Week Six

This week was our first week of group presentations in RTH 252. The first group that presented did Arts and Crafts. The first activity they had us do was to make a craft. We could either paint and decorate a pumpkin or decorate a center piece with less messy things, such as markers. During this activity we were able to try out different adaptive equipment that could be used for paining, coloring, or writing. The next activity that we did was created a monster in three steps; the head, the upper body, and the lower body. We were not able to see what had been drawn previous to our part of the body, which made us rely on our creativity. This was a fun, innovative activity that showed off some member’s hidden talents! Also, while each group waited for the other groups to finish drawing the monsters, we worked on creating a collage from anything we wanted such as cutouts from magazines, paint, markers, foam, beads, and feathers. While making the collage, we were also able to try out a pair of adaptive scissors. The last activity that we did was a “Blind Pictionary”. One person from the audience was chosen to go up to the whiteboard and was given a word to draw out. The catch was that the drawer had to have their eyes shut while drawing, as the rest of the group tried to guess what it was. After this activity was done, the presenters debriefed their activities and showed the class what the monsters and collages final products were. What I learned from these activities is that there are a lot of ways to use art and be creative. Everyone can be creative, you just have to put your mind to it and find what works for you. I also really liked that the adaptive equipment was available to us to try. It helped me get an idea of how I could help someone with a craft or project that struggles with fine motor control. I also think it is important to have experience with adaptive equipment so you know how to use it and what is all out there for your clients to use.  

For the second part of class, my group presented Dance and Drama. We decided it would be beneficial for each group member to present, facilitate, and debrief at least one activity throughout our presentation. The first activity presented was called “Guess What I Am”. In this activity, each person had either a type of animal or an emotion put onto their back that they were to try to figure out. They were to go around the room and introduce themselves to other class members and ask them what they were. The person that they asked could only act out their word, they couldn’t speak. The activity was done once everyone guessed their word. I loved watching everyone work together to figure out their words, especially the emotions because those were much more difficult to act out. I also liked how everyone came together and tried to help the last person figure out their word by using role playing.

The next activity that we did was called, “Mirror Moves”. In this activity the class formed a circle. The first person was to say their name and something they liked. Anyone in the circle that also likes what they said was to raise their hand. The person whose turn it was chose someone in the circle to switch places with. In order to switch places, the person chosen was to copy the moves or dance that the leader did as they moved across the circle to opposite places. The third activity that we did was called, “Line of Action”. In this activity the group is split into two groups; each group forms a line. Every member of each group is given some type of action that they would act out to the person in front of them. The pattern continues down the line until the last person’s action is guessed. The actions given in the first round of this game were daily living actions and the second round was leisure actions. The goal of this activity was to get all of your members through the line by guessing their actions correctly. After this activity we did a short debrief of the first three activities. We handed out candy and daily living items to members who contributed in the conversation.

The fourth activity that we did was called, “Actors Switch”. In this activity two people acted out a scene until someone in the audience said “freeze”. The person in the audience then was to tag one of the two actors, and that person left the scene. The audience member who just came up then began acting out a scene from the position that the other two froze in. If the audience members couldn’t think of a scene to act out, we had a few written up that they could choose from. This activity can go on for as long as you want or until you run out of ideas. The fifth activity that we did was called, “Who’s In Control”. For this activity the class formed a circle and one member was chosen to leave the group. The rest of the group closed their eyes as the facilitator went around and chose one person to be “it”. The person that was “it” was the person that was in control of leading the group in different motions or actions. Once members of the group realized the action had changed, they then would follow along with the new action. The person who had left the room is brought into the middle of the circle, and it is their job to figure out who is in control of changing the motion. Another version of this activity that we used was that the members in the circle were numbered off before the person in the hall came back in. The members in the circle were only to follow the motions of the person of the preceding number, even if they saw other people already doing the new motion. The activity was over one the person in the middle guessed who was in control.

Our final activity was called, “Bored”. In this activity a volunteer from the audience came up and chose one prop from the selection of many. The volunteer was to act out something using the prop until someone in the audience said, “bored”. The audience member then came up and used the prop to act out something. The prop could be switched once people ran out of ideas. This activity could also continue for as long as you want, or if you run out of ideas on how to use the props. After this activity, we sat down with the group and did our final debrief, as well as received feedback from the participants.

I had a great time this week and learned a lot from facilitating our presentation. I learned that you may have a specific plan in mind of how you want to facilitate and debrief an activity, but once you are in front of a group it can completely change. I learned that I begin to panic and lose my train of thought when I am in front of others, and that I am not completely comfortable with putting myself out there. This taught me that I still am very nervous speaking and being in front of people that I have been around for some time. I felt I was getting better at this, but obviously I still need to work on it. Working with the adaptive equipment was very beneficial for me because I have not had a lot of experience with using adaptive equipment so it was great to try things out and get a feel for what is available for us to use as TR professionals in the future. Both presentations gave a lot of great ideas for activities and ways that you can adapt them to work for specific populations that you would be working with. My way for “striving for excellence” this week was to be an active and supportive group member, to do well facilitating our activities, and to fully engage the class as much as possible so that they had a GREAT time!