Rubber Chickens and Pool Noodles

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10 reasons why I like hanging out with other facilitators (especially Yagilu counselors):

1.They own rubber chickens and know what to do with them.

2. Brainstorming activity ideas for facilitating a challenging group can happen instantly.

3. No one looks at you weird when you walk down the hallway of a convention center carrying 27 pool noodles.

4. I always get the opportunity to be a learner again.

5. If you throw a beach ball up in the air, someone is bound to shout ‘MOON BALL!’ and 15 people will instantly try to set the new world record for the most number of hits without letting it touch the ground.

6. New ideas are freely shared.

7. Meaningful conversations can happen in a 10-minute time period.

8. It’s not weird when someone randomly walks up to you and hands you an obscure object and asks you how you would use it in a group.

9. I always get great feedback on workshops I’ve delivered hundreds of time. This helps me be a better facilitator.

10. Creativity is contagious!

Leading a debrief

The Most Important Part of Every Event, Part 2

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This is the second part of our post on leading a productive and successful debrief. You can find Part 1 here.

Debrief Stage 2: So What?

After warming up the group and jogging their memories with the What stage, you transition to the So What stage. Debrief participantsBasically, you’re asking, “What was significant about some part of the event that we just experienced together?” As the group leader, you should have chosen something you wanted to guide the discussion towards while you were facilitating the program. Have that ready, but also be open to what the group feels was the lesson learned from the event. When you’re ready to move into this stage, you can often refer back to the person in Stage 1 (What) who described the part you want to focus on. Ask him to provide some more details or what he thought was significant about that stage. Another idea is to ask a big-picture question about the idea you want to focus on. This stage takes a deeper level of thought. Participants are thinking abstractly about the problems they encountered, how they dealt with them, and if there were better or more effective ways to have responded.

For example, we often start our programs with a game called Speedball (we’ll be posting a full rundown of the game soon!). In order to succeed at Speedball, participants need to suggest different ways to adapt their approach and reach the goal faster each time. We use that to discuss the role that every single person can play in succeeding, even if their idea wasn’t the last one to be used. When debriefing, you can ask: Who suggested an idea that led to succeeding at Speedball? While people will often point to the last person to suggest an idea, you can push them to realize that every person who suggested something, whether it was an original idea, a critique of another suggestion, or an adaptation of an existing strategy, was needed for the group to succeed.

Positive Feedback

ListeningRemember to give positive feedback to those who contribute to the discussion. This is effectively done by restating their ideas to the group and getting their confirmation that you understood and appreciated what they had to say. You may not agree with a statement a participant makes, or feel it will detract from the point you’re trying to make. If you’re confident that the rest of the group agrees with you, ask a respected member of the group how he feels; most of the time, he’ll back you up. Just be careful; if they take the other side, it can detract from the power of your message. However, the beauty of these discussions is that people can express their own opinions and differ from you. If you are confident in your message, it will stand on its merits. Your message will be even stronger if you allow people to disagree with you.

Stage 3: Now What?

After processing the event itself, you are ready to move on to the third stage: Now What? Here, you take the lesson and ask the group how they would apply it to situations that might come up in the future. Ask them to describe a scenario where the idea they just discussed could come in handy. For the Speedball example described above, I’d ask for someone to describe a project where multiple voices could help find a creative solution. This type of open-ended question allows for some interesting answers, and drives home the lesson learned from the game you just played.

When you’re ready, you can wrap up the discussion by restating the idea you discussed. It is powerful for you to say, “What I’m hearing from you is..” This way, you’re not TELLING them YOUR ideas, trying to make them learn lessons from you – they don’t necessarily care about what you have to say! Instead, you’re listening to them and restating THEIR experiences and thoughts, which they care about much more. Going forwards, you can reference the game in other discussions and the group will understand that you’re talking about the lesson you just discussPeople walkinged during the debrief.

Now you know the secret of the debrief. Using this 3-part method, you’re going to help the groups you lead isolate lessons from the things you experience with them and figure out how to apply them to real life. Practice makes perfect, so give it a shot at your next event!

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Tani leading a debrief

The Most Important Part of Every Event, Part 1

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Do you run incredible programs, get rave reviews, and make sure everyone has an awesome time? Of course you do. But if you’re looking for your group games, activities, and events to have long-term impact, you NEED to debrief after the event. What is a debrief, why are they so important, and how can you run one in 3 easy steps?

Debriefing

A debrief usually takes the form of a group conversation, led by the group leader, after an event or experience. In camp, we debrief after groupGroup working together

initiatives, big accomplishments like First Fires, Shelter Night, and the Forest Feast, and our hikes, as well as smaller debriefs at the end of each day. Youth group leaders, such as NCSY advisors or City/Regional Directors, can use debriefs after a Shabbaton active learning program, ChaBo/ReBo events, or as a staff after a Regional Shabbaton. Teachers can debrief after experiential education programs or after completing big projects. Parents can debrief vacations, important family milestones, or unusual events. The goal of a debrief is to help process an experience in a way which sticks with the participants. By discussing what happened as a group and pointing out highlights at each stage outlined below, each participant has the opportunity to frame what happened in a positive way and recognize a takeaway for the future.

A debrief has 3 parts: What, So What, and Now What.

Stage 1: What?

In the What stage, the group leader encourages participants to share their perspective on the activity or event. You’re asking, very simply, what happened? You can engage multiple participants by starting from the beginning of the process and going step by step. For example, picture a game where the group tried one solution, failed and began to get frustrated, discovered another method, which led to the solution which ended up working successfully. At each point, you can ask for a new person to get involved in recalling what happened. At each stage, ask them to describe the situation – how they were feeling, what they were thinking, or how they felt the group was doing. This stage is most often skipped in group discussions, because it seems so unnecessary. “We just did this, why do we need to talk about what we just did?!” is a question you will probably hear often. By starting with the What stage, you:

  1. Remind everyone of the steps needed to get to the end goal, rather than only remembering the final solution
  2. Encourage people to contribute to the discussion with easy ‘softball’ questions
  3. Demonstrate that people who contribute receive positive reinforcement from you and the group

Once you start asking the more difficult, nuanced questions in the next two stages, people will be more willing to speak up. You’ve already set the tone of the group discussion as a place where people talk and get good feedback for contributing. Next up, Stage 2: So What?! 

Part 2 can be found here! If you want to make sure you don’t miss it, or generally like our posts and don’t want to miss any, subscribe to our email list-posts will be sent directly to your inbox!

HALB: Have A Lotta Balloons!

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After many years on the job, I can safely say: Balloons make everything better. I’m not talking about birthday parties – I’m talking about teacher development and training.

Teacher Training

One of the core principles of Camp Yagilu is that we make space for the campers to lead the way. We set up a framework for them to work within, and then step back and watch them step up and succeed. Rabbi Adam Englander, Head of School, and Rabbi Yehuda Fogel, Middle School Principal, brought me in to explore that idea with the middle school teachers. I set a goal of helping the teachers find ways to do something similar in a classroom setting.

Before lecturing, though, I wanted to see if we could make it happen ourselves, right there! Thus the balloons. Each group of teachers received straws and a balloon. Using the straws, they had to keep the balloon up in the air. As they quickly discovered, it’s just as fun as it sounds – but a lot more challenging! Slowly, leaders in each group emerged and they coordinated everyone’s efforts, finally resulting in success.

After that experience, everyone was excited to discuss what had prompted leaders to step forward to organize and unite their groups. We then discussed, how can we create similar opportunities to empower our students – every day of the year! Through their own experience, the teachers understood the goal, and its benefits.  We then discussed their many suggestions to implement this dynamic in their own classrooms.

Game Time

Then it was time for the students. I challenged the 6th graders with some of my best games. Long story short, we had an AWESOME time. Reverse Relay Race and Silent Geometry were two big hits. In each, students had to work with each other to come up with out-of-the-box solutions for each game. Each time, different students stepped up and lead their peers, encouraging their friends to share solutions. They then worked together to make those suggestions happen. The girls group devised an amazing system to exchange new ideas without even talking!

School is a place to learn things. In HALB that day, both the students and the teachers weren’t just learning ‘book knowledge,’ studying for their next test. They learned and practiced the skills they ALREADY need to work together and succeed in every area of life. In the end of the day, that’s what we at Yagilu – both the camp and our different workshops throughout the year for schools, families, and organizations – look to teach.

Fire + Meat + HaKotel + All-Night Tiyul = …

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A Night to Remember

“Are you sure you’re in the right place?” the taxi driver asked me. I was sure; I was expecting something off the beaten path, and my destination certainly fit the bill. With a dubious goodbye, he sped off, and I set off for the headlamps and bonfire in the distance. It was late Thursday night during Bein HaZmanim, and I was running a teambuilding activity for Yeshivat HaKotel. They were just finishing up an all-you-can-eat barbecue of hot dogs, hamburgers, wings, and sausages (fat spicy hot dogs), and spirits were high despite the late hour. After my slot, the students would be embarking on an all-night hike of the Burma Road, learning about it’s role in breaking the siege on Yerushalayim in 1948. They’d be finishing with a Neitz Minyan back in HaKotel.

Teambuilding with Yagilu

Yagilu runs teambuilding workshops all the time. We’ve worked with schools and shuls, huge organizations and individual families; each experience is fun and unique. A typical workshop will include a mix of group games and challenges that pit the group against a specific goal. While working together to accomplish that goal, participants have the opportunity, with our guidance, to practice a host of skills:

  • Communication
  • Creativity
  • Positive Attitude
  • Self-Control
  • Dedication and Perseverance
  • Leadership and ‘Followership’

I’ve watched students and campers transform over the course of a single game. Once, we were playing one of our opening get-to-know-you games that takes some out-of-the-box thinking to really succeed in. A quiet student hiding behind some other members of the class approached me during the game and suggested an idea to help the class succeed. I encouraged him to share it with his classmates, which was hard for him. He did it, and I immediately pointed out positive feedback from the class when they tried his idea and it worked. He responded with another idea, and another, and another – and finished off the game leading and directing his peers to an incredible success! I love being a part of experiences like that.

Game Time

My goal for the night was to facilitate relationships. These guys had just arrived in Yeshiva a month ago and gotten straight into a a full-day learning schedule. The month gets more and more intense, finally culminating in and awe-inspiring Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur opposite Har HaBayis. This program was an opportunity for the guys to relax and get to know their fellow students in a positive, fun setting. Our first game was Speedball, a classic everyone remembers from camp. However, I had never played it in the dark, with just one headlamp…how would the guys adapt? You can tell a lot about people based on the way they respond to setbacks, encourage their friends, and tackle hard challenges. I watched in amazement as the HaKotel students worked their way up, succeeding again and again. Each time another issue popped up, the group laughed it off, listened to suggestions as to how to solve it, and tried again. At the end, they even kept posing new goals for themselves, trying to get their fastest time lower and lower!

Do you see the Tower of Feetsa?

After such a great first game, I was excited for the next: The Leaning Tower of Feetsa. The instructions for the game are just a single line; the challenge of the game is just as mental as it is physical. Again, the group was more than up to the challenge, trying different strategies as they thought farther and farther ‘outside the box.’ I was able to watch as boys from London, New York, and Canada (and more!) worked together to succeed in the games we played.

Success!

We finished off the session with a couple of high-energy group games, some singing around the bonfire, and an epic camp story. While the guys were clamoring for more, I had to get back home, and they had to start on their night hike. I walked away so impressed with the positivity and engagement from the Hakotel students. While I’ve run these activities many times before, this group was special – they needed no coaxing or encouragement to rise to the challenge and try to succeed as a team. It was an awesome night of great food, lots of fun, and the beginnings of many strong relationships, and I’m happy I was able to be a part of it.