite and “tried and true“ methods for actively engaging a group in dialogue and reflection about a lesson or experience is Concentric Circles. This activity works especially well for large groups.

• In this activity the group is divided in half, and two circles are formed, with the participants facing each other in an inner circle and an outer circle.
• The participants are asked to greet each other and then converse about the topic at hand. You could have very specific questions about the material prepared for the partners to discuss, or you might have a less structured conversation allowing participants to share what they felt for key takeaways gleaned from your lecture- or in the case of a team-building session-the group’s experience.
• If you are discussing current events you might have the inside circle represent one point of view and the outside circle another.
• Depending on the group, I sometimes incorporate a fun partner activity such as “finger fencing” or “gotcha” or “one handed shoe tying prior to the reflection or review discussion. This brings a little fun into the classroom or boardroom and helps participants create some social connections (another brain-friendly method of teaching).
• After completing the partner activity, participants are asked to share their thoughts about the lecture, lesson or reading. One teacher I showed this activity to started to use it in her language arts class. She had the inside circle take the perspective of one character and the outside circle another and then asked them to answer questions “in character”.
• After a few moments, or when the conversational energy diminishes, the teacher or group facilitator invites the inner circle to rotate and form new partnerships by having the inner group move three spaces to the left, saying hello to those two they pass by. These new partners greet each other; the facilitator provides another cooperative activity and question to discuss.
• The activity continues with alternating movement between the inside and outside circle, followed by questions (and partner activities if appropriate).
• I sometimes pair “themed” questions with some of the partner activities. For example in some teacher staff development workshops after I engage the partners in “ collaborative one-handed shoe tying” (a partnered task) I ask teachers to share their experiences with co-teaching.

A benefit of this type of review is that learners who tend not to share their reactions or questions about a lecture in a large classroom setting will have an opportunity to share in a less intimidating one on one dialogue.  The randomness of the pairing is an additional “classroom community building” benefit as participants might be paired with students outside of their usual social group.

Last spring while working with a group of corporate trainers I suggested using this as an active reflection method in their team-building work and presentations with business executives. One participant commented “if I use concentric circles to reflect on a lesson I won’t be able to hear what my participants are saying about the activity or lesson.”  Our group discussed although that may be true, a benefit of this method is helping our participants engage dialogue more readily and more deeply when they are not being put on the spot in front of the group. In the long run it could allow your group to become more open and willing to share later on in the group process or semester because they are building comfort with sharing by starting with one person at a time.

Since that conversation I have continued to reflect on this topic. I have noticed in my recent work both in the classroom and in team-building sessions if something was shared during a partner dialogue that is important for the whole group or facilitator to hear, it will come up again later in the group process.

If the partners are discussing review questions and reactions to a classroom lecture, at the end of the activity you could ask volunteers to share key ideas that came up in their conversations.

Whether you are a classroom teacher, college professor, corporate trainer or counselor you will find that incorporating movement into your presentations and discussions will increase participant engagement and potentially help learners better retain and synthesize information from your lessons.

Reference: I first learned this activity from Paul Hutchinson during our time as grad students at MSU Mankato. It is also written up in: A Teachable Moment, Cain, Cummings, and Stanchfield, 2005. Kendall Hunt Publishing and Tips & Tools for the Art of Experiential Group Facilitation.

Radteach.com (information on the brain, attention and learning)

Cain, J., Cummings, M., & Stanchfield J. (2005). A teachable moment: A facilitator’s guide to activities for processing

Jensen, Eric (2004) Brain Compatible Strategies. San Francisco: Corwin Press.

Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Stanchfield, Jennifer. (2007) Tips & tools: The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation.

Willis, Judy (2006) Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning

Inspired by Journaling in the Classroom: An educator shares how she has used journaling prompts from The Me I See, 2E with her students.
Heidi Pauer, a High School Language Arts Teacher from Bow, NH, shared a couple of fun ideas with us. The first was how she has been using The Me I See, 2E [...]

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The Firefly Group works to create a collaborative learning environment by using playful methods. They work with businesses, non-profits, and government agencies in mission & vision, team building, leadership development, training of trainers, and project management.  Each month they publish an on-line newsletter intended to offer something useful for leaders and trainers.  Check out their website.

Excerpts from The Me I See: Click Here to Read Full Post

The Disappearance of Neighborhood Games of Kick-the Can, Part Two: Strategies for Helping Participants of All Ages Learn Through Play.

In Monday’s post I mentioned that I had observed a trend of children and adolescents missing out the development of important social & emotional skills because of a lack of time for “free play” without adult intervention.

I believe we can intentionally bring some opportunities for this kind of peer-to-peer learning and conflict resolution practice in our structured settings such as school, camp, and other recreational programs. When I work with people of all ages in experiential team building programs I purposefully create situations/opportunities for participants to practice coming to agreement on the rules of the game, a team name, a team symbol etc. I use methods that involve pairs and then groups making simple choices together and work up to practicing consensus.

Here is one of my favorite simple strategies for helping learners of any age practice these important skills:

Which one? Partner Decision Making Method for Dividing Into Teams: This activity came from my time teaching in Stevens Point, Wisconsin School District’s Experiential Education program. I started getting bored with the old counting off “1-2″ method of dividing students into teams or groups for a project or activity. I discovered through experimenting with this new method that I had found a fun and engaging way to divide into groups or teams for an activity or classroom project while at the same time helping participant’s practice communication, decision- making, consensus, making a compromise with peers.

Directions:

• Have everyone find a partner.  In many situations a student will often pick a buddy you would rather they are separated from. This is fine, even preferable, because they will be splitting up soon. This method of dividing honors their need to partner with a friend because it gives the friends something to do together before they split up.
• Present a hypothetical situation with two choices. For example: “Imagine it is summer and the two of you are near a river. You want to play on the river, but the only boats available are a kayak and a one-person canoe. Which one of you will take the kayak, and which the canoe? Or: You are at an ice cream stand and the freezer has broken down, there is only one cone of chocolate, one of cookie dough. Who gets which? Cookie dough’s become one team, chocolates the other. Other scenarios I have used: cotton candy flavors, roller blades or skateboards, toboggan or saucer sled etc.

Over the year’s I have noticed that kids of all ages have bought into this method of dividing teams without “pre-arranging” themselves the way participants often do with the old 1,2 count off method. I think it could be because they get to have the connection with their friend first- you are honoring their need to pair with who they are comfortable first before sending them apart.

It can be surprising how intense the discussions and negotiations around these imaginary decisions can be!

I have had many teachers report how they have appreciated this simple exercise for helping practice and reinforce conflict resolution, positive decision- making and the idea of compromising-coming to consensus. Adult participants share that they enjoy the sense of connection and humor from sharing and making decisions about these hypothetical scenarios.

Reference: Tips & Tools for the Art of Experiential Group Facilitation. Jennifer Stanchfield, Wood ‘N’ Barnes Publishing 2007

Middleton School District Experiential Education Curriculum; Jennifer Stanchfield, 2001

I started realizing this might be influenced by the fact that many students in today’s society don’t have the opportunity to engage in the unsupervised free play with peers that many of us who are now adults did during our childhood.

Our society is becoming increasingly isolative.  Children aren’t out playing pickup games of kickball or kick the can in their neighborhoods during free time after school, or on summer evenings as they once did. Parents are often fearful about letting kids play and roam the neighborhood on their own.

Children and adolescents participate in a great deal of solo video and computer games. Most often children’s group recreation these days involves team sports, clubs, and after school programs led by adults. There is obviously great value in structured team and after school programs, and a benefit to having excellent adult role models in these programs who positively impact students.

A downside of this shift is that kid’s are not gaining the important skills that are learned from interaction with peer only groups without adult intervention. They miss out on opportunities to practice being flexible and making compromises with each other in order to make a game work and learning that play is not always “getting their way” or winning. In peer only activities kids gain valuable experience in coming to consensus on the rules of play, decision-making, and developing social skills around communication and conflict resolution.

I remember as a kid having many opportunities for unstructured play in our neighborhood; pickup games of all kinds filled our summer days and after-school hours. Arguments about who was “it” or who won inevitably arose, but we figured out ways to work it out ourselves rather than interrupt the game to run home and get an adult to decide for us. It appears that in modern society with less participation in peer-only play, kids are missing out on opportunities to gain conflict resolution, problem solving and group communication skills. We can help students gain these skills by providing opportunities within our adult led structured programs to practice decision making and communication on their own.

After observing this trend in students I work with,  I started intentionally focusing on implementing activities that practice the use of decision-making by consensus. I purposefully create situations and opportunities that allow students to practice coming to agreement on the rules of the game, a team name, a team symbol etc. I use methods that involve pairs and then groups making simple choices together and work up to practicing group consensus. This a valuable practice for groups of all ages.

In the next few days I will post some of my favorite activities and strategies for helping learners practice these important skills. Please share your thoughts about the changes in the patterns of play, the value of “free play” and strategies you have found useful in helping students learn and practice these valuable life skills within structured programs.