Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 4, Session 6: Celebration and Reflection | Page 82 of 90Instructional Sequence
I. Motivation ( 20 minutes)
Materials:
Pens, markers, or crayons
Handout 1: We Appreciate ...
A. We Appreciate You!
Participants highlight the contributions their peers have made to the training program.- Divide participants into groups of four or five and distribute a copy of Handout 1: We Appreciate ...
and pens, markers, or crayons to each person. Say:
“We’ve completed a long series of training sessions that have lasted several weeks. During that
time, you’ve learned a lot from me but you’ve also learned a lot from each other. When you were
working in groups and teams, you were learning things from your friends that I could not have
taught you.“I would like to give you a chance to think about how your friends and peers here have helped you
to learn and grow. Please begin by writing your own name in the box at the top of your appreciation
paper.”- Collect the handouts from one group and give them to another. Say:
“Please distribute the appreciation papers among the members of your group. Then think about the
person whose paper you have. What is something you appreciate about her or his contribution or
participation in our classes? It could be something s/he said that made you think. It could be
her/his sense of humor or ability to come up with new ideas. It could be a leadership quality or
communication skill. Think of something positive and genuine that you can say about that person
and write a short sentence or a few words of thanks. You can sign your name or leave it
anonymous.“When you have finished, trade papers with someone in your small group and write another
appreciation. Continue until you’ve had a chance to write something on each paper your group
has.”- Coach participants that their appreciations should be genuine. It’s OK if they cannot think of
something to say for every other person. However, as the facilitator, you should be sure to write an
appreciation for each person, thus making sure everyone receives some positive feedback. Watch
the progress of the groups to see when they are finished writing on all their papers then
redistribute the papers to a different group to repeat the process.
Note: This process can be repeated as many times as needed so everyone has a chance to sign all appreciation papers.
However, if you have more than four groups, this may be too time consuming. If each person receives eight to 12
comments, that will be sufficient. With a small number of participants (only two groups) you can return papers to their
original group so those members can write appreciations for each other.