ACTIVITIES

FOR

WORKSHOPS

BREAK OUT SESSIONS

BY: PAMELA BOUIE

According to Mark Lavergne, "If an audience only listens, they take away 12% of your content. By making it more visual, you can increase audience comprehension and remembrance to 26%. But when you actually get them involved and responding, their understanding and take away goes up to 51%."

The following is being provided to increase the amount of information participants take away from your workshops!

I.Ice Breakers-Help people get to know each other and buy into the purpose of the breakout session and/or workshop.

  • True or False

The presenter and the audience comes up with three things about themselves - two true and one false. The presenter starts by sharing his/her three statements. The audience guess which is false. The correct guesser goes next. This icebreaker enables the presenter and the attendees to get to know each other as well as introduces a key component of the workshop. The participant guessing which of the statements is false goes next and the ice breaker continues. This works well with small to medium-sized groups.

If you have a large group where most of the participants already know each other (ex. the presentations is to the staff at a school), you can introduce yourself by making three statements about yourself where two are true and one is false. Participants can stand if they think the first statement is false and then sit down. You continue by asking the participants to stand and sit if they believe the second and third statements are false. This helps the audience to connect with you from the very beginning.

  • Common Chains

-Select at least three personal and/or professional facts about yourself that you would not mind sharing with this group.

-When you hear something that you can relate to, come up to the front of the room and connect arms with the person making the statement. State what you have in common with that person and begin to share your facts until someone comes up and connects with you.

-This continues until we are all connected and form the “Common Chain.”

  • The Little Known Fact

Participants are asked to share their name, department or role in the organization, length of service and one little known fact about themselves. This "little known fact" becomes a humanizing element that can help break down differences such as grade/experience in future interactions.

  • Critical Questions

In small groups, ask everyone to identify two questions they hope to have answered during the presentation, in a large group select "volunteers" to ask the questions or identify objectives.

  • Categories

Have participants arrange themselves into groups by their favorite dessert, sport, color, movie, car, vacation spot, etc. This is a good activity to get people up and moving and to find out common likes. You can shift from one category to another.

  • Toilet Paper Game

Pass around a roll of toilet paper to the group and ask them to take what they need. No further explanation.

When done. Tell the group that as they go around the room, each person must tell a fact or something about themselves for each square of toilet paper they took.

  • Map Game

Hand a large laminated map of the world. Give everyone a pushpin. As they enter, they pin the location of their birth on the map. (Adhesive dots, markers, etc. can be used instead of pushpins)

Depending on the size of the group, you have individuals to stand as you recognize the various cities, states or regions with pushpins.

  • Three in Common Game

Break the participants in groups of 3's. Their objective is for each group to find 3 things they have in common. But not normal things like age, sex or hair color. It must be three uncommon things. After letting the groups converse for about 10 minutes, they as a group must tell the rest of the participants 3 things they have in common.

  • A to Z Freeze Game

Ask participants to recite the alphabet in unison until you say "Stop!" At that point, identify the letter they stopped on and ask everyone to share something they are looking forward to at school that begins with that letter. Ex. If the letter is "R" they may say respect from my students. Ask for volunteers to share.

Recite the alphabet again. Stop them on a different letter and ask them to share what they would like to get from the workshop today that begins with that letter.

II. General Activities- Uses Differentiated Instruction Techniques (ex. storytelling, games, role-playing, etc.)to engage the participants and reinforce learning throughout the breakout session and/or workshop.

  • Motivator

Select a saying that relates to your presentation. For example, Madeline Hunter's, "Kids don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!" Now write each work on a separate piece of paper. Wad each piece of paper into a ball. At the session, throw the balls into the crowd and have them tossed about for a few seconds. At an appropriate moment, ask the persons with a ball to hold it come forward. When everyone with a wadded ball comes to the front of the room, have them to open the paper and then organize themselves into a sentence. When they are done, they fact the group and hold the papers up so all can read.

Point: Sometimes it takes a bit of work to find a simple truth.

  • Visual Reference

Explain that you want everyone to listen carefully and follow directions. They cannot ask questions. Instructions will only be given once. Tell everyone to "place his or her right hand on his or her chin." However, provide them with a visual cue that is different. Instead of placing your hand on your chin, place the palm of your hand on your cheek. Some people will follow the visual cue.

Point: This illustrates the importance of effective communication and visual dominance. When teaching "Teach To's", although the teacher demonstrates the full range of behaviors (Model), the students only practices the positive behaviors with the teacher (Lead) and then is tested by demonstrating only positive behaviors (Test).

  • The Quiet Game

This is a good game to demonstrate "Self Control."

Participants pair back to back. On the count of three, everyone must face their partner, look each other in the eyes, and then try to remain solemn and serious. No speaking! The first to smile or laugh must sit down. All who remain standing then take a new partner and the activity continues until only one person has not smiled or laughed. (An alternate with a large group if to have two teams competing to outlast each other.) If you get a pair at the end who are both keeping a straight face, the rest of the group can ask hecklers to disrupt them.

  • Sunshine Game

This can help the participants to better understand the importance of "Unconditional Positive Regard".

Everyone writes their name in the center of a piece of paper and draws a sun around their name. The participants then passes the paper to the person on their right. That person will write something positive about the individual and they do not have to sign their name. Continue to pass names around until each name receives5-10 positive statements. When time is called, the paper is returned to the person with their name in the center.

  • Role Play "Refocus"

Use the two Examples of "Refocus" on page 31 and page 32 of Resource Manual (book with the light bulb on the front.) Have participants to pair up and role play a typical situation and how it would be handled with Time To Teach. In one example, participant #1 will play the role of the teacher and #2 will play the role of a student. For the next example, they will switch and the teacher will play the role of the student and the student will play the role of the teacher.

  • Classroom Arrangement

Have participants to divide themselves into groups of between 20-30 using the process known as "High Fives." Participants stand and raise their right hand to signal others that they are seeking partners. When the specified number of participants join together, they drop their hands and find a place to work together.

Participants will refer to pages 21-25 in the Resource Manual, study the various classroom arrangements, select one for their group and prepare to demonstrate it for all of the participants, share why the positive aspects of the particular arrangement they selected and give an example when that particular arrangement might not be appropriate.

III. Closing Activities-Provide closure to the breakout session and/or workshop, tie up loose ends, summarize highlights, challenge participants to apply what they have learned and suggest appropriatefollow-up.

  • Buddy Pairs

One helpful way to build in reflection and support is to pair people up into "buddies" at the beginning of the training. It is important to "randomize" buddy selection so that people don't end up with people they already know - one way is to create two (2) circles, one inside the other, of people holding hands, with equal numbers of people. Then you have each circle rotate a different way - when you stay top, people will be facing their buddy. You can have buddies check in to reflect and share what they are learning at different points throughout the training, and here are are some good prompts to open and close:

Opening:

  • Some wishes I have for this workshop are..."
  • Some fears or reservations I have for this workshop are..."
  • Some support I could use from you might be..."
  • You'll be glad I'm your buddy because..."

Closing:

  • Something I learned that I can't wait to try in class is..."
  • Some ways I noticed you shine in this workshop are..."
  • My hope for you is that.."
  • The Network Activity

Bring a ball of yarn. Have participants to get into a circle. One person starts with one end of the yarn and passes it to someone else in the circle after telling the group something they learned in the workshop. Afterwards, everyone takes a piece of the yarn and tie it onto their wrist as a bracelet as their commitment to implement the strategies presented in the workshop.

  • Affirmation Mingle

Have the participants to mingle in a group and instruct them to stop in front of someone and share with them one positive comment. Keep switching partners so each person gets feedback and support from different members of the group - and so that participants get practice giving positive feedback (contingent and non contingent interactions!)

  • Action Brainstorming

Presenter asks, "From what you learned, what behaviors will you STOP, MINIMIZE, KEEP DOING, do MORE of, and which will you START? You can have this on a worksheet and pass it out to the participants. It can be done independently or brainstorming can occur in groups of 3-5. The behaviors can be shared with the entire group using volunteers and/or non volunteers.

  • The Biggest Win

Large Group - Ask everyone to turn to the person next to them and ask them to share their "Biggest Win" from the workshop.

Smaller Group - Go around the room and ask each person to share their "Biggest Win!"

You can amend, adapt or expand this exercise by asking different or additional question such as:

-What are your goals following this workshop?

-What are your grateful or thankful for?

-Name the top 3 things you learned today.

-How do you feel differently as a result of this workshop?

-What action are you committed to take as a result of this workshop?

  • Note to Self

Give a note card to each participant. Ask them to write "Note to Self" on the top and add their name, email address, and date on the card.

Ask participants to highlight key points they learned from the workshop or things they would like to bring more of into their life from the training.

An adaption of this would be to ask the participants to put goals, learnings, dreams, questions, reminders, etc. from the day's workshop.

Give them your name and contact information and ask them to email you on 3, 6, 9, or 12 months to let you know where they are with their goal.