Trainers Network Mtg, 7.10.2020

Name Game
Pretend you’re an alien, and make a sound/symbol to imitate a “human” hello.

Why icebreakers?

    • Fun
    • Breakdown stiffness
    • Associate something else with a name/person
    • Set everyone on equal footing , inc facilitators
    • Laughter
    •  All elements of a good team – breaking down barriers
    • “A team that stays together, works together, and achieves together” 
    • Seeing people beyond the stereotypes
    • Essential to doing social change work in general
    • Good for situations where the participants aren’t willing participants… 
    • Transforming the energy in the room

Stack o Games

    • Silent interviews – pair up. tell your partner three things about your yourself without talking—miming. 
    • Human machine

People gesture in some kind of way. Each additional person will make a physical gesture that compliments the first gesture to build the machine.

    • Theatre of the oppressed activity 

Build a sculpture silently guiding another person’s body.

    • Word sculpture

Small group builds a human statue around their perceived definition of a nonword

    • Role plays

Set up a scenario. Have a group present.

    • Trust walk

Guide a blind folded partner…

    • “shape walk” – special awareness in space.  
    • free association mind meld – have 2-3 people 
    • blanket activity
    • toe tag- “tag” someone with their toe & they can’t use that foot. Tap the other toe and they’re out. 
    • rock paper scissors battle royal 
    • human knot

Practice games:

Silent Interviews
Set up: Have folks share three facts about themselves with a partner through silent miming.

    • The Debrief question was helpful… just for general getting to know everyone. 
    • Could be a little bit tedious for participants if there’s a large group… 
    • Have to be clear on what you should be facilitating – parameters of what we’re sharing
    • Maybe prep people on knowing that it’ll be shared with the big group? 
    • Stressed with time-keeping…. time boundaries are important
    • This would be a good tool for buddy system shares in a larger training session. 
    • Maybe could be used to check in with people? “how would you feel about this thing” “what was yesterday like for you” … great for diverse 
    • Physical game that doesn’t involve touching people—pretty rare, pretty valuable. 

Human Scupture
Set up: Knowing that we’re already experts of our own experience, this is another way to engage with that…. Secret meeting with two sculpt people.  Then they come to the center and sculpt two scenarios. Have them come up with their own story line behind.

    • Trust in the room
    • Good way to get to know each other on a deeper level. 
    • Would do among a group of survivors- small group, with an extreme comfort level- can involve a lot of sharing. 
    • The before & after are really important. How things are set up (both for the individuals and group expectations)
    • The debrief can be used to draw on the experience. Watching was a little bit confusing—would have liked more stage setting. Creating a lot of space to process
    • Could also have the sculptor mirror the position they’d like the “clay” to be in—this would be a good way to do this without touching. 
    • Is the one-sculpture approach “better” than having everyone paired off? 
    • Group exercise to approach different forms of oppression. Illustrating intergroup dynamics within a group. 
    • Can trigger difficult conversations and open up space to air out grievances. 
    • Dynamic spaces. 
    • Vulnerable and intimacy with others. 
    • Good as a facilitator to publicly ask for permission, but also are there parts of your body I shouldn’t touch, mobility limitations, etc. 
    • People carry a lot of their distress physically- this can be valuable self-learning. 

Trust Walk
Faciltiator leads a pathway for pairs of participants to traverse. One of the participants has their eyes closed, while the other is leading them through the pathway that the facilitator leads.

    • Physical more than mental 
    • Couldn’t trust… horrifying… very visual person
    • Felt very responsible—if you’re not used to being in a position of responsibility “can I trust myself to step into that responsibility?”
    • Stepping up to responsibility…. of taking care of one another, of taking care of each other, 
    • Want to know when it’s going to happen. 
    • Zahara made a really great analogy to GPS’s, sharing the road map, big picture, little picture. 
    • Different objectives- – open, active communication — could be really useful in a consent training. 
    • Leadership development- board of staff training…. in terms of building cohesiveness among each other. 
    • Close-knit group might take the group somewhere else. 
    • Good to use in an academic setting—theory, or vocabulary.
    • “In order to lead, can I follow someone? “
    • Concern- political prisoners- (and other people) who might be triggered by blindfolds