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“I do believe there are gender and ethnic stereotypes that propel people to assumptions about what they expected me to be,” these words from Sonia Sotomayor, our newest Supreme Court Justice, encapsulate the reasons for Chrysalis After-School. Girls need to overcome those assumptions and women need to challenge them!
So many articles have been written about how she has overcome her origins. But I wonder if those origins have actually helped her become the person she is.Certainly the injections required to survive juvenile diabetes taught her discipline. Her childhood in a Bronx home raised by her widowed Latina mother, taught her independence and gave her strength.
The Perry Mason television show inspired her to become a judge; she realized the judge was the most important person in the courtroom. That’s what she wanted to be. Patience and determination to survive law school, the prosecutor’s office and the federal approval process are certainly traits that any woman must learn to break the invisible barriers to achievement that still exist.
This planning technique is a group version of mind mapping; I use this system of visual note taking all the time to capture memories and ideas. Tony Buzan developed mind mapping in Britain a number of years ago; it’s used a lot more in Europe, but a good friend of mine used it in graduate school for everything from notetaking to planning for her thesis.
Word Webbing, described on page 20 in the “Planning and Reflection” book from HIGH/SCOPE, gives the whole group a chance to participate in a giant mind map. The group has a giant sheet of butcher paper and markers. Begin the web or map by putting the central idea or activity in the center as a picture or a word in a frame. As the group brainstorms ideas, write broad categories, and then more specific item in branches off the central idea. As you go, connect the ideas that are related. When done, you have a picture of their discussion and can see how items are connected.
Processing the experience is a core component of an effective service learning experience. You can process in a group or have group members create journals or portfolios. The questions here can be used for any of those methods; choose the ones that will help your group members internalize their service learning experience. This first group of questions will help reflect on what happened?
What does it mean?
Now what?
Adapted from An Asset Builder’s Guide to Service Learning, A Search Institute Publication, 2000, page 96
Concentric Circles works great both for processing and for getting your group to get to know each other. I’ve used it many times to create “teachable moments.” As a processing technique, it’s a good illustration that the facilitators don’t always have to be part of the processing discussion for it to be effective. When I heard this in a Matty Matthison workshop, a lightbulb lit up above my head; I’d never really thought about trusting processing to the group. But it works!
To form two concentric circles, have the group members from pairs. If there is an odd number, ask one of the other facilitators to partner with her. Ask one partner of each pair to form a circle, facing out. Then have the other partners come and stand across from them, forming a circle, facing inward.
Pose a question for pairs to answer to each other. Give them about 30 to 60 seconds for both to share, and have the outer circle move to the right after each question, giving each person a new partner. Three or four questions is about right. Check out this post for ideas for questions to process service learning experiences.
Last winter, my daughter, one of her friends and I wrote six-word memoirs to sum up our days. This exercise was based on the very popular book called “Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure.”
I found it a challenging and interesting way to review my day. We shared news about a sister’s engagement, acceptance at graduate school and other big and small events.
I’ve since used Six-Word Memoirs to help groups sum up their discussions as I was facilitating character education programs for the Institute for Character Development. I find that it helps people really focus on the central idea, and saves giving lengthy reports on discussions.
These free Teaching Guides are fun too. Check out Assignment Redux. I hope you’ll try some of the ideas from our colleagues at the University of Iowa. They include–
And here’s a place to post your own six-word memoir.
One of my favorite ways to process learning is to use my treasure box. I usually save it for groups with whom I’ve spent at least a day. I’ve found that middle school girls love this way of processing what they have gained from their time together. A bonus is that they get to keep something to remind them of what they learned or gained.
I’ve collected a boxful of small, free (mostly) or inexpensive items–buttons, shells, stones, old pins, pennies, Barbie shoes–in a small box that my daughter decorated. At the end of a program, I open the treasure box and spread the contents out on the floor or on a table. Then I ask each person to choose one and tell how it is related to what they learned or did and how it will help them remember something from the time we spent together. They get to keep the “treasures.”
Thousands of teen volunteers contribute more than 1.7 million hours of service each year in west central Florida through ManaTEENS! Two sisters, who were 12 and 17 years old then, started the organization in 1994. It’s grown into the largest locally based teen volunteer initiative in the United States!
Their president spoke at the Youth Service Institute I attended in October 2008. When I was in Florida, they had conference participants working on a resource directory of “Pet Friendly” facilities for people to use if they’re confronted by a hurricane or flood and have to abandon their pets. That project was part of their Animal Welfare and Homeland Security initiatives; their other initiatives are–
ManaTEENS is a great example of the power of young people to change the world! The president had these tips for making powerful contributions–
Here is another group process for committees or small groups to use once they’ve decided on an activity. They start with the final activity, event or outcome and work backwards to define the steps toward accomplishing it.
The group members have paper and markers, at least one sheet for each step of the process needed to accomplish the activity. They start with the last step on one sheet and work their way back to the beginning, rearranging as necessary. Once they have laid out all the steps and put a timeline with them, they will have a comprehensive, orderly plan for how to go forward.
Once your group has decided on an activity to do, this process helps the group move toward making it happen. It could be done with the whole group, but it might be more effective in a committee or small group. It will help the girls who are in charge of the event to figure out the steps for making the activity a reality. Post-It Planning gives you a method for understanding the actions that are necessary to make the activity happen.
Start by writing the activity the group has chosen to do on a flip chart. Now the whole group writes questions and things that need to happen on sticky notes, one question or item per note so that they can be arranged later. Put these questions and other notes randomly on the flip chart. Give the group time to read the notes and make sure they have covered everything. Finally, the group arranges the notes in a logical order and divides them up among the group so everyone shares the responsibility for facilitating the activity. Finally, have the group decide on deadlines for the stages of action. This would be a good activity to use a Tack-E-Wall.
This planning technique is described in “Planning and Reflection” by Tom Akiva from HIGH/SCOPE, page 19.
Brainstorming is an old technique for gathering ideas from a group, but if it’s done with attention to ALL the rules, including no judging, it’s really effective. If groups are not allowed to put down wacky ideas, it defeats the purpose.
These eight rules to “Brilliant Brainstorming” give a good explanation of the skill and mindset that is needed for success at this method for facilitating brainstorming. You need more than a flip chart and markers to do it well. I use timing, taking turns, a Tack-E-Wall, to manage the brainstorming, but that’s another post.
This Web site from Studio 1151 provides a clear description of brainstorming, and includes a process for narrowing ideas after the initial discussion.
