The Group as an Ecosystem

(Everything has it's niche)

The participants that we work with in groups are living organisms. No big surprise, or Earth shattering information there. They are capable of growth, change, production, and consumption. As a group of organisms existing within their niche, doing their job, they are part of an ecosystem. A dynamic and ever changing system that is seeking a balance that may not exist since the group is an open system and outside influences may exert influence on the ecosystem. If the group is an ecosystem, our course, program area, or facility, is the biome or even the bioregion where this ecosystem is currently existing. The group's home office, school, or community is the "natural" biome or bioregion where the ecosystem is usually found.

When the group comes to our program or we bring one to them, we are exerting an influence on the group. A change in the ecosystem has occurred, and the ecosystem will react. As facilitators we observe this reaction in the group process from our initial introduction to a closing statement. The group ecosystem is learning to adapt to this new influence. As each individual reacts to the new stimuli which is us the facilitator, the other members of the ecosystem will also react. It is in these reactions that we facilitate our program and challenge the group. 

As you facilitate your group, look for people playing different roles, or trying to fill their niche. Who are the producers in the group? Are there any primary consumers? Who is the top consumer of energy? Who are the decomposers and scavengers that are busy working on taking the group's "waste" and transforming it into useful nutrients? Is the ecosystem relying on you to be the decomposer? Is the waste being recycled or are there signs of bioaccumulation? 

Is there "biodiversity" in the group? And is the group striving for biodiversity or are they working to create a monoculture? Is there someone who is the Sun, and providing all the energy for the group? As your group progresses through your program, are they creating positive or negative feedback loops? Do you know the difference in ecological terms? And how could you use that knowledge?

There are some factors that we as facilitators can have control over. Is the biome your program creates the correct one for your group ecosystem? Or are you having your tropical ecosystem try and thrive in a temperate forest biome? What can you change so that your program is providing what the ecosystem needs to thrive and become stronger? What can you introduce into the ecosystem to help it develop and find optimal growth? Are there invasive plants or organisms that you see need to be removed from the ecosystem? 

I encourage you to take a look at your programming to see how healthy is the biome you provide for your group ecosystems that visit. And as you facilitate a group, notice what "environmental" or "ecological" factors are present or absent from your process. What can you change as an environmental architect? I always welcome comments on this ongoing exploration of the Ropes of Ecology. 

As always, you can leave a comment here or email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com

You can also check out our Facebook page.

Or even follow A Single Footstep on Twitter.

What roots are you fostering?

What a Tangled Web We Weave!

(A St. Andrews Cross Spider-Argiope mangal)

The Spider Web initiative is one of my favorite activities. I love the planning and attention to detail needed to complete the challenge, and I love the engaged physicality of the activity. It can engage people on many levels and provides a wide range of challenges for participants. And there is some actual risk involved with lifting people through the web, which means there has to be a level of group readiness present in order to attempt this initiative.
In addition, I love the metaphor of the web. Lots of attachments, strands to get caught on, the spiders waiting for prey to get caught in the web, and the intricate weavings needed to build a web. Webs are also created from the spider directly. Other than the anchor points, the structure comes from the spider itself, not unlike the situations we create in our lives. We are often the creator of our own webs. With this rich palate available to a facilitator, there are numerous ways a facilitator can weave their own metaphors around the image of a web. But that is for another posting.

The Traditional Initiative:
The traditional Spider Web is built between two vertical objects, usually trees for a stationary web. Here is a simple drawing of a portable web using pvc pipes for the vertical poles.

The main object of the Spider Web is for the group to get from one side to the other by going through the web. Not around, over, or under, but through the web. Depending on the facilitator, touching the web might result in a penalty such as blindfolding the person who touched, making the part of the body that touched the web unusable, or sending the person or the whole group back to beginning side. Some programs put bells on the webbing strands to alert the participants when they have touched the webbing.
There are also some guidelines on how people should go through the webbing. In general, if both of a person's feet come of the ground, then they must be in constant contact with at least two other people until their feet are back on the ground. This prevents people from jumping or diving through the web. There is debate on how the person needs to go through the web. Some people say that the person needs to go through head first facing the ground. This enables the person to use their hands to catch themselves if the group drops them. Other's say the person should go through feet first with either the face down or up so that the person can get their feet on the ground first. I have used all of these variations. Also the way they go through may be dependent on the material used to build the web. The only issue I have with face down, regardless of head first or not, is that in lifting and passing the person when they are face down can allow people's hands to come into contact with personal parts of the body of the person being passed easier than if the person is going through face up. Just a thought.
So there are the basics, and here are some variations:
Variation 1:
If your group is not ready or able to pass and lift people through the web, provide them with a length of climbing rope, maybe 75-100' in length. Then the challenge is that the group needs to pass the rope through each of the openings in the web without the rope or them touching the webbing strands. You can still provide consequences for the rope or people touching the web.
Variation 2:
Again, if your group is not ready to pass or lift people through the web, provide them with a collection of objects-beach balls, boards, large stuffed animals, etc. Then the group has to pass the objects through the web without touching the web.
Variation 3:
Use a multi-sided web. I find that 3 or 4 sided webs work really well. It really doesn't matter if the separate webs are the same or not. The real challenge comes from the fact that as more and more people get in to the middle of the webs, space becomes tight for the participants.
Variation 4:
In this variation, you are attaching things to the web before the activity. For an environmental focus you can attach cards that have portions of the food web or the water cycle on the web. Then you provide participants with cards that either match the cards on the web, or are examples of the term listed on the web cards. Then the participants have to go through the appropriate opening in the web. You could also attach cards that have terms written by the group, or provided by you, that pertain to their group process or culture. Then, as the people prepare to go through the web, they state how the term on the cards can help the group or is a hinderance to the group.

Just a few thoughts on Spider Web variations. If you do more inside programs, explore a variety of ways to build an indoor or portable Spider Web. Enjoy!

As always, feel free to leave a comment here or email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com

Feel free to explore A Single Footstep's website.

www.asinglefootstep.com

 Website to explore:

A Facebook page from Michael Cardus. Michael provides great pieces on teambuilding on this page. Check it out. 

http://www.facebook.com/TeamBuildingWNY

A Lesson in Sustainability

(Sustainability Bowls)

                                                                                                                                                                                    A while back when I was in grad school I was writing a paper on teaching sustainability and I found myself struggling with activities to teach the concept of sustainability in an experiential manner. Then I found The Nuts Game by Julain Edney. It is a really fun activity and I am sure it can be adapted in many many ways. Regardless of who you work with, teambuilding or environmental education groups, this activity can be useful. 

         Teaching sustainability can be a challenge for any facilitator. Sustainability can be a tough topic to talk about because of so many definitions and uses of the word in such a wide variety of situations. Sustainability, or sustainable development is often defined in roughly the following way by Lester Brown; “Sustainable Development meets the needs of the present without diminishing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this is a fairly straight forward definition, it also is somewhat vague enough to allow a great deal of individual interpretation.

            Sustainability also can be applied to numerous topics. You can talk about sustainable economics, food production, energy, population, building, business models, etc. You can also delve into group decision making and group think topics. Enjoy!

           

Overview:

            To give participants an opportunity to experience sustainable behavior.

Resources:

            Several small non-breakable bowls or containers-Frisbees work well. They should be about 12” in diameter. 10 small objects in each bowl to begin with. I have used pennies, black rocks, nuts-metal not the eating kind, and marbles. In addition to the objects in the bowls to begin the activity, you will need a bunch more to refill the containers as the activity progresses. You will also need a watch or other time keeping device that can measure seconds.

Set up:

            You will need an area where your group can divide into smaller groups and where the containers can remain upright during the activity.

Outline:

            Have your group divide themselves into small groups 3-4 people in each small group. Have each small group sit around their container that has 10 of the objects inside. Explain to the groups that the goal of the activity when it starts is for player’s to get as many of the objects from the bowl as possible until the end of a round.

            Players can take objects at any time and in any quantities after the start of the activity. Also let the groups know that after about 10 seconds, the amount of objects left in the bowl will be doubled by you. This cycle will continue for several rounds. If one group empties their bowl, they are “out” of the game for now until you stop the game. Let several rounds happen before stopping the activity.

            Once the activity begins, participants are asked to remain silent. After you have let several rounds go by, a typical game lasts only about 2 minutes for several rounds. Get the scores from each player, each group, and the overall number of items harvested from all the bowls.

            That is the first game. For the second game allow each small group to spend 5 minutes or so developing a plan so that every person and each small group gets as many points as possible. Groups are free to create any guidelines or rules for themselves. The original rules of the game still are in effect, and groups can create or add anything else they want to as long as it is safe. One rule that applies through out the entire activity is that one group or individual cannot take objects from another group’s container. You can provide each group with resources to write down their new rules.

            After the 5 minute planning period, play another game with each group following their new rules. Then record the same information as you did in the first game and compare the results. Then have the groups look at and compare the data results.

Safety:

            Make sure that your containers are non-breakable and that each group has enough space to sit comfortably. I find that wooden bowls or frisbees work well. Keep and eye and an ear out for disputes that may occur in the small groups that could get out of hand.

Facilitation/debriefing notes:

            This activity is a good frontloading activity for discussions on resource management, conservation, and sustainability. After doing this activity allowing the groups to talk about the plans they made, and how they worked. Also talk about what are some real world situations where sustainability is an issue and what they think might be some solutions.

Well that's it for this posting. Enjoy the Nuts Game and keep providing great learning spaces for your participants!

As always, feel free to leave a comment here or email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com

Community

( A wonderful group I used to work with)

So I just got back from an amazing experience at the annual National Challenge Course Practitioners Symposium (NCCPS) the "Un-conference" in Boulder, CO. It is a gathering each year of between 150-190 experiential educators for 3 days. It gets called the "Un-conference" because the entire conference is done in Open Space. It is an amazing process that is truly an organic experience. Tom Leahy who sponsors the event always says that the right people are here and the people who are not there are where they need to be.


The years when I can make it out to Boulder for this event, 4-5 times now, I always come away with a wonderful sense of community. Now, I make it to several conferences and gathering of educators each year, but there is something special about this group of folks. I am sure a large part of it is that we as a group create the entire conference. The only things that are scheduled are the pre and post-conference workshops, and the closing on Saturday afternoon. The entire process of creating an event with 150+ people is a fantastic example of people coming together to create learning in a community.


So, my question to you is, "Do your programs have that feeling?" If yes, why? And if no, why? What do you do for your groups that help create a sense of learning and community. Do your participants leave with a sense of being a better community, and do they feel that they accomplished something? In addition to the groups you work with, how is the community you live and work with? I am asking these questions because on my flight home I spent time reflecting on the groups I have been a part of over the past couple of decades. Some of those groups were a pleasure to be with and I am still in touch with many of the members I connected with. Other groups were not as rewarding to be a part of. I encourage you to examine the groups you are part of, and how do you help the groups that come to you for a program.


Here are a couple of activities for you to work with. Enjoy!


Cycle Tag:

                                                               Original Inspiration:

 Clam Free- New Games Foundation

Overview:

            This icebreaker tag game is played to get participants moving around and playing together. And it presents a very basic example of the food cycle.

Resources:

       You will need an open area where the players can move around easily such as an open field or a gym. You will also need some objects to mark off the boundaries of your playing area.

Outline:

            Gather the group together in a square with no corners in the area you will be playing in. Show them the boundaries that they will be playing in. Then get a volunteer, a participant or another staff, who will be the first Consumer. The Consumer’s task is to try and gently tag the other players who are a rare species of Producer-“running grass” (autotrophus mobilusquickus). If the Consumer tags a Producer, that Producer is frozen in place and has been transformed into Scat!

            Now this Producer/Scat is not out of the game! They can raise a stink by waving their hands and shouting, “Scat! Scat! Scat!” To be able to run around again, two non-frozen Producers must join hands around the Scat and say loudly “ Decompose and break it down!” Then the player is recycled into a new Producer and may continuing playing. If the Consumer manages to tag all the Producers, then the game is over. You can also have multiple Consumers if you have a large group.

Safety:  Make sure people are tagging safely, and that your area is free of obstacles.

Energy Tag                              

                                                 Original Inspiration:

                                                                        Evolution- Karl Rohnke

                                                                        Rock-Paper-Scissors- Universal

Overview:

            This icebreaker tag game is played to get participants moving around and playing together. And it presents a very basic example of the food cycle.

Resources:

       You will need an open area where the players can move around easily such as an open field or a gym. You might also need some objects to mark off the boundaries of your playing area.

Outline:

            Get your group together and tell them they are going to get a chance to move through the food chain in a couple of stages. Everyone starts out as Producers-Grass. As grass, players can either move around on their hands and knees as short prairie grass, or walking around as tall prairie grass. When two “grasses” meet they rock/ paper/ paper/ scissors (RPS) while saying “Grow, grow, grow”. You decide when the players should throw rock/ paper/ or scissors. There is always confusion on when to throw, on three or after three. You choose, or let the group choose.

            Anyway, the winning grass person, then goes up the food chain and becomes a primary consumer, an herbivore. The grass that lost, stays as grass. Then the new herbivore begins moving around as the herbivore of their choice looking for another herbivore. When two herbivores meet they RPS while saying “Munch, munch, munch”.  The winner of the herbivore shoot-out moves up to being a Carnivore/ Omnivore. The loosing herbivore then moves back down to being grass.

            The new carnivore then moves around as any carnivore they wish to be looking for another carnivore. When two carnivores meet, they RPS while saying “Rawr, rawr, rawr! While showing their fierce claws! The winning carnivore then becomes a decomposer. The loosing carnivore slides back down to being an herbivore. The new decomposer moves around as a kind of invertebrate, wiggling and wobbling around.

            When two decomposers meet they play RPS while chanting “Dirt, dirt, dirt!” The winning decomposer then gets to move onto being the Sun. As the Sun, players move around with arms outstretched sending beams of energy to the people who are still Grass. Let the game progress for several minutes then bring the group together and see who is still at each level.

Variation:

       You can change the activity a little by having people all start out as the Sun. When two Suns meet, they play RPS while saying “Energy, energy, energy!” Then the winning Sun moves up to a producer, and the loosing Sun remains a Sun. You can also have players continue playing even when they become a Sun after winning as a decomposer. They continue playing RPS, and then the winning Sun would then become a producer again, starting the whole cycle again.

Safety:

            Make sure that your area is free of obstacles.

Tarp Maze:

I learned this activity from Jim Cain at NCCPS this year.

                                                

Overview:

          A simple activity that uses a tarp with several holes cut in it and the group has to move a ball around the tarp without letting the ball go through the holes.

Resources:

      A golf ball, and a tarp about 9'x9' in size. You can use a bigger tarp if you want to.

Outline:

        Have the group stand around the tarp and grab hold of the edges. The taro should have holes cut in it so it looks like the number 5 on a dice face, almost an "x" shape. Let the group practice a little bit with moving the ball around the tarp for a minute or so. Then provide them with a challenge to move the ball around each hole in the tarp without the ball falling through. The center hole should be small enough to allow the ball to rest in the middle  without falling through. Depending on the group and the level of challenge you want to provide them with, you can make the center hole bigger, and you could also challenge them to get the ball around all five holes in succession. If the ball falls off or through the tarp, they would have to start over.   

Variation:

       Once the group has accomplished the above task, challenge them to see if they can launch the ball into the air and then flip the tarp without dropping the ball. This is really fun!

Website to visit:

http://www.emilysgame.com/ This is a website by one of the participant's at NCCPS this year. Emily is a high school student who is involved in an adventure program in her high school.

If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave a comment here or email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com  

Trust The Process

(Me leading the Count 6 activity)

In the fields of experiential and environmental education there are many processes that we use in our programming. There is the Group Process: Form-Storm-Norm-Perform-Transform, The Adventure Sequence: Icebreakers-Trust Sequence-Initiatives-Peak Experience, and the Experiential Learning Cycle: Experience-Reflection-Processing-Application to name a few.

I remember when I first began facilitating ropes course programs I had a very formulaic process. I had learned a sequence of games, my trust sequence, a series of initiatives, then onto the high ropes, and then a final debrief. The process worked fairly well. My groups provided good feedback and I felt like I was doing good work. It was not much different when I began running outdoor/environmental education programs. I had learned how to run certain activities, knew my schedule for the program, and knew a certain amount of the local natural history. The length of the program really didn't matter. I would adjust the length of my talks and the length of the activities. And again, I felt that I was doing good work by getting people out into nature, and people gave me good feedback.

I was doing what I thought was good work, and at the sam time I was beginning to feel a little stuck in a routine. I remember hearing the statement from my friend Tom to "Not get attached to how I think things SHOULD look.". It was an evolutionary moment for me. This was combined with reading Stephen Covey's ground breaking book; 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It was the first book I had read that talked about-at least how I interpreted it-the habit of process. And that it was not a clean thing. It might be messy, and a challenge. It was when I received this two gifts that I  really began to examine how I was doing things. 

It was an internal change. I realized that I was not only a facilitator of other people's process, I was in the process whether I wanted to be or not. I had my own process, and by keeping it formulaic I was limiting possibilities. I made the conscious decision to really trust, and embrace process. I also knew in the back of my head that I could always fall back on the formulas that I knew. I must say that it was an adventure. Not necessarily and easy thing, but it was an adventure and full of learning. 

I tried new processing techniques in both the ropes course programs I was running, and in the outdoor educational programs I was running at summer camps. I decided to learn more knots, read more books on teaching, personal development, and adventure education. I also was beginning to help run train the trainer programs for a ropes course company, which provided me with a whole new arena to explore process. 

Deciding to be part of the process also entered into my school work at college. I began to look at eduction, and my own educational process, in a different way. I began to bring aspects of my camp knowledge of groups and attitude around play and learning, and my newly found knowledge of adventure education, into my own learning. It was an entertaining and rewarding time. I began exploring how seemingly unrelated topics were actually complimentary.  

Now, I will admit there have been times when I have tried to remove myself, or exert control over the process for a variety of reasons. In almost every case, the results of the programs or activities I was leading when I remained "in control" of the process rather than flowing with it, were not as rewarding for me. They may have been good programs for the participants, but for me, it felt dull. Something was missing. That spark. That feeling of being "in" the process, rather than trying to control it. 

Now I am not encouraging just throwing activities out there and sitting back and let things go. I am saying to learn more about the processes that you use in your work with your participants, and then trusting that they will work. A frustration I see in new camp staff I work with is that they see seasoned staff doing wonderful things with apparent ease. What they do not see is the work that went into being able to do things with apparent ease. The seasoned staff have a strong foundation from which to work from, and that collection of experiences and knowledge of how things can work, allow more seasoned staff to perform and create with a greater sense of ease . 

For example, doing icebreakers/ de-inhibitizers at the beginning of a program serves multiple purposes regardless if you are running an adventure program or an environmental program. You get to physically warmup participants, give some ground rules, set the tone, observe behaviors within the group, and have some fun! Another example is building skills in an intentional manner. Doing at least trust leans and Willow in the Wind before engaging in more dynamic spotting activities. 

And having said that, and not being attached to how I think things should be, there are times when you have to rely on your observations, intuition, and the process to guide what you do. You still have to keep your participants safe, but sometimes doing things out of sequence, or spending more time on a specific activity, is exactly what is needed. The group's process, it just that, the group's process, not yours. We are guides on an expedition of experience and learning. And our awareness of the process is a critical component of being a guide.

In this age of trying to control everything, letting go and trusting the process can be difficult. I admit, that it can be a challenge for me at times even after all these years of facilitating. It can also be a challenge if you work with folks who are not as aware of process. Allowing the energy of the group, the activities, and your facilitation/teaching to be free and flow can be a little scary/exciting. and the results can be amazing.

And a final story that I feel goes with this theme. I was listening to an interview with George Lucas on NPR recently about his experiences over the decades in film. One of things that impressed me was when he was talking about the process he went through in the 70's and early 80's when he was making films. For those of you who don't know, that is when the original Star Wars come out. Anyway, Lucas was talking about how back in the 70's he, Spielburg, Coppola, and others would get together and look over each others work and provide feedback. They would look at scripts, and even watch rough cuts of their films together. Can you imagine that happening today in most fields? These folks created some of the biggest movies in history, and they trusted their collaborative process to make things better. That is one of things I really admire in the fields of experiential and environmental education, there is an active movement to share information and skills for the betterment of our programs. So, the next time you are out there with a group, trust the process and enjoy the ride. 

No activities this time, but next time there will be several classics with some variations. Until then, enjoy exploring the connections you find, or create, in your life.

Link to Lucas interview:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122279258

Please leave comments here or email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com

And a bit of self promotion, I will be presenting a pre-conference workshop on 

Ecological Processing Methods and Models 

at the National Challenge Course Practitioners Symposium (NCCPS)

in Boulder, CO on February 24th. 

The conference runs from the 24th until the 27th. Here is the link:

http://www.leahy-inc.com/nccps_invitation.php

I am also presenting workshops on
Ecological Processing Methods and Models and Using Initiatives to Teach Ecological Literacy
at the upcoming Residential Outdoor Environmental Education (ROEE) conference at Camp Galilee in Lake Tahoe, NV.
http://roee.raincloudpub.com/
February 12-15, 2010.

Your Teaching Edge

(Right on the Edge)

Photo from Tom Andrews

As I was sitting on my deck today, after a week of rain and winter storms, doing some reading and enjoying seeing the sun after a week. My awareness of the world around me kept drawing me out of my book. I began listening to the birds sing their songs around me, I began to notice how the light changed as the sun passed behind the trees in front of me, and began thinking about the edges of things. I know that my reading was influencing my thoughts. I was reading about Coyotes (Canis latrans) and how they live on the edges of human society. I began thinking about what edges do we work near with our participants.

As a facilitator I have found that from time to time I get into a routine of doing the same activities over and over. Sometimes because of time constraints, and sometimes from simply not challenging myself. And then there are times when I try out new activities or concepts during a program, either experiential or environmental, and I feel more alive and the programs get great reviews. I have a greater energy after these programs and they often push me into trying even more new things. It is a great re-enforcing system!

I challenge you to explore your teaching/ facilitating edge. Look at what you do that is safe and where you tend to be more restrained in your choices of activities, processing tools, and personal challenges. See if there are activities you use to find daunting, or try a new debriefing style, teach something new to your next field group, or expand your talk on your least favorite nature subject. 

Another way to explore and expand your teaching edge is to dive into the opposite side of where you usually fall in a discussion. Look into the other side of the political spectrum from where you usually look, listen to radio stations or blogs you usually avoid, you get the idea. Take some intentional time and explore your edges, and the edges you provide your participants.

Activities to explore:
ECO-SCULPTURES:
Here is an environmental variation of two classic teambuilding activities: Sightless Sculpture from the New Games Foundation, and Artist, Model, Clay from Karl Rohnke.
This activity allow participants to express themselves in an artistic manner in small groups. Take your group and divide them into smaller groups of 4-6 people. The small groups will be representing environmental concepts by creating living sculptures.

Depending on your group you can decide if you want to let their sculptures make noises. Sometimes being able to make noises makes the process easier, and it can sometimes allow the group to rely on sounds rather than their presentation skills. You will give the groups a topic which their sculptures will represent. I usually give each group 5-10 minutes to create their sculptures. After the creation period, each small groups presents their sculpture to the other groups. Here is a suggested progression that I have found to work well:

1) The Food Chain
2) A tidal pool or pond.
3) Recycling.
4) Sustainability.

You can use this activity in a couple of ways. First, simply as an activity to use in the middle of a program to get creative ideas going. You can also use this activity to recap information from another activity. I use this with kids the day after we go to tide pools and after a day of exploring the forests. I have also given out cards that have things that need to be in a sculpture, and then let the whole group come up with a larger sculpture. It is a way to front-load information before exploring an area.


If you are working in a more traditional ropes course based program, you can also use this activity with a group to get them to focus on certain concepts that may serve them well in improving their performance in your activities. You can also use it as an activity to recap topics that kept recurring through out the program. This activity also allows participants to express thoughts and ideas in a non-verbal method. You could use the following sequence of topics with a teambuilding group:

1) Working a plan.
2) Effective Communication.
3) Leadership.
4) Teamwork.

You get the idea. I have also used this with summer camp staff and asked them to build the following sculptures:

1) Camp Spirit.
2) A safe cabin.
3) What a parent should know about camp.
4) What excites them about this summer.

Websites to visit:
The Association for Experiential Education.
http://www.aee.org/

The North American Association for Environmental Education.
http://www.naaee.org/
Upcoming conferences:

National Challenge course Practitioners Symposium: Feb. 24-27, 2010. Boulder, Co.
http://www.leahy-inc.com/nccps_invitation.php

The Connecticut Challenge Course Professionals conference. March 13, 2010. Windsor, CT
http://www.thecccp.com/

Have a wonderful week and if you have any comments, please feel free to leave them here. If you have any suggestions for future topics or other questions, please email me at: 

asinglefootstep@gmail.com

or visit my website:

www.asinglefootstep.com

As a self promotion bit:

I will be at the National Challenge Course Practitioners Symposium-NCCPS

 February 24-27th, 2010 in Boulder CO. 

On the 24th, as a pre-conference offering, I am running a workshop on 

Ecological Debriefing Methods and Metaphors. 

Contact me for more information. 

The Keeping of Experiences

(The Magic Box-A Keeper of Experiences)

There are times when I have been facilitating a group, either experiential or environmental, and I wished I had either written down the results or been able to video tape a specific experience for the learning that occurred. Years ago a ropes course training company I worked for used to video tape training sessions of new facilitators to be used as review material in the evenings. In many cases people would remark that they never remembered things that they saw on the video tapes. We got wonderful feedback from participants on how the video sessions helped them get more learning from the entire experience.

As many of you may experience when working with groups, either 1-day or multi-day, the retention of learning may not be as long lasting or impact-full as we want it to be. In the traditional days of an Outward Bound course where the group was together for up to 30 days, time for transference was much more available. In the shorter length programs that many of us run, debriefing and creating transference of the experience may not get a sizable amount of time.

I want to present a technique that I have used in both environmental and experiential programs. I call it the Keeper of Knowledge, or simply The Keeper. Before I get into describing the process, let me provide a little background. In working on my masters program in Environmental Studies along with my research on Indigenous Wilderness Skills I noticed that many indigenous cultures had members of their societies who held sacred positions within the community and were responsible for keeping certain knowledge alive. Examples are Storytellers, Fire Keepers, Medicine People, makers of certain tools, and Scouts. These positions were often handed down from generation to generation within a tribe or clan.

I began thinking about how indigenous cultures keep their traditions and how they teach their children. In many cases from the Kalahari to The Americas to Australia, indigenous people used non-verbal traditions to pass on culture and to teach place-based education. While we as facilitators and naturalists do use verbal skills for a large part of our facilitation process, I wanted to add an additional method to help participants retain more of the teachable moments of their programs that would also engage participants.

So what I began doing was creating a role for the group called The Keeper. The role has a very specific task. Wether you are facilitating a ropes course group or working with participants in an outdoor/environmental education program, the role of Keeper can be implemented rather easily. In general I have the position of Keeper be in charge of recording data and important actions. I do provide a note book, or in a few cases I have also provided a digital camera and once a video camera. And there is more to the position than simply recording data.

In teambuilding groups I have either given the Keeper a set of tasks to look for or a set of questions to answer. Some sample questions have been "Who was taking a leadership role?", "What ideas were the group ignoring?", "What are examples of efficient and inefficient communication that you noticed?", and  "How well did the group follow the plan they created?". You can really guide the learning if you want to go that way. And you can also go more towards a participant centered process. If you want to involve the group a little more, have the group create the items that the Keeper will be keeping track of during the activity. This way the group is more involved in their own outcomes and the learning they deem important.

In an outdoor or environmental education situation, I have had the Keeper record the learning points of the day, including items we found on our Discovery Hike. I have also found that the Keeper can record key questions that are asked and also help in getting the group together after an activity to record our findings. For example, I have used the Keeper role after a group has gone tide pooling and we didn't bring our journals down to the pools. But after we all finished exploring, the Keeper was able to help record all of the cool things we had found.

I have found that the role of Keeper can also be useful when you have participants that for any number of reasons, are not willing or able to take part in an activity. It can keep people engaged in the process, and help the group enhance their overall learning and retention levels. Be cautious about letting a single person use this role as a way to disengage from the group. I have found that in many cases withdrawn participants have become involved in the group by way of reporting back to the group on their performance and actually become very vital to the group.      

At the end of your program, make sure your group gets the notes and information collected by the Keeper. A corporate group can continue to review the notes if they are committed to group development, and a school group can use the information in numerous ways throughout the semester. I hope you enjoy exploring how to use Keepers in your programming. Let me know how it goes for you. I look forward to hearing feedback from you.

You can always send in comments, and feedback here on the blog, or email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com

The Group Process

( A group of Naturalists working on group development)

We all work with groups in some way shape or form. Those of you in the teambuilding realm may have groups that last a few hours, a day, several days, or several meetings over a prolonged time. You Naturalists or Outdoor Educators may have a single group of kids for up to a week or maybe only a nature hike. In every case, your group will be in some stage of the Group Process, and may move from one stage to another during your program. Having an understanding of the group process may not guarantee a successful group, but it can help you in understanding their behavior and help you be more intentional about activity selection.  

In 1965 Bruce Tuckman presented a model of group development that was composed of 4 stages. He named the stages Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing. In 1975 he added Adjourning to the model. Some folks use the term Transforming rather than Adjourning to keep the flow smoother.  Here is a brief description of each stage:

Forming: 

The group comes together and gets to know each other initially and to form the group. People are usually acting civil, and often people are looking to discover where the physical and emotional boundaries are. 

Storming: 

A chaotic period with individuals vying for various positions, often with a good deal of conflict.

Norming: 

Agreements are reached on how the group will operate as a group with the task(s) presented.

Performing: 

The group implements the behavioral agreements and becomes effective in meeting its objectives.

Adjourning/Transforming: 

The process of transitioning the group into another form or disbanding the group all together and moving on.

At the link above, and here, there is much more on the Group Process model developed by Tuckman. However, in a more immediate sense, this information can be useful for you during programs. These 4-5 stages occur in many ways. If you are working with a group for any period of time, one or more of these stages will be occurring. In a multi-day program for example these stages can occur over the whole time the group is together. They can also occur over the period of a single day. And they can manifest within a single activity. The Group Process is not a simple 1 dimensional, linear process. It can be a multi-layered, constantly adjusting model. And, it does provide us as facilitators- on a challenge course, or with a environmental education group- with a template to work with when selecting activities. 

Do some research using the links provided to deepen your understanding of Tuckman's model. And with the next few groups that you work with keep your awareness on what level of the process your group may be in and which direction are they moving. Also keep your awareness on the behaviors you notice in each stage. Keep notes if you want to on your findings. Enjoy the process!

Some things to try: (remember to sharpen the saw)

Overhand Knot:

This is one of my favorite low prop initiatives. All you need is some space and a length of webbing or rope. I use a piece of cordage (again-webbing or rope) that is about 18-24" long depending on the group.  A 24" piece is good to have because it makes the activity a little easier if you have participants who are bigger than others. I also provide some other pieces of the same length for the group to practice with during the activity.

To start with I gather the group around and show them what an Overhand Knot looks like. If you don't know, it looks like this:

I tell this group that this is the knot they use when they first begin to tie their shoes. This is a hint to the solution. Have the group line up holding hands. Then in the middle of the line have the two middle people break their connection and give them each one end of the piece of cordage. The rest of the line remains holding hands.

The goal of this activity is for the group to tie an overhand knot in the cordage without breaking contact with each other. Also the people holding the cordage can also not let go of the cordage. That includes doing little finger dances to manipulate the cordage into a knot. The only hands that can be used to manipulate the cordage is the two free hands on each end of the group line.  

I do allow participants to break hands in order to plan and strategize with the extra pieces of cordage. Also let the group change who are the people holding onto the cordage and even the lineup as long as has equal numbers on each side of the piece of cordage. Allow this between attempts, not during.

Although this sounds rather simple I have seen groups take more than an hour to complete! Other groups have done it in less than 20 minutes. The key is to monitor the group and make sure they are following the guide lines around letting go of the cordage. There are at least 4 methods that I have seen work for this activity. Be forewarned that some groups can become very frustrated while doing this activity.

Disco Hike:

Todays activity is to take a walk through or around where you work with groups. A good Disco Hike lasts about an hour or 90 minutes. A Disco Hike is not some new dance craze. But come to think of it a Dance Hike could be a blast! A Disco Hike is a Discovery Hike. Your only goals, besides having fun, is to notice more and give your participants an opportunity to get passionate about exploration! If you want to make it more "formal" perhaps make an initial inventory of the things you notice so your group could explore more about the objects they discover later on in your program or when they get home. A Discovery Hike is not necessarily a naming or labeling hike. It is about walking around and looking for cool things to discover. Try and inspire before you label everything.

As you walk around, simply be on the look out for things that catch your attention, and more importantly-catch the attention of your group. It could be something you see, hear, or smell. Then go check it out. Try and resist naming the item. Sometimes I provide just a bit of info such as telling the group that a mushroom is a kind of decomposer. If you want to, write a description of the item or take a picture. That way you can look it up later. Just enjoy the process! Have fun, and maybe get a little dirty. As I am leading a Disco Hike I tell my participants that when they notice something they want to share with the group they should call out "Disco!" and then the group will come to them. I do take advantage of a Disco Hike to point out potentially harmful items such as poison oak/ivy/sumac, and other items like property boundaries or off limit areas.

While you are out on a Disco Hike try some of the following things:

-- Just walk and look. You could even try a walk without talking.

-- Listen for various birds.

-- Notice the birds flying overhead.

-- Look for all things red, or blue, or brown, or orange (natural or man made).

-- Count the conifers in the area.

-- See if you can notice tracks or trails.

-- See if you can notice 10 things you have never seen before.

-- Count cool insects.

-- See if the moon is still out.

You get the idea. If you can, try and make taking a Disco Hike a routine. Maybe take mini Disco Hikes everyday with your group if you have them for a few days, or when you get to a new place. I have also done Disco Hikes when a group returns to an area so we can explore and see if there are any changes or new things to discover.


Connections:
A couple of websites to check out this week:


This website, The Encyclopedia of Life, is the creation of E.O Wilson. Quite a cool place:
http://www.eol.org/


Want to learn some new knots, or forgotten a few? Animated Knots by Grog is the place to go!
http://www.animatedknots.com/

Have a wonderful week and if you have any comments, please feel free to leave them here. If you have any suggestions for future topics or other questions, please email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com

As a self promotion bit:

I will be at the National Challenge Course Practitioners Symposium-NCCPS

 February 24-27th, 2010 in Boulder CO. 

On the 24th, as a pre-conference offering, I am running a workshop on 

Ecological Debriefing Methods and Metaphors. 

Contact me for more information.