Materials:
Group Roles - Cut into strips, enough sets of 5 for the whole class
Problem Debrief Notes fill-in sheet

Facilitation:

"We are about to take some time to debrief the activities we did last week all together."


(next slide)

"Now we're going to get in groups. Today, I am assigning the groups randomly, and just know we will do this in different group combinations, so you will get a chance to work with a lot of different people in the future. Please wait until I give you all instructions about groups before you move."

(make sure there are no more than 5 per group, as there are only five group role slips)

(count off by 5s, give pre-grouping lists, or whatever works for you in making groups reasonably and - somewhat - randomly)

"When I say 'go', you will have one minute to get into your group - make sure to all be sitting a chair and facing each other silently to show me you are ready. Any questions?"

(when no more questions)

"Go!"

(next slide when all demonstrating readiness)

"I am now handing one member of your group slips of paper (or cards). Keep those face-down until I give you further directions."

(hand out group role cards/slips)

"Now - without looking at the slips, hand them out and make sure each member of your group has a role. For groups of less than five, you can give some members more than one role. We will continuously change roles as we practice this debrief in the future, so again - don't try to trade roles or worry about who got what - over the course of our time together, you will get opportunities to fill every role."

(once everybody is ready, eyes up, with their role slips)

"Now flip over your role descriptions. Read what your role is, but make sure you pay attention right now as I go over the roles with everybody - because you will need to know what your group members are going to be responsible for."

(have students focus on board as you go over group roles; invite students to write notes in their notebooks about roles to help speed up the process in the future; if this is not the first time you have done this, make sure to go over each role again - but quickly)

(next slide)

"The first role is the case manager. They are responsible for:
1) Making sure everyone remembers details of the case.

What do you think the 'case' is in this situation?"

(students share thoughts; get to a connection to a "case" like doing detective work - because we are going through a process that is similar to how detectives solve a criminal 'case')

"In this situation, the 'case' is what happened - the activity we did (pipe relay). So the case manager has to remind people what happened during the relay."

"Next, the case manager is responsible for:
2) Making sure everyone is clear about the group objective.

The group objective is what you were trying to accomplish. In the case of the pipe relay, it was the rules of the activity that Coach gave you. We'll have time to talk about that later on."

"Finally, the Case Manager makes sure everyone takes into account real obstacles - meaning, that people are being realistic. Hiring somebody to drive in a truck to carry the pipe around isn't realistic, and doesn't help you solve the problem."

"Any questions?"

(*note - after going over all roles, we will talk about 'how to remind people respectfully', so don't go into that now if somebody asks - tell them "we're going to talk about how to talk to each other when carrying out your roles after we go over all of them")

** note 2 - the first time you run this, it will take a while - remind your students that each time you do this, it will get faster, and you can more quickly jump into the conversation when everybody understands how the roles work)

(continue)

"Next is the Facilitator. They are helping the group be productive and get a lot of ideas by:

1) Making sure everyone gets a fair turn to speak. If somebody isn't getting a chance, the Facilitator should remind everyone to let them have a turn at the end.

2) Make sure everyone gives reasons for their ideas. We want you all to share a lot of ideas, and use the most helpful ones to solve the problem - you can't do that if you don't know why people think their ideas are useful. Make sure to share your idea - and WHY it's a good one.

3) Finally, Facilitators make sure everyone gives different and new ideas. If you all just say the same thing over and over, you're not getting new ideas, and you're not going to have the best solution. Facilitators - keep people on track."

(next slide)

"The Communication Director is helping you all work well as a group. They do this by:

1) Making sure communication is respectful. We've talked about 'respect' and what that looks like (if you haven't, do so now), so they just hold us to those agreements about respect.

2) They make sure conversation is constructive. This means that people are building on each other's ideas and trying to get better. You don't need to say bad things about ideas you don't agree with - just offer another idea with strong evidence, instead. Communication Directors - remind people to stay constructive.

3) Make sure everyone is staying focused on the objectives. Again, the objective is what you're trying to accomplish - if you start talking about something random that you did the other day, you're going to waste time and not come up with any good ideas to help with the activity."

(next slide)

"The Summarize is also going to keep everyone focused on ideas. They are going to do this by:

2) Taking summary notes of the discussion. Here, 'summary' notes is the key. Don't write every single word, because then people will have to wait for you, and you'll share less ideas. So keep it brief and summarize (in the note sheet I give you), so that you don't lose track of what's going on or being said, but you all have enough time to come up with a lot of ideas.

3) The Summarizer makes sure everyone remembers what has been said. If your group forgets about an idea, or something somebody said - it's your job to remind them."

(next slide)

"Finally, we have the Spokesperson. This person is:

1) Responsible for sharing out final thoughts and decisions from the group. The Summarizer is going to be the Spokesperson's best friend, because you will probably want some good notes to look at when you present.

2) Make sure the most important ideas from your group are shared. Each group will have a very short amount of time to share out, so the Spokesperson can't just read out the notes word-for-word. Instead, they need to pay close attention to what other groups say, and make sure they share the biggest ideas from their own group (and that haven't already been said, if they have many ideas).

3) Finally, the most important part is that the Spokesperson helps make sure their group's ideas are taken seriously. This is important because the whole class will build off the best ideas, so if the Spokesperson acts like they don't know what is going on, or like they don't care, then nobody's going to care or pay attention to your group's ideas. So the Spokesperson needs to be professional and serious when they share out.

(depending on your group, you may want to facilitate a quick discussion about "What do you think the Spokesperson could do to make sure their group's ideas are taken seriously?" - remember to ask "what does that look like?' etc.)

(next slide)

"So we've gone over roles - and we're almost ready to dive in and talk with each other and come up with ideas. Before that, though, I want to make sure we know how to hold each other accountable to working well with the group when we're doing our debrief. So, how can you hold each other accountable? In other words, if the Facilitator needs to remind somebody to give reasons for their ideas, how can they do that without making anybody mad - but actually get it to happen? Take one minute to talk with your group about this."

(students talk - write the secondary (example) prompt on the board to help them, if necessary; after one minute or so, ask the group to share out examples)

"So what did you all come up? How can you all hold each other accountable during the debrief?"

(get many ideas, get concrete - "What does that look like?" - modeling how to talk to each other, etc.)

(once ready, move on)

"Okay - now we can dive in and talk with each other. I am going to time each section, and you won't have a ton of time, so make sure you are carrying out your roles, so you can come up with as many ideas as possible."

"First, we're going to come up with our objectives. What were we trying to accomplish during each activity? What were the rules? Summarizers - get ready. Go ahead and discuss in groups now."

(timing will vary depending on your class, but ~ 2 - 3 minutes is a good amount of time for an activity that was simple; if they are diving into something less obvious - like a 'case' scenario - then at least 5 minutes is necessary)

(at time, go to next slide)

"Okay, now that you have your objective, you need to figure out your obstacles to success. What things got in your way and made it more difficult to accomplish your objectives? Focus on ideas and things - not people - so if something somebody did slowed you down, do not name them, just talk about the actions that slowed you down. Okay - discuss your obstacles now."

(~3-4 minutes, maybe a little longer, depending on your class)

(after time, next slide)

"Okay - now comes the juicy part. How are you going to overcome those obstacles you came up with? What worked well during the activity? For obstacles you didn't overcome during the activity - what MIGHT work well? Remember - make sure you are giving reasons for your ideas - WHY might it work well? Okay - come up with how you'll overcome obstacles now."

(~ 5 minutes, more if there's good momentum; if students are getting stuck, always feel free to end a little early)

(at time, next slide)

"Now that you have some ways to overcome your obstacles, it's time to take all those ideas you shared and come up with your plan for next time you do this activity (or see this situation). What will you ACTUALLY do to overcome obstacles and do well? What is your plan for practicing it? List out all the things you will do that will make you better. Talk about this now."

(~3-5 minutes, depending)

(at time, next slide)

"You just came up with a plan to do a better job during a future Activity Day . . . but there are more lessons to be learned to help more than just that.

Now I want you to think about how the things you just mentioned can help all of us work together better in class. How can what you just came up with help us there? How can they help you as an individual? What are one or two things we could do to learn from this as a class - when we're all together here in the classroom working on academic content (and not just playing a game)?"

(3 - 5 minutes)

"Okay - now you're about to share your plans out to the other groups. Spokespeople - you need to be ready with the most important ideas and a professional attitude. Your group can now take ONE MINUTE to help your Spokesperson be ready to share your most important ideas out to the class. Go."

(after a minute)

"Now you should all be ready to share. Spokespeople, you are going to have (allotted time - don't give more than one minute) to share out for your group. Make sure you are standing up, speaking with College Voice, and focusing on your most important ideas, so you don't run out of time. We will start with Group 1."

(be consistent on time - set an obvious timer, so students know that - if you cut them out - it's because they ran out of time, and that it's fair for everybody; if any Spokespeople are NOT being serious in their share-out, feel free to ask them to stop sharing because they are not following the expectation; then, if there's still time after everyone has gone, they can try again)

(after all share, next slide)

"Thank you all for sharing. We just got a lot of good thoughts about the activities from last week, as well as how we can improve our class through what we learned. The key, though, is following through. What are some ways we can hold ourselves accountable to following through on these plans?"

(get student thoughts, and make sure to write them down, and make a follow-up plan on your end, so that we don't lose these thoughts)