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One of those exceptional days away - a mixture of a treat to clear away from the office and a return when the only factor is 'my head is buzzin' - and it was nothing to do with the diet, the late night travel or the company!!
I went to Viney Hill, an outdoor pursuits centre belonging to the Diocese of Gloucester on the egde of the Forest of Dean overlooking the River Severn before it becomes an estuary.
The village had a community centre, a pub and about a couple of dozen houses. It is about 10 miles south west of Gloucester and just off the Lidney road.
The centre was built round an old vicarage with various outbuildings including a chapel in a pre-fab garage, a playing field with fixed equipment eg low ropes courses, climbing frames around the side, a campfire area and the beautiful woods off the back fence.
This would be a 2 day course on 'facilitation' run by Bill Krowell, the research trainer and expeditor from www.dare2.org and Mike Berners-Lee who has been around the Outward Bound business and Hollowford Centre, Sheffield and all to do with Outdoor Management Development stuff.
There were 13 of us, mainly from the South Coast but with a friendly face from my old neck of the woods, Graffham Water in Cambridgeshire, probably aged between 25 and 60 and we were a mixture of instructors, senior instrcutors and programme directors from centres. Most worked with young people from P6 up, a good number included Prince's Trust folk and one even ran parties and barmitzvahs (allegedly!). They would usually conduct sessions ranging from 2 hours to 5 weeks (see world-challenge.co.uk). As far as I could tell, I was the only one from Scotland, that dealt with young people but without a centre and (apart from Bill) had a Christian perspective to their work but that was fine as there was so much we had in common from our experiences and understanding.
The course was 90% experiential learning with the rest from a couple of mini-sessions on theories (which some of us appreciated). As the weather was very mixed, we only went outside a couple of times but made good use of the other buildings for small-group work. The main point of the curse was to help us to become better facilitators ie helping people to discover more about themselves, each other and the processes by which we could make it better. The wee notebooks we were given were soon filled with ideas (the toolbox stuff) and especially with our own reflections which we were able to work through in formal groups and informal conversations over meals, numerous cups of tea but strangely enough, not much in the evening relation activities! Sure, we played a few serious games (exercises) including the team ski walk, the straws building project, the red / blue points accumulator team games and the music and dance representation (well received by all outdoors instructors !!) and numerous 'pub games'. We examined and worked through such models of reviewing as Kolb, Decey and Ryan and Will Schutz and models of facilitation as John Heron and the well known Johari Window.
It all sounds dead posh - or possibly a little 'heavy'. It was certainly the latter but as we all contributed, it made sense, it was real and in keeping with the dare2 philosophy, our discoveries and contributions added to our individual development and learning. It was cool - and that's what got my head buzzin'.
Now I have not only a certificate of attendance, a couple of good booklets which incorporate alot of the material, my own notebook of quotes, eg from Mike, an ex soldier from Wales whow used to work with 'disadvantaged 'young people, who said "there's only a certain number of times you can beat your head against a brick wall, before you go brain dead!!" - but also a publication of Bill's which has boosted my self awarenss and status! I have read it, understood it and recognise that there's more to learn . It is published through the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning and is entitled 'Outdoor Management Develoment : a critical introduction for an intelligent practitioner.' Says it all - watch out campers !!
One of those exceptional days away - a mixture of a treat to clear away from the office and a return when the only factor is 'my head is buzzin' - and it was nothing to do with the diet, the late night travel or the company!!
I went to Viney Hill, an outdoor pursuits centre belonging to the Diocese of Gloucester on the egde of the Forest of Dean overlooking the River Severn before it becomes an estuary.
The village had a community centre, a pub and about a couple of dozen houses. It is about 10 miles south west of Gloucester and just off the Lidney road.
The centre was built round an old vicarage with various outbuildings including a chapel in a pre-fab garage, a playing field with fixed equipment eg low ropes courses, climbing frames around the side, a campfire area and the beautiful woods off the back fence.
This would be a 2 day course on 'facilitation' run by Bill Krowell, the research trainer and expeditor from www.dare2.org and Mike Berners-Lee who has been around the Outward Bound business and Hollowford Centre, Sheffield and all to do with Outdoor Management Development stuff.
There were 13 of us, mainly from the South Coast but with a friendly face from my old neck of the woods, Graffham Water in Cambridgeshire, probably aged between 25 and 60 and we were a mixture of instructors, senior instrcutors and programme directors from centres. Most worked with young people from P6 up, a good number included Prince's Trust folk and one even ran parties and barmitzvahs (allegedly!). They would usually conduct sessions ranging from 2 hours to 5 weeks (see world-challenge.co.uk). As far as I could tell, I was the only one from Scotland, that dealt with young people but without a centre and (apart from Bill) had a Christian perspective to their work but that was fine as there was so much we had in common from our experiences and understanding.
The course was 90% experiential learning with the rest from a couple of mini-sessions on theories (which some of us appreciated). As the weather was very mixed, we only went outside a couple of times but made good use of the other buildings for small-group work. The main point of the curse was to help us to become better facilitators ie helping people to discover more about themselves, each other and the processes by which we could make it better. The wee notebooks we were given were soon filled with ideas (the toolbox stuff) and especially with our own reflections which we were able to work through in formal groups and informal conversations over meals, numerous cups of tea but strangely enough, not much in the evening relation activities! Sure, we played a few serious games (exercises) including the team ski walk, the straws building project, the red / blue points accumulator team games and the music and dance representation (well received by all outdoors instructors !!) and numerous 'pub games'. We examined and worked through such models of reviewing as Kolb, Decey and Ryan and Will Schutz and models of facilitation as John Heron and the well known Johari Window.
It all sounds dead posh - or possibly a little 'heavy'. It was certainly the latter but as we all contributed, it made sense, it was real and in keeping with the dare2 philosophy, our discoveries and contributions added to our individual development and learning. It was cool - and that's what got my head buzzin'.
Now I have not only a certificate of attendance, a couple of good booklets which incorporate alot of the material, my own notebook of quotes, eg from Mike, an ex soldier from Wales whow used to work with 'disadvantaged 'young people, who said "there's only a certain number of times you can beat your head against a brick wall, before you go brain dead!!" - but also a publication of Bill's which has boosted my self awarenss and status! I have read it, understood it and recognise that there's more to learn . It is published through the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning and is entitled 'Outdoor Management Develoment : a critical introduction for an intelligent practitioner.' Says it all - watch out campers !!
posted by Reality at
5:42 pm
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