Skill Level
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Learner Outcomes
- Explore feelings and values to create space in which group members feel comfortable engaging with each other.
- Communicate an understanding of how to engage with one another.
- Be able to recall agreements during relevant situations.
Life Skills
Communication, cooperation, social skills, conflict resolution, accepting differences, empathy, sharing, teamwork, character, managing feelings
Time
10-15 min
Materials
- Something on which to write and display agreement (Examples: Post-it wall pad paper, poster paper, large piece of wood, cardboard)
- Markers
- Sample Community Agreements handout (optional)
Space
A table or equivalent surface on which to write and a wall or equivalent on which to hang up agreements
Introduction
This activity will help set some expectations for how the group should interact with one another. Throughout this curriculum, youth will engage in many important, and sometimes uncomfortable, conversations. To do so in positive and meaningful ways, the facilitator and group must establish a space grounded in open-mindedness, trustworthiness, compassion, humility, and safety. Having a set of mutually agreed upon community agreements with respect to how to communicate and interact with one another in a trustworthy manner is one way to foster such an environment. Community agreements are ground rules or expectations of how the group wants each other to behave. Having youth contribute to the community agreements creates a space in which youth voice is encouraged.
The agreements included in the Sample Community Agreements handout are based on those that have worked best for the creators of this curriculum. Offer examples to start off the activity and then allow space for youth to come up with their own agreements. When developing agreements, it is important for them to be specific. For example, if a participant says “respect”, ask them to clarify “What does respect look like to you?”
To keep this alive, once completed, community agreements should be recalled and visited often, such as at the beginning of group meetings, and during times in which discomfort arises.
Vocabulary
Agreement: a rule or expectation of behavior for group members
Before the Activity
- Choose which agreements that are important to you as the facilitator and have them ready to go as examples for this activity.
Activity
Opening Questions
Choose questions suitable for the group, if appropriate pose the question to set the tone and do not seek an answer, instead letting participants know that these are the kinds of questions that community agreements seek to address.
- How do we create a safer space and inclusive environment? We use the term “safer space” instead of “safe space” to acknowledge that only a person can declare a space safe for themselves. In a safer space, we strive to create a space grounded in open-mindedness, trustworthiness, compassion, humility, and physical safety.
- What does inclusive mean to you?
- What should we expect from our interactions with one another?
Experience
- Name that trustworthy space doesn’t just happen – it is up to each of us to be “trust holders” of spaces that welcome everyone.
- Introduce the activity to the group. Share that these agreements are meant to guide the group through healthy dialogue and create a safer and brave space of positive learning, a place where everyone feels comfortable to engage in discussion and activity. The agreements should apply for as long as everyone is in this space. These agreements are a working list for the group, and agreements can be added or omitted whenever is needed. On the paper (or whatever surface on which the agreements will be kept), write a few example agreements from the Sample Community Agreements handout.
- Ask youth to come up with their own agreements. Help them to become more specific: if they say, e.g., “respect” – what does that look like, specifically?
•To stimulate ideas, ask them to imagine a time in which they worked in a group. What worked well? What did not work well? What do they expect of each other? What do they expect of the facilitators? What expectations were explicit? What was implied or assumed, if anything? - Ask the group if they have any questions about the agreements. Ask the group to add, edit, and/or omit agreements.
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Participants signing community agreements by placing initials on wood blocks. To accept the list of agreements, ask for a show of approval and commitment by one of the following:
•Physical action | 1-2-3 clap (clap once, pause, clap twice, pause, and then clap three times, all together).
•Verbal action | A yes from each member in the group.
•Signing the agreement. - Place the agreements in a place in which everyone can see them at every meeting.
- Revisit the list at the beginning of group meetings and when needed. Ask participants if they want to add anything or make changes as needed. It can be helpful, even if you don’t read through the entirety each time, to lift up one or two each meeting, so they become a part of the landscape of “how we are together.”
Reflection Questions (choose a few that work best for your group)
- What did it feel like for you to come up with community agreements?
- How do we build group and individual accountability?
- In what other situations of your life would community agreements be helpful?
- Think about a time when you have to work in groups or with other people; what is one word you would use to describe the experience? What might group attitudes and behaviors may have made it the experience it was?
Variations
- Print out copies of the Sample Community Agreements handout for each person. Give the youth a moment to read through the agreements or, alternatively, read the rules and their explanations aloud. Ask the group if they have any questions about the agreements. Ask the group to add, edit, and/or omit agreements. To accept the list of agreements, ask for a show of approval and commitment.
Acknowledgements
Originally written by: Christine Hadekel