Orientation - ice breaker - River of Life
I had orientation for my Masters program in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Nova Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale, FL) yesterday and I just wanted to share an exercise that we did that some of you might be interested in.
After the introduction of the faculty, we did this ice-breaker that was very cool. It was called "River of Life."
There were about 16 people participating. They gave us each a 11"x17" piece of blank paper and a few markers. The instructions were pretty brief: to draw your "river of life" using only pictures/no words. As a "DISC person" (I can't help but to recognize it all the time!!) I kindof knew what was going on....
After we finished our drawings we shared with our neighbor who then introduced us to the group using our picture of our "River of Life."
Afterwards, one of the faculty told us she had taken notes the whole time about the words we used to describe the drawings and the actual pictures.
You will not be surprised to hear that ALL the Family Therapy student's rivers were defined by relationships in their life (they drew little hearts for when they fell in love in, storm clouds when they had a rough break-up or divorce/dark rocks for when people passed away). The Conflict Analysis and Resolution student's rivers were very much based on successes and failures in their lives (drawings were very minimal and showed ups and downs, businesses opening/closing), and the Cross-disciplinary students (me!) river's were very focused on where we went to school and places we have lived/worked (drawings of school logos, buildings, etc).
So it was interesting and made everyone feel really good because they really chose a program that fits well with who they really are!
I just wish I would have known all of this during my undergraduate years!!!
:)
(I'm a high I/C)
After the introduction of the faculty, we did this ice-breaker that was very cool. It was called "River of Life."
There were about 16 people participating. They gave us each a 11"x17" piece of blank paper and a few markers. The instructions were pretty brief: to draw your "river of life" using only pictures/no words. As a "DISC person" (I can't help but to recognize it all the time!!) I kindof knew what was going on....
After we finished our drawings we shared with our neighbor who then introduced us to the group using our picture of our "River of Life."
Afterwards, one of the faculty told us she had taken notes the whole time about the words we used to describe the drawings and the actual pictures.
You will not be surprised to hear that ALL the Family Therapy student's rivers were defined by relationships in their life (they drew little hearts for when they fell in love in, storm clouds when they had a rough break-up or divorce/dark rocks for when people passed away). The Conflict Analysis and Resolution student's rivers were very much based on successes and failures in their lives (drawings were very minimal and showed ups and downs, businesses opening/closing), and the Cross-disciplinary students (me!) river's were very focused on where we went to school and places we have lived/worked (drawings of school logos, buildings, etc).
So it was interesting and made everyone feel really good because they really chose a program that fits well with who they really are!
I just wish I would have known all of this during my undergraduate years!!!
:)
(I'm a high I/C)
Comment
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Comment by Onae Fazio on February 11, 2009 at 11:18pm - I'm going to try it with a group in the new few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes!
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Comment by Mark Sellnow on February 11, 2009 at 9:03pm - Sounds like a good exercise...the exercise may be successful at pointing out some of the personality traits in each person. It would be something that would be interesting to use as an ice breaker to make people comfortable, then circle back to the pictures later after you have discovered the DISC styles with the group. Could be very interesting. Thanks.
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Comment by Kim Harrison on February 11, 2009 at 1:01pm - now that is really interesting - maybe PI could incorporate that exercise into basic/advanced training. thanks for sharing your experience
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