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Roger Greenaway's Active Reviewing Tips ~ ISSN 1465-8046
is no longer published but you
can view more back
issues in the ARCHIVES For Roger's blog and other writings please see the Guide to Active Reviewing |
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Active Reviewing Tips 2.4 Therapy for All
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Active
Reviewing
Tips for Dynamic Experiential Learning http://reviewing.co.uk Active
Reviewing
Tips 2.4 Therapy for All
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ISSN
1465-8046
Welcome
to
new members and thanks to older ones who are quietly
telling friends about Active Reviewing Tips. Something is working - circulation is steadily growing and is now at 306. You
are
receiving this free monthly newsletter either because
you asked [thank you] or because someone has forwarded it to you [check the message header above]. ~
~ A C T I V E . R E V I E W I N G . T I P S
~ ~ FOR DYNAMIC EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ~ ~ the free monthly newsletter associated with the ~ ~ 'GUIDE TO ACTIVE REVIEWING' <www.reviewing.co.uk> ~ ~ Editor: Roger Greenaway < roger@reviewing.co.uk> ~ ~ Vol. 2.4 April 1999 ~ ~ THERAPY FOR ALL REVIEWING
=
PROCESSING = REFLECTION = DEBRIEFING
Different terms are preferred in different countries. Usage and meaning varies across different cultures. In this ezine it's called 'reviewing'. The main focus is on ACTIVE reviewing methods. This
issue
happens to mainly about reviewing with managers. But
CONTENTS
(TOP)
most of the reviewing tools and principles described apply to reviewing with just about anyone. Over several issues, 'Active Reviewing Tips' will reflect the balance you will find on the www.reviewing.co.uk website - active reviewing works well with people of all ages - young and not so young. ~~~~
THERAPY
FOR ALL ~~~~
What
do
music, art, play, exercise, adventure, drama, brief,
group, narrative, recreational, psycho- and solution-focused have in common? All are therapies brimming over with ideas for active reviewing! SAFETY
WARNING?
You should now expect to see a safety warning because some therapies involve a few years of training before you can responsibly use the methods involved. Of
course
you won't become an expert in hypnotherapy by reading
this tip sheet. That's because you won't find any ideas from the more intrusive and intensive therapies here! LET'S
BE
CONTROVERSIAL
Something that has always puzzled me is how participants in experiential learning are encouraged to take risks in activities but are expected to play safe during reviews. It's as if emotional turbulence is 'OK' during the experience but is 'off-limits' during review time. It's as if EXPERIENCING deep emotions during activities is OK and is seen as something a trainer is ''qualified'' and ''expected'' to generate. Encourage people to EXPRESS deep emotions during review time? This is often something that educators/trainers feel they are ''NOT qualified for'' - despite their deliberate use of emotionally intense activities to reach the parts that less dynamic approaches to learning don't touch. These
are
typically people who are worried about ''opening up a
can of worms'' (during a review) but who see it as their job/duty to shake things around (unopened cans of worms?) during the 'experience' phase of learning. Where
this
is the case, it would seem to make (ethical) sense,
EITHER to try to reduce the emotional intensity of the experience, OR to provide trainers with greater skills and confidence to facilitate reviews in which people are encouraged to express feelings. LET'S
ACCEPT
THE CHALLENGE
'Whole person development' includes emotional development and spiritual development - aspects of development that are difficult to capture in words alone. One
response
to this difficulty is to avoid it - or leave it to
the mysteries of the subsconscious to deal with. But this, I believe, is a cop out - because there are plenty of therapeutic methods available that help people to explore, express and integrate their emotional and spiritual selves. In special cases you may want to refer people to a therapist, but in most education and training settings, I am suggesting that you can simply borrow some of the more basic tools and ideas from some of the 'less intrusive' therapies. I
BET YOU ...
I bet that you are doing this already. Much therapy is talk-based or pure talk. I am sure that a therapist sitting in on your reviewing sessions would recognise many of your questions as being therapeutic. For example - have you ever asked ''How did you feel when...?'' or ''How do you feel now?'' I
did say ''basic'' therapy! But these apparently easy
questions
do not always get the expressive responses we hope for. This is when it is time to try asking the question through art, music, drama, play etc. By encouraging learners to communicate through different media you are being a real facilitator - you are (hopefully) making it EASIER for people to respond and express themselves. But
don't
choose a method that is even less appealing than talk!
Two
issues
ago I was encouraging you to stop asking questions
(just for an experiment to help you think more about how and why you use questions). So it might come as no surprise that I am now suggesting that you experiment with less talking - both by you and by learners. What replaces talk? How else can we communicate about experiences? SWITCH
OFF
THE CHAT CHANNEL?!
Verbal language is a wonderfully rich and flexible medium through which to communicate and through which to explore new territory. But it is not our only language. To discover and develop our other languages we need to switch off the chat channel from time to time. We will find that other languages (with practice) provide good or better alternatives for expressing, communicating about, and learning from the many different dimensions of experiences. ART
THERAPY?
Here is an example of an articulate manager who chose to review his course experience through finger-painting: ''I
just
dipped my hands in a load of paint and was splashing
about making things that were 3D, that were textural and that flowed. I made a conscious decision to cut my square piece of paper into an oval shape, because I wanted to give a feeling that things flowed - weren't angular. There was an overlap and one thing ran into another. I was mixing paints up and mixing mediums up and didn't put any straight lines in this thing at all which was symbolic to me about how I'd like to be really. I'd like things to flow around and for there to be peaks and troughs. I don't particularly want to work on an even plane, nor do I want to compartmentalise things in straight lines. I would like to think there's some purpose to everything I do that relates to something else. ''I
wasn't
conscious of anyone around me or anything. I just got
into the exercise and let my thoughts run free. I couldn't have done that unless I was pretty totally relaxed. I couldn't have done it unless I'd had a build up in terms of time and opportunity to think about me and how I operated and how I wanted to operate.'' ART
LINKS
The full finger-painting text is at www.reviewing.co.uk/stories.htm For art-based reviewing ideas see www.reviewing.co.uk/pictures/intro.htm DRAMA
THERAPY?
I was once working with a very impressive team of managers. They did so well at each challenge it was like watching a game of unopposed rugby (no sweat and everything goes to plan). I felt that they were not being challenged enough to get to their next level of performance. I happened to mention the word 'drama' and for the first time they looked worried. Maybe it's not the best way to sell drama, but I sensed it would challenge them in a new and useful way. And I think it did. Through drama they shared their ideas about teamwork. Through drama they explored future possibilities. Their initial discomfort paralleled the kind of discomfort that other groups experience in more physical challenges. But once they had discovered this new medium for expressing themselves and communicating ideas - it had opened up a new range of experiences and a new channel of communication. Not only could they ''talk the hind legs off a donkey'' they could now act the hind legs of a donkey! DRAMA
LINKS
For more about drama-based reviewing methods, type the word 'drama' into the search box on my home page www.reviewing.co.uk or take a look at the ACTIVE REVIEWING article at www.reviewing.co.uk/actrev.htm MANY
MORE
THERAPIES!
I will explore other therapy-based reviewing methods in future issues. There is just too much 'therapy' material for one issue! In development training I have come across ideas that are borrowed or adapted from practices used in: Recreational Therapy Play Therapy Art Therapy Narrative Therapy Brief Therapy Solution Focused Therapy Drama Therapy Exercise Therapy Music Therapy Psychotherapy Group Therapy Adventure Therapy Would
you
like to add to the above list or contribute ideas?
Please write to: roger@reviewing.co.uk =============================================
~~~~
READERS'
RESPONSES
THE
WEB
from
Josie
Crawley jcrawley@NZplunket.org.nz
''One of my favourite examples of reviewing is 'The web'. ''I
like
this as it is physically active, very visual, builds
from everybody's learning and experience. Students stand in a circle facing each other. The facilitator has a number of different coloured balls of wool. Each colour stands for a strand of an area you are reviewing. As the students throw the ball of wool to each other they add information about that strand, and the web grows. ''For
example
if I was reviewing communication skills, one ball
might be non-directive listening skills, another directive/influencing skills and a third ball environment. As the students review the skills they weave a net of communication, supportive enough to allow a client to trust themselves to it.'' [Thanks
Josie.
The use of colour adds interesting possibilities!]
QUESTIONING SKILLS from
Elinor
Spieler [extracts]
''I
was
intrigued about what I understood your position to be on
the use of questions ... ''I
am
quite a fierce believer in the need to promote REFLECTION
among participants. This means that I often create opportunities for silent reflection and writing before a period of open group "questioning" or discussion and dialogue. Of course, pair work (as well as small group work) is also a way to promote reflection extroverted, not introverted). ''I
don't
believe it is necessary for everyone to share all of
their own learnings and observations with the group, as long as they have acknowledged their learning to themselves, and perhaps shared it with one or more others. ''My
very
favorite questions are VERY open-ended. "What did you
learn from this?" "What happened?" "What did you observe?" "How did you experience that?" "Well - what's going on? What do you think?" etc. I find these to be very basic and fundamental to my style of facilitation. ''Just
wanted
to thank you for your newsletter! I have been
receiving it without acknowledging you for providing it - to the world - for free! ''I
appreciated
your description of "Revolver" and will certainly
make use of it in the near future.'' Elinor
Spieler
Dear Elinor, I was partly experimenting with a more provocative writing style. I was wanting to get people to think about whether they do ask too many questions (open or closed) as in my view this is often the case. I
use a lot of questions myself, and I recognise in myself and
in
others how easy it is to ask too many. I would like to think that I use questions when they are the best method for the situation, rather than because it's my default method or because I haven't considered other possibilities. I
think it's important to vary reviewing methods - partly for
the
same reasons that you would vary the 'active' part of a programme, and also to cater for the variety of learning style preferences that there will be in any group. To
answer
your concern/interest about whether you understood me
correctly - I think you have. My main purpose was to get people thinking about how they use questions. You clearly do this already. And I like what you describe. How about including questions that generate questions from learners? Roger
Dear Reader, If you would like to write in on any ''reviewing'' topic please send your message to roger@reviewing.co.uk (for private messages) or to roger@reviewing.co.uk (for publication). If there is any doubt, I will always contact you to ask your permission before publishing anything you write. Roger =============================================
~
~>> TRAINING WORKSHOP
~ ~ ~ Find out what the editor does for a living! TOOLS
FOR
REVIEWING IN OUTDOOR MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
Most of my training workshops are provided as part of a client's in-house staff development programme. Here is a rare open workshop that provides opportunities for individuals, freelance trainers, staff development officers etc. to experience a live workshop! - thanks to XCL: ''Ordinary People doing Extraordinary Things''. ''Tools for Reviewing in Outdoor Management Development'' Saturday 19th to Sunday 20th June 1999 Nantwich, Cheshire, England provided by Roger Greenaway, hosted by XCL Details: www.reviewing.co.uk/outdoor/omdxcl.htm or request a leaflet from: woodvined@cix.co.uk Full List of 20 workshops: www.reviewing.co.uk/_wkshops.htm [reviewing skills for working with young people and with adults] =============================================
~
~>> FAST, FOCUSED, FACTS, FRESH and FUN
Kevin
Eikenberry
of the Discian Group has recently announced a
new service called the Compass [was at] http://compass.discian.com which should be of interest to Active Reviewers. The training and development sites on the Compass have been reviewed by the Discian Group's editorial team using the "Five F's"--Fast, Focused, Facts, Fresh, and Fun. The Discian Group Compass is meant to help you navigate the Internet to find the best tools, resources and ideas in the areas of Training and Consulting. You can sign up for the ezine from the website. =============================================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE EXTRA BIT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The provider of this mailing service, has extended their limit on message size from 10k to 100k. Be assured that I have no plans to jam your mailbox with giant messages! But this extra space does allow me to include material from other writers that I think will be of value to you. 'Active
Reviewing
Tips' will continue to be mainly ORIGINAL and
PRACTICAL material. But THE EXTRA BIT carries no such guarantees! Tim
Pickles
(a former colleague) has kindly allowed me to include
this well researched article. I guess that most Active Reviewing Tips readers will also have an interest in ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Experiential Learning ... on the Web ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Tim Pickles ** Reproduced from LearningWire, a free digest to accompany TrainingZone http://www.trainingzone.co.uk ** Many
of
us engaged in professional learning have a broad
understanding of the work of David Kolb. His highly influential book entitled Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development was first published in 1984 since when his ideas have had a dramatic impact on the design and development of lifelong learning models. Of course, Kolb's work can be traced back to that famous dictum of Confucius around 450 BC: "Tell
me,
and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember.
Involve me, and I will understand." This
article
aims to help you explore the development of
experiential learning from its original proposal into some of its current refinements and applications today, using the World Wide Web (the Internet) as a vast reference library. Many of the web address (called hyperlinks) provided in the text look clumsy - but if you have a web browser installed, just click on the hyperlink and your browser should open the specific page. A
useful place to start this online exploration is David
Kolb's
own website. Here you need to be careful. There is another and different David Kolb, a professor of philosophy at Bates College, who is a prolific author. The man we seek is the professor of organisational behaviour at Weatherhead School of Management. David A Kolb describes himself as a "contemporary advocate of Experiential Learning". His own professional webpage is http://www.learningfromexperience.com [updated since original publication] where you can find information about his background, current work and most well know publications - including references to his most well-known subject - experiential learning and learning styles. The
concept
of experiential learning explores the cyclical
pattern of all learning from Experience through Reflection and Conceptualising to Action and on to further Experience. One of the sites which explores the model and its practical application can be found at www.aenc.org/ABOUT/Philosophy-Learning.html. This is a very well-known model which now forms the heart of many training and learning events. It also describes the process for recording continuous professional development, through taking time to capture, record and implement learning in our daily work. There are many adaptations and uses of the model. A fascinating one is provided on the Natural Learning website where analogy between this model of learning and organic growth in the plant and gardening worlds is well made: www.humanoptions/learning.html [URL may no longer work]. David
Kolb
has extended his original work to explore the
different ways in which we all learn. He defined four styles, based loosely around the four stages of his cycle: Activists, Reflectors, Theorists and Pragmatists. Perhaps the best exposition of these learning styles, together with a range of fascinating illustrations is to be found at the University of New South Wales, and I would strongly recommend this page: http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/Learning/instructionaldesign/styles.htm [may have changed URL since publication] m. The work on learning styles has been used and developed by many groups and institutions. A Polytechnic in Hong Kong adapted the work to provide a Learning to Learn guide for its students: www.ic.polyu.edu.hk/posh97/student/Learn/Learning_to_learn.htm. Meanwhile, staff members at Mason College have done a very creditable job of creating a directory of all the main learning style instruments including a summary of their main benefits and features: http://mason.gmu.edu/~bgiven/models1.html. In
Britain,
the most accessible resource is the best-selling
Manual of Learning Styles created by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford which includes a self-assessment instrument and advice on how to diversify your learning. The Manual is available online at http://www.peterhoney.co.uk. If you want to track down the original publications by David Kolb, or to find other books on experiential education, have a look through http://www.learnativity.com/training_FAQ/books.htm [URL may no longer work]. Kolb's
work
has influenced the work of many in the learning,
development and education fields. The National Society for Experiential Education is a membership association and networking resource promoting experience-based approaches to teaching and learning (http://www.nsee.org). Their site has an extensive library of further resources. The Association for Experiential Education aims to "contribute to making a more just and compassionate world by transforming education" (http://www.aee.org). The South African-based International Consortium for Experiential Education organises its networking activities within four 'villages', two of which are concerned with community action and social change, and with personal growth, self awareness and group effectiveness (http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/adult-ed/ice1.html [url may no longer work]. A
further development of these ideas has led to the notion of
groups and companies transforming themselves into Learning Organisations. An impressive and highly active network of people are busy exploring all aspects of this field through the email discussion groups to be found at http://www.learning-org.com. TrainingZone has itself, in collaboration with the European Consortium for the Learning Organisation, recently initiated an open conference about learning organisation matters at http://emily.sift.co.uk:8000/~9 [URL may no longer work] We
can
explore and develop our own learning in an experiential
way. The Internet offers a virtually limitless resource for extending our own knowledge as this article seeks to demonstrate. To explore some of these ideas further, look up any of the links from this article, and register for further updates with TrainingZone. **
Reproduced
from LearningWire, a free digest to accompany
TrainingZone http://www.trainingzone.co.uk ** |
Roger Greenaway's Active Reviewing Tips ~ ISSN 1465-8046
is no longer published but you
can view more back
issues in the ARCHIVES For Roger's blog and other writings please see the Guide to Active Reviewing |
|
HOME |
HELP |