Today was a really fun day. We did a focus/group exercise that was disguised as a game. We all sat in a circle and then Jimmy grabbed two objects, a tube of paint and a dry eraser, and proceeded to name them What and Who, respectively. The way the game went was Jimmy would hand "What" to one person on either side of him and say "This is a What." Then that person, lets call her Jane, would say "A What?" and then Jimmy would reply "A What." Then Jane would say "Oh a What." and then take the "What" and hand it to the person next to her and say "This is a What." Then that person would say "A What?" and then Jane would turn back to Jimmy and also say "A What?" and then Jimmy would reply again "A What." and she would turn back to the other person and reply "A What." and then that person would say "Oh a What." and continue the cycle with the other person next to them. While this was going on Jimmy would have given the other object "A Who" to the other person next to him, lets call him John and then the same process would occur in the other half of the circle. Confused yet? It gets better. The game gets harder as the "What" and "Who" get passed around the circle and eventually they cross and then you have to concentrate because you'll be passing around one object and asking about the other. The game doesn't end until the "What" and "Who" are in the possession of the person who started the game.
This was definitely a lesson in concentration and focus, not to mention teamwork. We really needed to pay attention to the person on either side of us and speak clearly or else we would mess up and then have to start all over again. After a few tries we figured out who worked best beside who and who could handle the responsibility of crossing the "Who" and the "What". We learned eye contact was important and it was best if we spoke slowly. A real sneaky way to really get us concentrated so early in the morning, get us working, and still having fun. Jimmy rocks!
After the game, we slowed things down a little and went with a different type of focusing exercise. This time we closed our eyes and Jimmy read a passage which we had to envision in our minds. In the passage we ended up in a cave, in front of a door and then we had to open it and then draw what we saw. It was interesting to see a glimpse of everyones' imaginations. I think the exercise is a great way to open up the flow of creativity, you might be able to come up with things you wouldn't of thought about in a million years.
Cool...
I like how you used that quote from the Karate Kid movie!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we will be able to focus MORE if it was not in the morning? When Jimmy mentioned the order/arrangement of the classmates, I was like "Hmmm...that could be one of the factor too."