What Can I Do Well?
Stage of the project
Prephase
Aims
- Participants of a new group get to know each other
- To make participants collaboratively find a common goal – brainstorming activity
Settings
- groups of six or more people
- time: 15 minutes self-reflection, 15-20 min together
- material: – stack of postcard sized paper (4 for each participant)
- one pen per person
- tape or magnets
- whiteboard & markers
Learning Outcome
- Participants collaboratively find a common subject for the project (core activity they want to work on together)
- Raise an interest in each other among the participants
Activities
Preparation
Step 1: Trainer writes on the board “What can I do well?” Give some examples to make the exercise clear.
Step 2: Trainer gives each participant 4 postcards and pen.
Implementation
Step 1: Each person writes down 4 things they are good at
Step 2: Each participant comes up one by one and tapes their postcards to the wall
Step 3: Together with the trainer, they try to make categories to see which topics go together
Step 4: Trainer leads discussion on what the group has in common, what do they collectively enjoy/what can be the activity of this project
Step 5: Choose a common subject and discuss what kind of activity can be linked to that
Comments
- Reflection should lead to a chosen subject – it needs to be something the participants can actively create (for example, if they say they’re good at cooking, they could make a cookbook)
- Trainers should encourage all kinds of ideas, not just simple actions
- Think big – what’s the purpose of finding a common subject
- How can the participants learn from each other?