APPENDIX Exercise Guidelines and Materials This appendix provides general guidelines for exercise participants about how to perform role-plays, observe, and give feedback. It also contains some exercise debriefing notes for the class to refer to after completing some of the chapter exercises. The Instructor’s Manual provides specific guidance and materials for the instructor when conducting and debriefing the chapter exercises. The Instructor’s Manual also contains additional exercises, reinforcement exercises, and supplementary lectures. There are two types of exercises: modeling exercises and group exercises. Modeling exercises are done in front of the class. They provide an opportunity to observe participants performing specific skill behaviors and to learn from that observation. Sometimes students are more comfortable playing the role in a triad instead of in front of the entire class. If students are hesitant to volunteer for a modeling roleplay in front of the class, triads can be used. After observers have debriefed the role-plays, a class discussion of the most common areas of strength and weakness can be conducted. Group exercises are done in small groups and provide opportunities for all members to practice and obtain feedback on their interpersonal skills. Groups may consist of dyads, triads, or more, depending on the particular exercise. Following are some general guidelines for participating and observing the exercises. More specific guidelines are often provided with individual exercises.
GUIDELINES FOR ACTORS Actors in a role-play read the background information on the exercise and their own role. They do not read the other actors’ roles—doing so will lessen the effectiveness of the exercise. The role description establishes your character. Follow the guidelines it establishes. Don’t change or omit the facts you’re given, but feel free to behave in ways that you feel would be relevant. Remember that role-playing is acting, so you need to project yourself into the character you are portraying and act out your thoughts and feelings as if you were in the real situation. Once you are familiar with the role, review the relevant skills on the Observer’s Rating Sheet and plan how you can demonstrate them in the role-play. These are the behaviors that you are seeking to model correctly. They are also the behaviors that observers are rating and will provide you feedback on at the end of the exercise. After an exercise has been completed, the actors will evaluate their performance of the relevant skills on the Observer’s Rating Sheet. Then the class observers will compare their ratings and discuss the participants’ performance, starting with the strong points and followed by areas that could be improved.
GUIDELINES FOR OBSERVERS If you’re an observer in an exercise, you should read everything pertaining to the role-play: the situation, all roles, and the Observer’s Rating Sheet. Your job is to note the role-players’ effective and ineffective application of the relevant skills and then offer feedback based on these observations in a constructive manner so that the role-players and class members can learn from the exercise. During the time the roleplayers plan and organize, observers should review the behavioral criteria and think about how to perform the exercise if they were in the actor’s role. During the role-play, observers evaluate the actor’s 371
