Debrief: Patterns
The New Year has come around and with it comes planning and resolutions and more things to fill your time with. The activity Patterns is a perfect activity to use when you're looking at skills like multi-tasking and communication when there are similar yet very independent tasks to accomplish. Patterns is great for a couple reasons. It's progressive - the group can create and become proficient at their own pace. They are also making all of the decisions during the activity which makes the task different from others in that as the facilitator - you do not possess the answer or the key to solving it.
This activity goes as fluidly as the group is focused. The Chucking pattern is always simple, especially if the group can create ways of helping each other remember the pattern. It normally only takes two to three rounds of practice before the group is performing it perfectly. The Calling pattern comes across as a little more complex. There's little reason for it to be but most of the groups I have led it with have taken almost twice as long to become proficient at Calling. It is likely because most people are not able to put the first pattern aside to commit the second to memory. Practicing the two patterns together can be frustrating for some but incredibly easy for others. You may find that between two and three people in your group will not find it possible and will be very vocal about it.
Introducing the third pattern often is met with pessimism. Having struggled with putting two patterns together often makes adding a third seem impossible. Consistent encouragement is a must throughout this entire activity.
It's important to understand and explain to your group that though doing all three tasks may seem impossible. It isn't. Each pattern uses a different part of your brain. Words, finite motor movements, and gross motor movements. But that doesn't mean that multi-tasking is easy. And this is usually where the debrief leads.
Can you think of a time in your everyday life when you're doing more than one thing? Thinking of more than one thing? Texting while walking and drinking tea? Listening to music while driving and talking on your cell phone (hands free, of course). What are your situations? I can consistently be found in my office having a conversation with someone as I type on the computer and am half conversing with someone else in my office. Or walking with someone and talking with them and texting at the same time.
Though it's true that each pattern uses a different part of your brain - when all three are put together...one of the patterns usually suffers more than the other. Or each person struggles with one part more than the others. When you find yourself doing too many things at one time...what usually suffers? Your driving? The task that you're working on? Your conversation? If you even remove one of the things that you're doing...how much easier is it to function?
This is usually a good conversation about how we prioritize our lives. What happens if we put priority on the tossible. We say that it CANNOT be dropped. When there are so many things going on in our lives and we KNOW what is important but we can't seem to control things around us...like the people we work with and the directions they are going - but our priorities get dropped because we are doing too many things at one time.
Hopefully this gets you started! It's a great activity for just about any age. I find it particularly good for high school students to adults. Simply because as we age - we are asked to get more done in less time and be available at all times which has created the multi-tasking monster. It's time we down-sized the amount of things we are doing at one time and do things better. Don't you think?
This activity goes as fluidly as the group is focused. The Chucking pattern is always simple, especially if the group can create ways of helping each other remember the pattern. It normally only takes two to three rounds of practice before the group is performing it perfectly. The Calling pattern comes across as a little more complex. There's little reason for it to be but most of the groups I have led it with have taken almost twice as long to become proficient at Calling. It is likely because most people are not able to put the first pattern aside to commit the second to memory. Practicing the two patterns together can be frustrating for some but incredibly easy for others. You may find that between two and three people in your group will not find it possible and will be very vocal about it.
Introducing the third pattern often is met with pessimism. Having struggled with putting two patterns together often makes adding a third seem impossible. Consistent encouragement is a must throughout this entire activity.
It's important to understand and explain to your group that though doing all three tasks may seem impossible. It isn't. Each pattern uses a different part of your brain. Words, finite motor movements, and gross motor movements. But that doesn't mean that multi-tasking is easy. And this is usually where the debrief leads.
Can you think of a time in your everyday life when you're doing more than one thing? Thinking of more than one thing? Texting while walking and drinking tea? Listening to music while driving and talking on your cell phone (hands free, of course). What are your situations? I can consistently be found in my office having a conversation with someone as I type on the computer and am half conversing with someone else in my office. Or walking with someone and talking with them and texting at the same time.
Though it's true that each pattern uses a different part of your brain - when all three are put together...one of the patterns usually suffers more than the other. Or each person struggles with one part more than the others. When you find yourself doing too many things at one time...what usually suffers? Your driving? The task that you're working on? Your conversation? If you even remove one of the things that you're doing...how much easier is it to function?
This is usually a good conversation about how we prioritize our lives. What happens if we put priority on the tossible. We say that it CANNOT be dropped. When there are so many things going on in our lives and we KNOW what is important but we can't seem to control things around us...like the people we work with and the directions they are going - but our priorities get dropped because we are doing too many things at one time.
Hopefully this gets you started! It's a great activity for just about any age. I find it particularly good for high school students to adults. Simply because as we age - we are asked to get more done in less time and be available at all times which has created the multi-tasking monster. It's time we down-sized the amount of things we are doing at one time and do things better. Don't you think?
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