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"The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be
able to say, 'The children are now working as if I didn't exist'."
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| Wheel of a Deal Wednesday |
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The Spokesperson E-Newsletter
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A Note from the Big Wheel...
Facilitator Tip:
What - So What - Now What?
Processing helps learners make connections between their educational experiences and real life, as well as future learning. It helps them recognize their skills and strengths by naming them. By recognizing and naming the skills and strengths used in an experience, they become more cognizant of their inner resources that can be used in future life situations. The practice of reflection itself is one of the most useful human skills in that it develops insight, one of the hardest and most important tools to teach and learn. Experiential activities followed by processing help people develop insight skills. Processing helps create purpose, meaning, and focus of an activity and helps learners take advantage of teachable moments.
Experiential Learning Cycle
(based on the work of David Kolb and others)
As individuals participate in an experiential activity, they should ask themselves these questions: What? So What? Now What? The reflection process begins with a defining and sharing of the "What" of the participants's experience, and follows a continuous cycle towards "So What?" and "Now What?"
- What? Report the facts and events of an experience, objectively.
- So What? Analyze the experience.
- Now What? Consider the future impact of the experience on you and others.
One of the most basic models of our work, the Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb, et al), proposes that after an Experience comes Reflection, followed by Analysis of the experience, which leads to Application of the new information learned. The complete cycle is required for learning to take place. Unfortunately, some trainers and facilitators interrupt the model after the activity segment, and then are surprised when their participants fail to retain the information presented.
There are several processing tools on the market that help facilitators build this skill. The Debriefing Thumball is one I designed to help facilitators ask debriefing questions in a proper sequence. This sequence makes sense to participants and can also shift some of the responsibility for successful processing from the facilitator to the participants. The sequence of What - So What - Now What not only takes participants through a progression for processing a specific event, but also allows participants to own the process without the aid of the facilitator.
What are some of your favorite tools that promote the What - So What - Now What process?
Enjoy!
Michelle
Michelle Cummings
Owner/Trainer/Big Wheel
Training Wheels
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| Facilitated Growth Workshop Series |
Have you ever wanted to attend one of Michelle Cummings' workshops? Now you can!
Michelle will be conducting a one-day open enrollment workshop in 12 different cities in 2016. This workshop will be full of fun and learning, focusing on Icebreakers, Problem Solving activities, Facilitation Tips and Effective Debriefing.
Feb 21 - Anchorage
Also, if you have a facility and want to host a workshop, please send me an email! [email protected]
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| Wheel of a Deal: On Sale this Week... |
The Debriefing Thumball™ was designed to help facilitators ask debriefing questions in a proper sequence that makes sense to participants. It can also shift some of the responsibility for successful processing from the facilitator to the participants. The sequence of 1. What happened, 2. Why is this important, and 3. How can I use this information, not only takes participants through a progression for processing a specific event, but also presents an overall lesson on proper processing.
The Debriefing Thumball™ offers excitement and variety to straight question-and-answer sessions or traditional processing.
Orange Fact-Finding Questions: These questions will ask general questions about what happened in the group. It asks factual questions or questions that simply summarize the events of the experience. The questions intentionally are easy to answer and set the stage for the other two colors of questions.
Green 'Why-Is-This-Important?' Questions: The green questions ask Why questions and elicit feelings from the participants. They also help participants analyze the significance of the experience.
Blue Transference Questions: The blue colored questions tie the specific experience to future experiences and to everyday life--after learning from an experience, how can participants apply this knowledge?
Instructions: Answer 3-6 questions per color. Orange first. Green second. Blue third. Throw it. Catch it. Look under your thumb. Answer it.
Regular: $19.99 On Sale: $17.99
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The Debriefing Wheelies were designed to help facilitators ask debriefing questions in a proper sequence that makes sense to participants. It can also shift some of the responsibility for successful processing from the facilitator to the participants. The sequence of 1) What happened, 2)Why is this important, and 3) How can I use this information, not only takes participants through a progression for processing a specific event, but also presents a fun and unique way for participants to debrief themselves. The cards are color coded to help identify what order to answer the questions in. These colors also match our Debriefing Thumball sequence.
65 Cards in the set. Packaged in a plastic container. Instructions included.
Regular Price $24.99
On Sale: $19.99
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New! Open to Outcome, 2nd Edition
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 By Mari Ruddy & Micah Jacobson
"Open to Outcome, 2nd Edition is a remarkably concise volume, in which Micah and Mari have put together a near-perfect mix of theory, science, training, tips, and advice for new (and old) facilitators, leaders, and teachers/coaches." -Ben Oliver, Assistant Director, Colgate University Outdoor Education, Hamilton, NY
With the first edition of Open to Outcome, tens of thousands of educators and learners experienced and benefited from The 5 Questions model for facilitating reflective discussions. This second edition builds on the solid foundation of the first, offering ingeniously simple changes to the 4th and 5th questions, the addition of a new chapter on specific outcomes, and other updates to make this proven processing method even more powerful and effective. Twenty years of reflection and refining make this tool better than ever!
Open to Outcome 2 Edition presents the learning cycle model built around five questions designed to take experience in a group setting and connect and apply experiential learning to real life. The 5 Question Model easily applies to groups of varying ages and skill levels and can be used to encourage leadership and mentoring roles among peers.
Regular Price: $14.99
On Sale: $12.99
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Where In the World is Michelle?
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Upcoming Conferences and Workshops where Michelle is presenting:
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Want to participate in one of Michelle's workshops? Is she near you? Piggy back a training for your organization when she is traveling near you.
A full day of learning with Michelle Cummings. Atlanta, GA
Michelle will be presenting three workshops here.
A full day of learning with Michelle Cummings. Anchorage, AK
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If you are a subscriber to this newsletter, then you are familiar with the experiential, hands-on approach to training we use at Training Wheels. I often get requests to be 'certified' in delivering my workshops, so that other trainers can market and deliver a polished workshop to their clients. In the past there has not been this option. I generally customize each of my trainings to the unique needs of each client I work with, so I didn't feel that this was something I could offer through Training Wheels. Together with my business partner, Angela Sebaly, we have created a unique, comprehensive leadership program that provides core development for existing leaders so they can eliminate career limiting behaviors and increase team performance.
I want to invite you to check out this new program and see if it might be a fit for you and your organization. Whether you are a leader in an organization and would like us to deliver this workshop internally, or you are a training facility/trainer that would like to be certified to deliver a polished, proven workshop to your clients, I invite you to check out Personify Leadership.
Train the Trainer Certification
Interested in being certified to deliver the Personify Leadership program? Once you have been through the certification process, there is no limit to how many times you can deliver the training. Certification includes all program materials, facilitation guide, power point presentations and an experiential training kit. Moving forward, for each person you put through the program you purchase one Participant Kit that includes a participant guide, job aids, and a profile report.
Here are our 2016 dates:
- April 18-21, 2016 Chicago, IL
- May 26-27, June 16-17, 2016 Denver, CO (June dates via webinar)
- July 18-21, 2016 Houston, TX
- September 19-22, 2016 Denver, CO
- November 14-17, 2016 Ft Lauderdale, FL
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