Facilitation Tips
Closing Reflections
Purpose: The purpose of post-service reflection is to gather together and listen closely for the CALL of your experience. Through reflection, we remember, celebrate, integrate, and honor what we have experienced. What are you pushed and pulled to do in your personal life and in the larger community?
Recommended Activities
Check-in: This is critical to get a pulse on how people are returning from their experience. How have you shared your story, or how will you share it? Are there parts that you have not shared with anyone? Has it been difficult to come back? What concerns do you have about keeping the experience alive?
Hands reflection: How are you holding your experience?: Close your eyes. Open your hands in front of you. Notice how they feel. Now clench your fists tightly. Pay attention to how it feels. Open your hands again, notice any difference. Clench them one more time. Open your eyes. What did you notice about how it felt to open or clench your fist? Continue reading
Encountering Culture Shock
“Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy. Or else we may find ourselves treading on people’s dreams. more serious still, we may forget that God was there before our arrival.” -Max Warren
Troubleshooting for Facilitators
Given the non-authoritative and flexible nature of facilitation, it is not unusual for situations to arise that can compromise the effectiveness of the reflection. Facilitators need to stay alert to these possibilities and be prepared to deal with them. Following are suggestions for handling such situations:
1.) One person dominates the discussion or continually interrupts it.
Make it clear that you want input from everyone: “Can I hear from someone that hasn’t spoken yet?” “I’ve noticed that no women have said anything about this issue. Would anyone like to say something about this?” Continue reading
Tips for Sharing Your Story
Sometimes it is difficult to share the experiences we have had with friends and family who may have never done anything similar. It is important to share what you witnessed with those closest to you. Here are some ideas on how to begin:
- Be genuine. Be true to your ideals and your experience.
- Reflect on where your listener is coming from. Ask yourself: “Has this person ever had an experience like I have before? What is my relationship with this person?”
- Ask yourself: Are my parents/friends/coworkers ready to hear what I have to say? Don’t judge!
- Be prepared that some people will need you to tell them the essence of your story in just a few minutes. Continue reading
Template for Guiding Reflection
- Theme:
- Vincentian Connection/Main Ideas:
- Prayer:
- Ice Breaker/Check-in
- Main Activity:
- Reflection Discussion Questions:
- Closing Activity:
Reflection Guidelines
By developing guidelines for reflection, groups can foster a safer space to all participants. Leaders can invite the group to develop their own guidelines/agreements before beginning, and by writing them down, the group can refer back to those guidelines if the conversation becomes challenging. Here are some sample guidelines to consider:
Tools to Build Community
Guardian angel: At the beginning of the shared experience, have participants draw names. Ask them to be a “guardian angel” by keeping an eye on that person and checking in with them.
Group journal: Throughout the experience, keep a group journal and invite everyone to write at least one entry for everyone to share. Upon return, make a copy for everyone.
Two minutes in the hot seat: Each person has 2 minutes in the ‘hot seat’ where everyone else can ask them any question – the sillier and more serious the better! It works best if questions are fired quickly right after each other. The person in the hot seat gets to choose the next person.
Van buddy: Each day, intentionally pair up with someone different to get to know them.
Story of your shoe: Tell a story of where your shoe has been today.
Six degrees of separation: Have a student talk about their experiences at the service site. When someone has had a similar experience, they “link on.” Continue linking until everyone in the group has joined the line. Discuss the commonalities and differences of people’s experiences.
Group Check-ins
P.I.E.S: Share how you are feeling Physically, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Spiritually/Socially.
Rose, Thorn, Bud: Reflect upon the day: What went well (the “rose”), what didn’t go well (the “thorn”), and what are you looking forward to (the “bud”)?
Highs/Lows: Name the highs and the lows from the day. (In Ignatian spirituality: Where did you feel consolation and where did you feel desolation?)
Save or Savor: What is something you will take with you to work on/reflect on later? What insight will you savor now?
The 3 W’s: Wow, Wonder, Whine
(From Creighton Universities Service Trip Coordinators Resources) Continue reading
Language for Reflection
- “Briefly share…”
- “If we could hear from 3 people…” – use to give people a sense of how much time they have.
- “Is there anything that sparked you?”
- “Was there something that surprised you?” Continue reading