Distractions

Last week we had our KNR 171 class meet in the library to learn about researching activities. I decided to attend this class so I could see how a leader other than Tracy facilitated. While watching the librarian teach the class, I noticed plenty of great ways to facilitate and really noticed something not to do when one facilitates. When facilitating, the leader needs to keep their participants from being distracted.

The librarian leading the class, decided to hand out samples of each book. This strategy would have worked well if she stopped teaching while the students looked at the books. I watched closely to the students, and noticed that they were more interested in the books that she handed out. Whether it was the students looking at the book, or looking for the next book that came their way, they were not listening at all.

While watching her facilitate, I had an "aha" moment and realized how much distractions can effect a facilitation. When we are leading, there will be a lot of set ups during an event. It is our job though to not let the participants get sucked in to the distractions that surround them. This may be hard to do, because you can't block out every distraction, but you can prevent a lot from happening.

Some ways that crossed my mind involved where the students are placed in the room, and good transitions. Having students facing the opposite way of the next activity can be an affective way to keep them engaged in the activity at hand. Also transitions are also very important, and a good transition will keep the participants engaged because they will have to be doing something while the set up is taking place.

Overall, distractions will always be around during events that we facilitate, but we need to do our best to prevent them. Handing out books to participants to look at while one is still teaching is just not a strong way to keep your participants involved. If one can prevent as many distractions from happening, their event or activity will be a great experience for everyone.