Post-Group Facilitation Reflection #1

Yesterday, I co-facilitated a group session with my classmate, Rachel. The group's title was "Active Listening: Learning to Listen Better."  Seven of my other classmates where the group members.  The session lasted just under 40 minutes.

A couple of weeks before the session, Rachel and I began to plan what we would like to do during this group session.  We decided together on group activities and discussion points, and with the approval of the teachers, we felt secure in our preparedness for the session.  I felt the group protocol was mutually agreed upon and that it was laid out clearly and orderly.

During the group session, we aimed to walk through Cole's seven steps, which are: introduction, activity, sharing, processing, generalizing, application, and summary. 

Introduction: I felt that our performance was excellent in explaining the purpose of the group, in communicating expectations of the group members, and in giving a brief outline of the session.  The warm-up went smoothly as well. 

Activities: I felt we had all of the appropriate materials ready for the activities and that directions were given clearly.  Both activities happened as planned.  The group members seemed to understand the meaning of the activities and were able to participate in meaningful conversations about the activities.

Sharing: Discussion about the first activity was challenging because the group members were not elaborating in their discussion.  Rachel and I had to ask many deeper questions to facilitate more discussion.  I felt we did well with being adaptable and thinking on the spot.  I think if we were to do this again, I would write out more questions or topics to discuss to help the group members in warming up to deeper discussion.  The discussion after the second activity went better than planned and the group members dove into a deeper discussion of the topic.  During each discussion, we allowed each of the group members to share thoughts as they were willing.  I thought we provided appropriate verbal and nonverbal feedback to each comment said.

Processing: Along with sharing, we had the group members share their feelings about how it felt when they were actively listened to, as it lined up with the activity.  They shared many experiences and feelings as it related to active listening.  Rachel and I tried to have the group reflect on each activity as it was performed so that the group members could reflect and process their feelings as related to the activity and to real-life experiences.

Generalizing: We had the group members share an experience where there was or was not active listening occurring.  There were similarities in responses and I felt that I tried to make some connections between these responses.  I know I could have done a better job pointing out the similar and dissimilar responses.  That is something I hope to improve on in my next group facilitation.

Application: I felt Rachel and I did a good job of getting the group members to make the application connection and emphasizing the significance of each activities.  We used the personal stories of the group members to make connections to our activities.  We had them practice the skills we learned so that they could better apply the skills in real life.

Summary: I felt we summarized the group succinctly by reviewing what was covered and bringing out important points of discussion and application.  We thanked the group members for their participation and ended the session on time.

I felt the group was not as motivated to participate in the beginning of the session but by the second activity that they warmed up and provided deeper discussion.  I thought Rachel and I did a good job of letting each person speak.  We tried to encourage any active listening discussion and tried to limit side stories that occurred.  When we thought a person's story was leaving the point of discussion, we would ask a question related to their story that was applicable to active listening.  I felt inappropriate behavior was kept to a minimum.  I felt we had control of the group while still allowing active discussion.  Overall, I thought this group session went really well.  I can imagine that with more difficult group members, we might have had a different outcome.

I felt like this was a beneficial group for the members involved.  I also felt that I grew as a group leader and that I learned more about active listening just from participating in the group.  I loved this experience and I am excited to participate and facilitate in more of these group sessions!