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When leading a Good Soil seminar, what are some ways I can encourage 100% participation in discussions and activities?

Most of the time we like to use “Ground Rules” in our training sessions. What are they? Well, Ground Rules are somewhat silly, somewhat serious statements of expected behavior written in bright colors on sheets of flip chart paper, usually accompanied by drawings and placed; you guessed it, on the floor. Hence, the name, ground rules. These can be anything from “Sit wherever you like” to “Please be back on time from breaks” to “No laptops allowed.” Generally we have a ground rule that says something like, “100% Participation Required.” So as students come in to our sessions, they know from the start that participation is expected. Yet because the expectations are shared in such a low-key manner, very rarely do people take offense, and most often they rise to the challenge glad-heartedly.

There are times, especially in certain cultures, that people will not want to participate and possibly even find it offensive. (For example, women in certain cultures can feel it is wrong for them to speak out in certain settings.) We need to be sensitive in these situations and treat people and their convictions with respect and dignity. Still, we have seen people respond positively and even stretch themselves out of their comfort zone to participate.

One key in all this is the commitment we have to small group learning. All work is done in groups of four to seven people. No one, no matter how outgoing or shy, is asked to give their opinion on a given subject to a group any larger than that. Then, when a spokesperson reports for the group, he or she is reporting on the group’s work—no one individual is singled out to have said one thing or another. In so doing we build in layers of anonymity or safety. Even if a shy person is the scribe or reporter for a certain piece of work, he or she is only reporting on what the group said or did—not on any personal ideas or work of their own about which they may be timid. Simply reporting for the group makes it much easier to speak to the larger group.

When leading a Good Soil seminar, how do you ascertain understanding of all participants in group activities and discussions?

When you are leading a Good Soil seminar, there are at least three ways to determine if students are comprehending the material:

1. We have groups do learning activities and then report to the larger group what they learned so we have a built in barometer of understanding. Also, usually the kinds of things we have them do are activities that help them process ideas as they learn. This is a great way to see if people are ‘getting it’ because their final work (bullet points or paragraphs on a flip chart, a drawing, a skit, etc.) readily shows not just regurgitated information, but an understanding (or lack of it) of that information.
2. Actually even before they report, we can see how they are doing by observing groups as they work. We don’t want to get too close, or bother them, or appear to be ‘spying on’ them, but by observing from a distance we can generally see if a group is getting the concept being taught or not. If a group is having difficulty, we can approach that group and guide them toward understanding.
3. But you may say, “What about the quieter individuals or others who are in a group that reported but that may not have ‘gotten it’? Generally, small group learning is quite effective in those situations, because learners feel responsible to help the colleagues in their group. Co-learners will ‘teach’ each other. And research shows that students will remember more of what they say to each other than what they hear the teacher say.

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