Reflection skills and methods
Collection of junk
Location indoor or outdoor
Duration 20 – 30 min
Suitability for groups from 8 -15 persons, aged +15 years
Material: everything you can find in the kitchen, in the common room or outside. The more different the things the better it is. The participants are sitting in a circle.
Implementation
The participants are sitting in a circle. In the centre there are situated very different things, maybe gloves or match boxes and anything else. When the leader of the reflection asks a question each participant chooses one subject. He combines his answer with the chosen subject.
Question: „Which experience did you make the last weekend?“
Answer: „ I chose the sport shoe because I was very active the whole weekend. I was like a sprinter. It was much fun.“
Sure instinct
Location indoor or outdoor
Duration 20 – 30 min
Suitability for groups from 8 -18 persons, aged +12 years
Material: one paper „sure instinct“ for every participant, a pencil, possibly a blotting pad.
Implementation
Everybody gets a sheet „Sure instincts“ and writes at the letter of he ABC the emotions he felt during the last activity/the last day. This action should take about 10 minutes. Students should write only their emotions at these letters they really can associate an emotion.
After filling up the sheet everybody marks the two most positve and the two mosts negative emotions. Maybe it had the effect of beating oft he heart, prickle in the stomach, adrenaline rush or similar effects.
Everybody presents and explains the four most remarkable emotions to the group.
Comment:
The leader of the reflection should emphasize that all emotions are okay.
In a lot of groups it is not common to talk about emotions. Then it can be helpful to show a sheet the leader filled up by himself and to give an example.
Positioning
Location indoor or outdoor
Duration 20 – 30 min
Suitability for groups from 8 -20 persons, aged +8 years
Material: five cards with numbers 1-5 on each (score card) for each participant
Implementation
Each participant gets five cards, each with one number between 1 and 5. The leader of he reflection asks a question and the participants rate it by raising a score card.
1 = very good, 5 = very bad
The participants have to form a line after their numbers, if not it may be too chaotic.
Weather map
Location best indoor
Duration 40 – 60 min
Suitability for groups from 10 -30 persons, aged +12 years
Material: sheets of paper, pencils, one poster with weather icons, possibly a blotting pad, a big poster with the „weather forecast“
Possible applications interim balance or final balance
Implementation
In the beginning the leader of he reflection presents an explains the different weather icons. If there are impulses of the participants to extend or vary the card it is possible to do so.
Then everybody is requested to match icons to the activities that have taken place on his own. All opinions of the whole group are collected for the „weatherforecast“ and written down on a poster. This weatherforecast is the base for the evaluation oft he last days.
Alternative:
Instead of a chronological weatherforecast you can give the task to point the most important experiences, best things and worse things by icons on a personal „weatherforecast“.
Sunny: good feeling, made a lot of good experiences
Fair to cloudy: alternating good and less good experiences
Rain: irritating, not many interresting experiences
Fog: still uncertain how it will emerge
Frost: cool, icy atmophere, don’t feel comfort
Thunderstorm: social tesions, conflicts, problems
Talking by writing
Location best indoor
Duration 30 min
Suitability for groups from 6 -30 persons, aged +12 years
Material: poster with the themes to be reflected, pencils
Implementation
The method „talking by writing“ means to communicate by writing. In the middle of a poster there is written the activity/the theme to be reflected. The participants write their opinions/thoughts/ideas without talking to others.
It is also possible that a story, a mind map or list of keywords will be the result.