Processing the Experience: Drum Away Your Stress Session (2/24/11)

I can't believe that I've facilitated three drum circles at BSU in the last two weeks!

Only 4 people attended the most recent "percussion-based experiential exercise" that was sponsored by the BSU campus wellness group, but even then it was energizing and fun; the drum song was a good one. Because of the low turnout, I decided to do things a bit differently, and only asked a couple of brief "How did that feel?" questions (the What Happened? funneling question). During an informal conversation with a couple of people at the end of the experience, one person told me how it reminded him of his background in dance, and how he would like to get back into dance; so I would say that the circle might have helped them recall that, learn something about himself (the so what?), and apply the learning to his life (the now what?).

I am beginning to learn that the debriefing methods (such as funneling) may be best used in specific circumstances with specific audiences. In the end, it really depends on the purpose of the drum circle you are facilitating. Judging the three most recent experiences, I would say that the more oriented toward fun and stress relief the circle is, the less useful are the debriefing questions. The BSU Women's Hockey team seemed to have a mixed view of the debriefing questions--some said that the experience was too short to really go that deep in questioning, but some said that the questions were useful to think about and discuss. On the other hand, if the exercise were part of a larger experience, perhaps over a few hours or a one-day workshop, I could see the funneling questions having more of an impact on the learning.

At this point in the project, I would say that I've learned a bit about the funneling technique, through applying it in real situations; however, I do want to try out a different debriefing method (such as "Rounds",where participants in a circle each answer a simple question with a word/phrase, number, or by playing on their drum ) in a future circle--perhaps at a conference presentation such as ALA REFORMA, or an Association for Experiential Education conference.

Processing the Experience: Traditional Skills Workshop - Drumming (2/17/11)

The Traditional Skills - Drumming workshop was a different group from the hockey team, high energy and great grooves Participants were mostly students (some who had real drum circle experience!), but also a community member, a faculty member, and a few kids; it was neat that people came out to participate on a Thursday night! It was also great to have the help of the Sustainability office staff to promote the session, and to have a staff member there to help out with setup (and to drum as well).

The students really wanted to play, and mid-stream I decided this one would be better served to do some great drumming together, talk a bit about the traditional aspect of drumming, and to teach some basic ethnic rhythms. So, I skipped the debriefing exercises, except by quickly checking in about how the drumming rounds felt.

As far as my continuing goal to improve my drum circle facilitation skills, these two experiences felt like stepping stones to a higher level of familiarity with my own personal style and approach to group drumming. Being prepared for both (by outlining the session) made me more comfortable during the experiences, and more flexible to change in mid-course, because I know my overall goals. Keeping these goals in mind--practicing debriefing exercises and deepening my facilitation skills--helped me integrate the learning and apply it to my life. Who knows, there may be opportunities for repeat sessions.

One area of improvement for next time: I wish that I had prepared more information about the roots of ethnic drumming (from West Africa, etc.), and also brought in more of the research I've done on drumming in American Indian culture. I decided to make this circle more about drumming than teaching or lecturing, but perhaps in the future I could structure it with a bit more interspersed information--though I did provide some information brief tidbits about traditional/indigenous drumming.

Overall, a really fun circle, and good learning experience!

Processing the Experience: BSU Women's Hockey Team (2/16/11)

This was such a great and energizing experience to have, of the three I'm doing this month. The athletes were very attentive and helpful (even helped pack and unpack the drums!), and we all had fun as we went through a drumming ice-breaker and a couple of basic rhythms together. A memory I'll take with me is the smiles on our faces, as we got into some fun grooves.

This experience also gave me a chance to try a structured debriefing of the drumming with a test group. The debriefing questions focused on applying the experience to team work, hockey, and life. It was nice to process the experience with a willing group in a very team-oriented setting. I also got some great feedback at the end (using a quick pencil survey). It gave me much to ponder over

The question on the survey about the utility of the debriefing questions were telling. A good number of participants thought they were only somewhat useful, and that they would rather be playing than talking! (perhaps a difference between aural/oral learners and kinesthetic learners?) Perhaps one-shot circles like this are more about having fun and de-stressing, rather than reflecting? Depending on the group, more or less structured debriefing activities may be appropriate. I will definitely document the survey responses for this project, because they were interesting and helpful.

I was definitely feeling good after this experience....thanks to the BSU Women's Hockey assistant coach for taking a chance on a different team-building activity, and thanks to the athletes for being such good sports!

BSU Women's Hockey Drum Circle

As I plan for Wednesday's experience with the BSU Women's Hockey team, I found that some of the ideas that I read about in The Essential Elements of Facilitation (by Simon Priest, Michael Gass, and Lee Gillis) were sticking with me. In particular, they focus a chapter on the funneling technique, which is variation on the questions of--What? So What, Now What? These questions can guide participants through the processing of an experiential learning activity.

Here is what I am planning to ask the hockey players after we've gone through a couple of rounds of the group drumming:

• What? (Review and Reflect on Experience)

⁃ How did that feel? Encourage to first play it on your drum, then tell us what it felt like.
⁃ How do you think you sounded together?
⁃ Did anything surprise you?

• So What? (Apply and Generalize the learning...what did you learn?)

⁃ What did you learn about yourself from this experience?
⁃ What did you learn about your teammates during this experience (if anything, invite comments)

• Now What? (Commit to action or change)

⁃ What, if anything, might you try to carry forward from this experience to your hockey playing, or your team, or the game on Friday?

I'm really getting excited to do 2 drum circles this week! The other one is the Traditional Skills Workshop, being sponsored by the BSU Sustainability Office. I'm hoping to get some good feedback about how the debriefing exercise and questions worked (or didn't work).

Luckner and Nadler

I found the Luckner and Nadler text Processing the Experience a good read because they ground their discussion of effective debriefing on the foundational theories of experiential learning. They argue that learning (and all effective learning, they would say, is experiential in nature) takes place in a cycle of Experiencing, Reflecting, Generalizing, and Applying, in a continuous feedback loop.

While reading some of the chapters of the text that seemed to be relevant to this project (much of the book was relevant, because debriefing and processing the experience are pretty much one in the same), I noted with interest the best-practices the authors suggest to guide processing (debriefing) activities after an experience. They suggest

• to structure regular periods within an experience for reflection/processing
• to vary the type or method of processing used, so that one does not get stuck in a rut
  
• to ask open-ended questions of participants (for deeper learning), and to start with simple to more complex questions
• to give specific and relevant feedback; avoid generalities

Little Drummer Boy

The month of February brings several opportunities to play the "little drummer boy". I'm excited about them because they will each be different, and will challenge me to design the group drumming experiences to enhance some learning objectives, using the debriefing activities that are the focus of my project this semester.

The first one coming up will be open to the public, and will focus more on the drumming as a traditional activity (part of the BSU campus Traditional Skills Workshops series), and so will have more of a general flavor. The second will be specifically for the BSU Women's Hockey team, and will focus on team-building and some stress relief (the last game of the season is the day after the session). The last will be a session for campus faculty and staff, and will be more for wellness and stress relief.

Also, I'm currently reading the experiential learning text book "Processing the Experience: Strategies to Enhance and Generalize Learning" by John Luckner and Reldan Nadler, on which I'll provide more details in a later post.