MILLENNIUM MADNESS

Do you find that there is often far 'too much' to review in the time available?

Do your closure activities shut down learning, or do they provide a springboard for continuing learning and development in the future?

In the list below you might pick up some whacky ideas for your end of millennium party.

1. MILLENNIUM WALK
   Groups of 2 or 3 walk from one side of the stage (or room) to the other. This journey represents 1000 years. Each group has two minutes to complete the journey. They pause at 3, 4 or 5 points on their journey to illustrate a key moment in history. If three people are working together, one can be a narrator.
   Review Technique

2. 1000 YEARS OF COMMUNICATION
   As above, but as a piece of social history showing how people communicated at different points in the millennium.
   Review Technique

3. 1000 YEARS OF *NOT* LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE
   The group brainstorms experiences during the last 1000 years from which more should have been learned. Each item is put into a hat. A representative from each sub-group picks an item from the hat. The group have a few minutes to prepare for the re-enactment of the event. The audience may be involved in parts that do not require rehearsal.
   Review Technique

4. 1000 YEARS OF LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE
   Same as above but without the 'not'. You may want to focus on scientific inventions.
   Review Technique

5. 1000 YEARS OF DAILY CHORES
   Another angle on social history - how ordinary people lived. Yes - more small group re-enactments. (Creative thinking is in a bit of a groove here!)
   Review Technique

6. MY FAVOURITE CENTURY
   Individuals choose any century from the 10th to the 19th (but not the 20th) and say why that particular century appeals to them.
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7. CYNICS CORNER
   Make a list of events over the last 1000 years that have been hyped up way beyond their actual significance, starting with the end of this calendar year and working backwards ...
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8. FORGOTTEN TREASURES
   An antedote to 'cynics corner'. Highlight little known (or invented!) moments of history since 1000 AD that really should have received much more attention. These moments of history can come from people's own lifetimes.
   Review Technique

9. CHANGING HISTORY
   Think of one event, invention or person that could have turned out differently, or one event, invention or person born at a different time. Act out what did really happen (as far as you know). Act out the new and improved (?) version of events.
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10. NEXT MILLENNIUM
    Project any of the above review activities into the future - in the form of hopes, dreams, jokes or predictions.
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11. THE COMPLETE MILLENNIUM MUSICAL (abridged)
    Since creating this list, I've found there's a musical now touring the UK that I really must see. The Reduced Shakespeare Company is on tour until the end of the millennium with a musical that packs the highlights of the last 1000 years into 100 minutes. [If you want to go too, call the box office at 0171 434 1944 for information.]

    Follow this by reading John Naughton's current best-seller A Brief History of the Future and you'll be a real high speed time-traveller!
    Review Technique

12. ..... space for your idea .....

13. ..... space for your friend's idea ....

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If you have any wild, wonderful or well-used ideas to add to the list above (or to the high speed reviewing list), please send them to: roger@reviewing.co.uk or use the form below.

If you would first like some help to get your creative juices going, take a look at www.brainstorming.co.uk where you will find a comprehensive list of websites about creative thinking, rated for design and content, together with brief site reviews.