When facilitating workshops, it’s easy to gauge whether or not the participants are interested, engaged, and enjoying themselves. However, it can be challenging to figure out if your information is resonating with them.
Mind in the Making is a series of research-based workshops based on the seven essential life skills every child needs. As a certified facilitator, I facilitate these workshops on behalf of Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. This series of workshops has always been a 16-hour series, but recently SCGLR lent some flexibility to the parameters of the program.
A recent cohort attended a 12-hour series of the workshop. Not wanting to skip anything, my instinct was to move rapidly so I could share everything. Although it was a long day of work, the exhausted cohort thrived at this pace! They were interested, engaged, asked thought-provoking questions, and displayed their friendly, yet fierce competitive natures in a few skill related competitions.
On the final night, I chose to have a closing circle. I asked them to reflect on how they’ll take this information and use it with the children in their lives. They wrote it down, and then shared:
Message received!
Like many cohorts, they didn’t want it to end. They wanted more tools for building these skills. I think what they really wanted was this tight bond they’ve formed through sharing, laughing, and listening to each other to continue. Their mutual respect and love of learning will certainly help them accomplish that!