Designing Workshops
Always work with lots of flexibility, knowing how to change and adapt to what the girls want to do.
Find a good balance between fun activities, activities focused on social change and anti-oppression, and open discussion. This will increase confidence and help girls find solutions to their problems. It is so important to balance these three items (fun, social change and anti-oppression, and open discussion).
The girls are at school the whole day – when they arrive at the program, they want to move!
~ Geneviève Morand,
Magazine Authentik, a magazine by and for girls, Montreal
It was necessary to find a happy medium between programmed activities and open discussion.
The younger girls especially were often fighting for airtime and discussions could become endless, so we had to learn where to draw the line.
~ Rachel Levine-Katz, Dawson Community Centre, Verdun
The design is like a musical composition. The facilitator is like the conductor.
~ Jonathon Gould
Designing popular education activities is the important first step in leading or facilitating a workshop or program for girls. Design and facilitation are like two sides of a coin and must go together.
Design
With a good design you have thought about who is in the room, what their abilities are, the necessary equipment, and how much time you have. Good organization allows you to rely on your plan and to be focused during the workshop and connected to the girls in the program.
Facilitation
Good facilitation means communicating clearly, encouraging participation from everyone, resolving conflict, and watching for nonverbal signals from people. It also means being able to pose good questions, speed up or slow down the pace, and give more or less guidance according to how everyone in the room is doing.
