Group Dynamics
The group is divided into a few circles. They face inwards and stare at each other without saying a word. Then they close their eyes and the facilitator walks around each circle more than once. As the facilitator does this, the facilitator intones in a loud voice that she is walking around the circle and tapping someone on the shoulder (and that the talking is to cover any perception of tapping the shoulder). Then everyone opens their eyes. Still without talking, they try to see who was tapped: who is the designated leader. Of course, one person is "lying" with their look. They know they are the one who was chosen, and they are pretending to look for the designated leader.
After about two minutes, the facilitator asks everyone to raise their right arm straight up with a pointing finger extended to the sky. Then the facilitator explains that, on his signal, everyone is to bring down their finger pointing at the person they believe to be the leader. But they are to remain absolutely silent as they do this. The amazing thing, the facilitator explains, is how much agreement there always is within the groups.
After this is completed, and a leader has been chosen by each group, the facilitator explains that the second round will be much like the first -- the reason for doing it is the different sense the second round always has compared with the first. Everyone stays in their circles, shuts their eyes, and the facilitator walks around the circles giving a similar speech to the first round. Again, the participants stare at each other and attempt to determine a leader for about two minutes. Again, the facilitator asks them to raise their arms, and then bring them down to select a leader. Again, they remain silent through and after this.
When this is completed the facilitator brings everyone into a circle. The facilitator directs the attention of the group to the first round. People are instructed not to speak about who the leader "really" was -- but to talk about who they chose as the leader and why. It does not matter who the ftacilitator chose. For this exercise, it is explained, it only matters who the group chooses. Then the group talks about who they chose in the second round. After this, people get back into their circles. They are told that the person who was tapped the second time is going to raise her hand, very quickly, and then quickly put it back down. They are instructed that they want to be the first to see this person do it, so they should lean back a little and open their eyes as wide as possible. The facilitator says "Go!" and everyone raises their hands. Everyone laughs. Next the facilitator says that we are going to do the same thing for the first round. People get in to a circle and lean back. The facilitator says "Go!" and no one raises their hand. Conversation ensues.
Face Up: A Status Game
This game involves a pack of playing cards and a willing group of participants. Sort out all the aces, twos, fives, sixes, and face cards, and leave the rest out. Give each participant a card and tell him or her not to look at it. If the identity of the card is revealed, the whole game falls apart. Tell everyone to place the card on his or her forehead, face out, without looking at it. Then have people walk around the room and without discussing the cards on others' foreheads or revealing any identities, begin to treat others in regard to a number (the aces and twos), treat them like dirt, perhaps even avoiding any eye contact; if people wear a middle number (fives, sixes), treat them without much regard; if people wear a face card, treat them as royalty, as celebrities, the creme-de-la-creme. After exploring this, have everyone take down their card without looking at it and divide themselves into three groups of what they thought their card was according to how they were treated. Everyone can then look at their card and see if they were correct.
Story Circle
This exercise can be done using whatever topic you are addressing in your workshop. Choose a theme and then go around the circle asking each participant to tell a brief story from their life that has to do with that theme (this should be done impulsively, with little to no planning of what one is going to say). Stories can relate directly or indirectly to the subject at hand. Nobody discusses anything until the end. The emphasis is on listening. Try not to choose your story until you’ve heard others. Once finished, open up the floor for discussion about what was shared.
Makin' Eggs
This game should be played without using any props. The Cook begins to prepare some eggs. After the eggs have begun cooking, the Friend knocks and enters, asking to have some. The Friend eats the eggs, falls over, and is motionless. The Cook calls the Doctor and says something along the lines of "My Friend ate some eggs and fell over and isn't moving." The Doctor arrives and examines the motionless Friend, finally pronouncing the Friend dead.
Story Partners
Group breaks up into pairs. One partner is A and one is B. A’s tell a story to the B’s. B’s choose 3 key words from the story. B’s create a physical image for each word. B’s share the physical images with the whole group. Switch roles.
This will work best if the topic changes from one group to the next, which prevents the group that works second from anticipating what they will say and do. This works well if you use one theme that can be broken up into a duality, like safety/fear, silence/recognition, family/individuality, love/rejection, etc.
Musical Chairs Poetry
Make a circle of chairs with a piece of paper on each chair. Each piece of paper has the first line of a poem, either generated by the group at any earlier time, the facilitator, or pulled from actual published poems. Music plays, and the participants, pen in hand, dance around the circle. When the music stops, everyone promptly finds a chair, picks up the paper, reads the content, and adds to the poem. When the facilitator feels enough time has passed, the music plays again and the participants must immediately stop writing and continue to dance around the circle. After a few rounds, the facilitator may begin to remove chairs. The participants left standing when the music stops must then leave the circle and finish the poems on the removed chairs. The game continues until all chairs have been removed and each participant has written the final lines of a poem.
It is important that the participants attempt to follow the theme, content, and style that the previous writers of the poems set up. Each poem should flow as an individual piece such that the audience or reader would have no idea that more than one writer contributed to it. When the game is finished, the poems should be read aloud for everyone to hear.
