- To practice active listening with peers
- Understand the importance of community and collaboration to achieve the greater good
Instruct students to arrange themselves in a circle.
To form relationships during any type of adversity, a safe and supportive environment is needed, hence the circle we are in today. While individually we can all make an impact, coming together and working as a community can sometimes create a larger sense of healing.
The Rain Game is an example of a group creating something good together. To begin, we need to be silent and follow the following commands. Perform each step approximately 10 seconds.
- Rub your fingers together.
- Rub your hands together,
- Snap your fingers,
- Clap softly,
- Clap loudly,
- Pat your chest,
- Pat your legs,
- Stomp your feet,
- Stomp and clap at the same time, add “crashing” noises with your mouth.
- Then go backward (steps 9-1), taking the noises away one by one until we were back to rubbing fingers together.
The Rain Game showed us that together the group can create something positive and soothing even in a time of tragedy/trauma.
- Were you surprised at how loud the ‘rain storm” sound was as a group when individually rubbing your fingers together doesn’t make that much noise? What does that say about the power of a group?
- Do you see the importance of active listening after a traumatic event and how it can be helpful to healing? How can it help a large group?