Extracting
lessons from an activity requires more than the question "What
did you learn?" Prior to the discussion, your group may have
learned nothing. That's what the debriefing is for. There are
many techniques for facilitating discussion, but most of them
generally follow the same flow:
Reaction
& Reflection: Get the group's reaction to the experience.
How do they feel? What was it like for them? What did they notice,
experience, hear or feel? These questions get them thinking about
the experience and prepare them for the next step.
Explanation:
Why did the activity go as it did? What were people's reasons
for behaviors and choices? Spend time trying to derive some kind
of meaning from the shared experience.
Big Picture:
Move away from this specific activity and instead talk about the
broader issues the have come up during the discussion. Focus on
human behavior, group dynamics and values. What have we learned?
Application:
Now what? What can we do with what we've learned? What changes
can we make? This is time to create relevance and commit to improvement.
Group discussion
is dynamic and unpredictable, so you do not want to rigidly move
through these four phases. Invariably group members like to discuss
what went on during the activity. Allow them to process this,
then gently guide the discussion away from the activity and proceed
through the application phase.
To identify
useful activities, read the article: Using
Activities to Teach.
For more discussion
of debriefing techniques and specific ideas on great teaching
activities, check out Silver
Bullets, Quicksilver,
Adventure
in the Classroom, Diversity
in Action or Focus.