Rec 200 Icebreaker Day

Presenter:  Steve Simpson

Section I  Planning

Goals of program

This first of the Thursday programs for Rec 200 is intended to create a level of comfort for students in the class.  Rec 200 may be somewhat different from other courses taken by sophomore/junior-level students in that the Thursday courses are action-oriented, “challenge-by-choice,” sessions.  Success of Thursday class meetings requires that students look forward to Thursday classes and are willing to participate fully.  This first meeting sets the stage for the entire semester.  Specific goals and objectives include:

·         The workshop will be an example of a Thursday program that students can model for their own presentations
 - Students will observe a program based upon the Joplin model
 - Students will learn that this Thursday workshop is only the first of a four-part sequence that includes focus (1^st  
   Thursday)→new games (2^nd Thursday) →initiatives (3^rd Thursday) →challenge (4^th & 5^th Thursday)  
 - Students will participate in example of very basic processing (sharing circle) 

·         The activities will create a non-threatening comfort level of students in Rec 200  
- Students will participate in at least 2 name games in order to start learning each others' names
- Students will participate in at least 2 games that have "non-threatening" physical contact (e.g., holding hands)
- Students will be introduced to the concept of "participation by choice" and know that they can sit out of any activity
- Students will learn at least one activity that they can put to use in their own  leadership

Audience

The intended audience is sophomore/junior-level college undergraduates.  Most are majors in recreation management or therapeutic recreation.  Assumptions include:

·         Most have some experience with traditional icebreaker activities

·         Up to 50% have led icebreaker activities within a recreation setting

·        Most are traditional students (age 18-22)

·        All have immediate reasons for enhancing their recreation leadership skills  

Program Strategy

Time Management
The program runs one hour twenty-five minutes, beginning exactly at 11am.  Five minutes is set aside for a mini-lecture on the purpose of Thursday programs.  There are more activities planned that can be accommodated, allowing for flexibility in time for each activity.  The action component will cease at 11:10am, allowing for 15 minutes of processing.

Setting
The small gym will be the site for Rec 202's first Thursday session.  The floor exercise mat is the perfect size for controlling the activities of the day.  If the room is unbearably hot, we can move outside.  As an example for classes that will meet in November, preference for Day 1 is in the gym. 

List of events (brief description listed below)

1.       Warm-up  (Turnstyle game with giant jump rope)

2.       Brief oral introduction

·         Explanation of day’s activities

·         Stated purpose of the day

3.      Action component, to include:

Physical touch

 a) prui, b) lap sit, c) spiral, d) human knots

            Name games

      a) brag circle, b) group juggle, c) waupum

            Action break

a)      Smaug’s jewels

Equipment List
retired climbing rope
blindfolds
beam for tp shuffle
juggle/waupum objects
inner tubes

Safety Considerations

While most of the activities are physically safe, they are active.  Facilitator will repeatedly make clear that students are not to run.  Quick walking is allowed, but no running.  Smaug’s jewels is especially active.  Further it is a competitive activity that follows several non-competitive activities, so the competitive nature of students sometimes comes into play.  Facilitator will warn students about accidentally bumping heads or hitting each other.

Some activities have physical contact.  This always brings out the potential for emotional discomfort.  While the facilitator will not discuss emotional risk prior to leading the activities, he will 1) mention “challenge by choice,” making it easy for students to excuse themselves from any activity and 2) be watchful for any students who seem uncomfortable with the day’s activities.

Processing
The purpose of the day’s processing is simply to get participants to think about processing.  Therefore, the day’s session is a simple share circle, where the leader asks a question and allows each person to speak.  Rule 1: only one person speaks at a time, and everyone gives that person their attention;  Rule 2: A person is not forced to speak and may simply say “pass” when it becomes his or her turn.    The question:  What is one thing that you can take away from today and apply it to your own leadership?

Brief Description of Activities

Turnstyle:  With retired climbing rope, recruit partner from class to turn giant jump rope.  Start out by having participants get through rope one at a time, then two at time, then four at a time, then 8 at a time.  This is practice.  The real challenge is to get entire group through rope without stopping rope – with the following stipulations; 1) there must always be someone jumping in the rope, 2) no single person may stay in the rope for more than three rotations.  Any mistake and the entire group must start over.

Oral introduction:  Explain purpose to develop comfort with each other and the course format.  All is “Challenge by choice;” i.e., any person may excuse self from activity without explanation, but should remain involved through observation.  Explain day is part of 4-part series of events.  Safety restrictions will be explained with each event.  Students’ job is to participate and garner lessons for own leadership.

Prui:   One person is prui; all others try to find prui.  Leader chooses prui.  Prui has eyes open, but cannot speak.  Others cannot see, but can speak.  So go around with eyes closed, shaking hands.  When encountering person, shake hands and say “prui.”  If other person is not prui, he or she also will say prui.  The prui, however, will not speak.  Once you find prui, open eyes and join hands to create a larger prui.  Continue until everyone has linked to prui.  (New Games Book)

Lap sit:  Have everyone for a circle shoulder to shoulder, then turn clockwise.  Place hands on waist of person in front of you.  One count of three, guide person to sit upon your knees.  On count of three, all stand up.  If group can handle it, have group sit, then walk as connected group.

Brag circle.  Create large circle that has one less spot than people participating.  The extra person stands in the middle of the circle.  That person begins by saying, “My name is _____.”  The group responds by saying back, “Hi, ____________.”  The person then says, “I like people who ____________ (e.g. like to bicycle, have a tattoo, are wearing blue jeans).  Everyone who feels like that statement applies to them must leave their spot and relocate in an empty spot.  The person in the middle also finds a spot.  This means one person, probably a new person, is left without a spot.  He or she becomes the person in the center, and the process is repeated.  Safety: no running, only fast walking.  (Karl Rohnke)

Group juggle:  Participants get into circles of about 12 people (can be an outer circle standing and an inner circle sitting).  A pattern within the circle is created whereas a soft object (e.g., tennis ball) is tossed from person-to-person in a specific order (i.e, one person always throws the object to the same person).  Once the pattern is established, the number of objects increases, and the several objects are following the pattern.

Smaug’s jewels:  This activity sometimes becomes competitive, so safety rules must be enforced.  First of all, the “jewels” must be soft.  A handkerchief works well.  Second, people must be aware that people might bump into each other, maybe even whack heads – So play carefully?   Break the game into groups of about eight people. One person in each group is Smaug, carefully guarding the jewels.  Smaug may hover around the jewels, but cannot touch them.  Everyone else tries to get the jewels from Smaug.  This is accomplished by grabbing the jewels and lifting them over his or her head.  Smaug, however, turns everything it touches to stone.  Therefore the goal is for someone to get the jewels before Smaug turns everyone to stone (New Games Book)

 Evaluation (this is the evaluation from Spring 2003, not our class)

General Comments
Overall the first Thursday lab of the semester went well.  I was prepared, and the transitions between activities were smooth.  Students all participated and seemed involved.  Weaknesses were the break and the processing session.

Specific Observations

1. The choice to jump into an activity exactly at 11am, then discuss the purpose of the day after the first activity, was a good choice.  Students immediately responded, yet were willing to listen attentively after the activity was done.  Several students stated that they got the most out of the giant jump rope activity.  The increasing difficulty of the jump rope challenges held the students' interest.  Instructions were clear, as no additional explanations were necessary.

2. As always, I constantly had to remind myself to make good eye contact with students as I speak.  After all of these years, I'd think I would be better at this, but it still requires a conscious effort. 

3. The most glaring mistake of the day was the 5-minute break.  Usually I do not take a break on Thursdays, but the room was hot and students were beginning to perspire.  A rest and a water break seemed appropriate.  However, the flow of the day was disrupted, and curious students started exploring the gymnasium.  A dozen students were drawn to the pit.  They were jumping into the pit without waiting for the previous jumper to exit.  This probably was the biggest risk factor of the day.  I did not do or say anything, but in retrospect should have made an on-the-spot ruling that no one could jump until the pit was empty.  I suppose I could have made the pit off limits, but this seemed a bit harsh.  At the beginning of class next Thursday, I should have an open invitation for people to jump into the pit, then close the space off for future classes.  

4. Next time I do the session, I may eliminate the hula hoop pass.  As an activity, it has too much down time.  Students are standing around, waiting for their turn to do something.  I did, on this occasion, cut the activity short and slid in a pairs tag game to finish off the activities.  Actually I left it up to the students to decide whether we continue with the hula hoop game, but had a strong sense that they were ready to move on to something new.  Recognizing that student interest had waned on the hula hoop pass, then switching to something else was a good spur-of-the-moment piece of leadership.

5. I have mixed feelings about using a sharing circle to introduce processing to the class.  The simplicity is good.  The activity is easy, so it shows students that processing need not be something that is difficult and intimidating.  Also I think that the instructions for a sharing circle should be given sometime in the semester.  Still with a group of 27, the answers of a sharing circle become repetitive, sometimes cliché, after the sixth or seventh person.  Maybe the solution is to introduce a sharing circle, but use a more sophisticated question.  The question of the day was "Which activity was most useful to you in developing your own leadership?  Explain why."

6.  The question of the day did not work well.  I had switched it from "activity most liked" to "activity most useful to one's leadership," but about half the students still said what they most liked.  For this reason, as well as for the reason stated in No. 5 above, the question needs to be changed. 

7. The primary purpose, that of making people comfortable with Thursdays, was accomplished.  All of the activities were perceived as non-threatening, and people generally had a good time.  It was a first step to introducing more sophisticated topics in Thursday classes.