Boot Camp Week 2

Wednesday September 24, 2008

I realized this week during training that I am working with a lot of guys that are around Ellen’s age. I learned that they can actually stop going to school after year ten! I think most go through year 12 but at least one of the guys I am doing training with, from teen ranch, stopped after year 10 – huh. So he was out of school at the age of 16 which is how he is now 17 and working. A lot of times the guys seem or act older but then sometimes they do something and I’m just like wow. And then I remind myself that they are 17 or 18 and yeah. Not just the age factor, but being exposed to boys has been interesting as I come from an all-girl family – 1 sister and 6 girl cousins – I haven’t had too much exposure to boys over a prolonged period of time. Well, I guess maybe I have but at training I am the ONLY girl with five guys plus a male trainer most of the time. So I am certainly learning the ways of boys and it is quite interesting to see how they interact with each other and with me! It is interesting to see the difference amongst them – such a case study. I really do enjoy watching how people interact with one another and group dynamics.

Today our module was about facilitating a group. Michelle from Port Hacking came up to lead us for the day. We talked about the difference between being a leader and being a facilitator. A leader is giving information and is concerned with a group doing something the “right way.” So when we give our safety talk before the activity we are being a leader because they need to pt their harness on correctly or they could get injuries. But during say a team building activity or during a debrief after an activity we re being a facilitator because we want the kids to learn for themselves and figure things out for themselves as opposed to looking to us for the answers.
Today’s module was possibly the best, or at most enjoyable, or the one I have gotten the most out of so far. We read the theory but also applied it as we each had a turn to facilitate and ice breaker, trust, communication, or problem solving activity with the group.

Here are some other points from the day:
*A facilitator aims to have the least amount of impact required for the group to have a high level of achievement.

*strategies for briefing ( pre-activity) and debriefing (following the activity)
*What? – what happened?
*So what? – sum up lessons learned
*Now what? – how can we apply this to our lives

*”Educate don’t indoctrinate – meaning don’t give the participants a lecture of how their activity can be applied and how archery is a metaphor for their relationship with God but see what they got from the activity and the connections they made; can they come up with a metaphor of how archery relates to life?? . . .

*Lot’s of great ideas for debriefing and debriefing tools

*The importance of stopping to process and evaluate an experience whether it be as a group or individually

Yeah, so it was a good day; one of those days where you hardly put down your pen b/c you are getting so much valuable information that you want to write it all down.

So, sorry for another long one but as I always say: you are not forced to read this, and probably a lot of you don’t! But, perhaps writing is my way of stopping to reflect and process the events that have recently happened in my life! I encourage each of you to remember to stop, reflect, evaluate, and process events in your life more often! It is sooo easy to get caught up in our busy world and our busy lives; as my manual states, “Society as a whole does not teach children to value reflection. Education had found its way to maximize institutionalize curriculum and has left behind the idea that humans need time and space to process.” So that’s my challenge – take the necessary and valuable “time and space to process!” I think I’m gonna like working in outdoor education!! :) :) Teaching kids things you just can’t and don’t get in a classroom! :)