Activity: All In

Happy Thursday everyone!!

I trust that this week has started well for everyone. I have fallen a little behind in the posts department. I still owe everyone the debrief from last week and I have a partially written post on Effective Teaching Practices in light of the workshops that I've been facilitating at teacher conventions. I was just at the Central Alberta Teacher Convention last week and I'm heading out to do the Palliser District next week in Calgary. Admittedly I always feel nervous leading up to the workshops because my brain starts playing tricks with itself. I find myself saying..."Who do you think you are? Teaching teachers? This is their business not yours...they know more than you! You won't teach them anything. They will hate your workshops." Yikes! It looks worse and yet, more ridiculous when you see it written down. But ultimately those are just the discouraging things that our world feeds us and that maybe I've been told by people before in my life. When it comes to presenting and standing in front of dozens of people - I know that I have to show people is important and is engaging. So I press on. 
I'm going to post about my experiences with the workshops soon. Maybe even this weekend. It will be a little sparse around here as I will be heading off to Jamaica on the 24th for a bit of an adventure. So you'll have to hold down the fort while I'm gone. :)
But to keep you going today - I've got a really fun activity that works for all ages. Elementary all the way to adults. It feeds off our need to be the winners. Now, whether that is nature or nurture...that's a whole other can of beans. I would say that I'm naturally competitive - I like winning. But our world and specifically our North American culture raises us to be competitive. We are ranked all through our lives and compete for just about everything. Should it be a surprise when our kids grow up without the ability to look for the win/win in a situation? Well - before I climb up on that soapbox - let's look at the activity and then talk about it on another day.
Activity: All In
Type of Initiative: Problem-solving, Conflict Resolution
Group Size: 15 or more
Equipment: Lots of balls (20), tossables, tennis balls, stress balls, a hoop/raccoon circles for each team and a centre hoop/circle.
Objective: Each team is attempting to get all the balls into their hoop
Setting up the Field of Play:
  • Place each team in a corner of the room, equal distance from the centre hoop
  • In the centre hoop, place all of the balls
Playing the Game:
  • Participants are told that they are supposed to try and get all of the balls in their hoop. Do not give them more information than that – it's best to tactfully avoid answering strategy questions like the “how..., can we..., etc...)
  • All the teams about 5 minutes to play the game, then call time and give each team an opportunity to regroup and plan another strategy before continuing the game. Play the game for another 3-5 minutes depending on the activity level of the group.
  • Groups will soon realize that moving balls from one hoop to another is futile: the only way to win is for ALL teams to work together to win: by leaving the balls in the centre hoop and then stacking their hoops on top of the central hoop.
This game emphasizes cooperation over competition.
Have a great day and I'll be back soon to address the debrief.

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