By: Tim Duffey, Search Institute Senior Trainer
Search Institute’s Building Assets Reducing Risks* is a proven school reform process that focuses on restructuring the grade 9 experience for students. One component of the program is a weekly class on social competency, substance abuse prevention, student-to-student relationships, and teacher-to-student relationships called “I-Time.”
One of the activities offered in the I-Time curriculum is titled Rare Birds. The activity provides a unique opportunity for students to learn about one another (with the teacher leading the activity) in a way they are not likely to encounter elsewhere in the school setting.
Download the Rare Birds activity >
The instructor and students use the handout to provide information about at least 2-3 (and as many as all 7) of the prompts offered. The instructor then reads a few of the descriptors from randomly selected worksheets one at a time and allows everyone to guess who this “rare bird” might be. The entire group can then explore their new-found knowledge about that person with additional questions and discussion. A detailed description of how the activity is led in a classroom setting is included with the link provided above.
This is also a GREAT activity for adult and multigenerational gatherings. In a recent multi-day grant team meeting of ten professionals from across the country, I used the Rare Bird activity to help us get to know one another at a deeper level. I distributed the worksheet as we began our time together and asked everyone to return them to me at the first break. Then, during successive breaks or when we needed a change of pace to our day, I’d pull out one or two, read a few of the descriptors and ask for guesses about who it described. I was struck by two things: 1.) how much more we all had to learn about one another, even after having worked together for three years and 2.) how much energy the follow-up discussion generated among group members. The person represented on the form had an opportunity to describe—usually with enthusiasm—something about themselves that they were passionate about. And the rest of us? Well, we asked questions that helped us understand the context for the new information or explored the circumstances under which hidden skills and interests were found and nourished. It was a great team building activity.
I hope you find time and opportunity to use the Rare Birds activity in a group soon. You may just learn something new!
*Building Assets Reducing Risks is listed on the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices. For more information on BARR, click here.
