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Suggestions
for Large Groups
by
Mike Elfant
Public
Health Nutritionist
California Department of Health Services
From the 2005
Dialogue Education Institute last May, we know that you certainly
can apply most of the Principles and Practices of Dialogue Education
(P&Ps) to large groups. I have used DE P&Ps quite a
bit in conferences. Here are a few thoughts:
Things that work:
-
Respect, Immediacy,
Safety and Engagement still hold - how they are
manifested may vary.
-
LNRAs - this
has been soooo helpful and fun. Eg: This is not exactly about
"learning" but it's a good example none-the-less.
I once was asked to do a musical lampoon for a National Association
of Indian Tribal WIC agencies and boy did I have to learn.
Can you imagine - a Jewish guy from California asked to go
to Oklahoma and "make fun" of Native American WIC
life - in song? It only works if you find out as much as possible
about the group (such as their customs and generative issues)
and get input and participation from as many of the key people
as you can (and, yes, I did pull it off!).
-
1/2 the content
in 2x the time - Indeed. It's even worse if you are powerpointed
to death in a group of 100 than most "too much WHAT-for-the-WHEN"
scenarios. As Dwayne said in his article about PowerPoint:
"turn it off after 10 minutes and weave it into some
other activities."
-
Pair/Share
- yes, even in groups as large as 800 (which Jane has done).
Also, some conference rooms allow tables which work well for
group activities.
-
Open Questions
- you bet, good to use with Pair Share or groups.
-
Cognitive, Affective,
Psychomotor - The affective can be powerful in a large
group, if done well. Almost like a religious experience. Jane
had a group of 800 singing "We Shall Learn So Well"
to the tune of "We Shall Overcome". Also, stories
or jokes are great. Nothing like a huge group all laughing
or gasping together - it's sort of like being at the movies
or a live concert vs watching TV. A good story teller can
have an entire audience totally entranced without any visuals
(think campfires)! Psychomotor can be more difficult, though
getting up to stretch, doing something physical with a partner,
or even writing, are some ways to incorporate a bit of kinesthetic
learning.
-
Paraphrasing,
Affirmation, Weaving, Pausing - all doable in a big group.
Things that
don't work
It depends
on the WHERE and WHEN. Most of my experience has been in conference
rooms in sessions lasting 75 minutes - 120 minutes. If space
is limited, I might shy away from:
-
Some activities that
involve too much movement. (Although in a group of
about 80 I saw Joye Norris do a wonderful modified version
of the Macarena to Huey Lewis's "Power of Love")
-
Activities that involve
a complicated task - if the time is short
-
Praxis - if
time is short
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