Games help drive engagement, achieve goals, and ultimately promote development within a group. As such, it is important for group facilitators to be equipped with game skills to ensure a lively, vibrant, and motivated atmosphere. This book includes four theoretical essays by experienced game facilitators regarding the concept, practice sharing, and application skills of group game facilitation, as well as a collection of 100 practical group games covering ice-breaking, mutual understanding, group cooperation, and problem solving. This list of games is built on the experiences and contributions of the author and social work students. -------------------------------------------------------- “A key strength of this book is that it has been developed by teachers in collaboration with students. This highly unusual aspect of the book both gives voice to students and demonstrates the commitment of the authors to collaborative learning.” – Steven M Shardlow, Professor Emeritus of Social Work, Keele University, United Kingdom Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of Social Work “...a solid, well-organized, and high-quality resource for social work colleagues, students, and instructors. It is a welcome addition to the professional literature on social work with groups and will likely enhance the advancement of group work practice in many parts of the world.” – Adolf Ka Tat Tsang Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work University of Toronto, Canada

Are you looking to up your game as a facilitator? Or are you considering starting a facilitation gig?"How to Facilitate Groups" is a great guide to help you make a move from simply putting people together for training, meetings, group discussions and workshops to creating a collaborative group in 7 easy steps. Facilitation may seem easy, but there are many things that happen in the background that some do not consider. Arm yourself with tools that will help you craft communication skills and become an amazing facilitator. Facilitators today have to be prepared to learn and grow at a rapid rate. They have to be ready to take on the curve balls that are more likely to happen than not.Building your skills as a facilitator is about more than just simply putting a group of people together and telling them to solve the problem. It is about showing them how their collaboration can improve their work environment, about how their communication and development can help them grow individually and achieve their personal and professional goals. This requires you as the facilitator to gain their engagement and attention. To prove that they can trust you, and to prove to themselves that they are capable of more than what they currently are doing. YOU WILL LEARN: - The foundations for facilitation.- Why flexibility is important.- How to know your audience.- Differences in learning styles.- Strategies for successful engagement of your audience.- How to maintain the energy of the group.- Ways to motivate learning and collaboration.- The importance of being neutral.- Skills to encourage interactions.- How to warp up your facilitation.- And much more.Regardless of where you are in your skills as a group facilitator, this can provide you with a guide for success. The ball is in your court. Let's see what you can do to make opportunities happen!

A collection of games and activities that generate discussion and impart skills and values, regardless of whether the facilitator includes the optional spiritual concepts. Each activity contains the necessary components to appropriately facilitate it, including objectives, needs, procedures, and processing questions.

Have you ever led a group or taught, facilitated a workshop or taught a class and needed the perfect, interactive ice breaker or thought provoking exercise? This manuel provides just that! As facilitators, speakers and professors, we found we were always looking for interactive exercises that allow students and participants to reflect, think and learn. As a result, this first collection of exercises from the Queens College Student Personnel Departments Peer and Leadership Program was created. The majority of these exercises have been created by students, for students. These activities can be used by many different types of organizations including, but not limited to educational institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, and religious institutions. The activities lend themselves to adjustments and revisions depending on the goals of the workshop, conference, retreat or in-service meetings. This manual is designed to offer ideas and suggestions to those who want to provide this kind of opportunity to their employees, students, administrators, management teams or others. Fun, interactive and thought provoking, these exercises are the perfect solution to creating a dynamic learning environment. Let The Games Begin!

Praise for Facilitating Group Learning "In this engaging and accessible book, George Lakey draws on a lifetime's experience to provide a highly practical resource to anyone seeking to understand and respond to the complexities of group work. The book will be invaluable to anyone trying to effect social change through groups while striving to stay simultaneously sane and employed." Stephen D. Brookfield, Distinguished University Professor, University of St. Thomas "I've been working with forms of direct education for many decades, and I found new ideas and inspirations in every chapter. For anyone involved in teaching, training, sharing skills, or leading groups, this book is an invaluable resource!" Starhawk, author, The Earth Path, Dreaming the Dark, and Webs of Power "George Lakey has inspired our union to engage in education in a way that challenges us to redefine social justice and equality in new and exciting ways. This book helps us to continue our journey to touch the souls of union members." Denis Lemelin, national president, Canadian Union of Postal Workers "Facilitating Group Learning will ease the way of all who venture into the white waters of facilitation. George clarifies the most basic, complex, and nagging challenges of facilitation, while honoring the realities of individual and social power dynamics and providing real-life examples from the path of continued growth and mastery. A rare gift!" Niyonu D. Spann, founding president, TRV Consulting and Beyond Diversity 101 "This book is a must-read for people who teach adults of any age, no matter what the subject, and care about doing it in ways that yield deep and abiding learning. Wonderfully well-written and rich with psychological and spiritual insights as well as practical strategies, it represents the fruits of a lifetime of transformational teaching and learning by one of the foremost adult educators of our time." Parker J. Palmer, author, The Courage to Teach, Let Your Life Speak, and The Heart of Higher Education

This book contains activities that act as catalyst for discussions. Some of the topics include expressing emotions, learning names, effects of rumors, gender issues, trust, honor, following directions, creative thinking, frustration, and communication.