Building Your Circle of Friends Distance Learning engages participants to talk and learn and practice skills in meeting people and nurturing friend relationships.
As in every DETS course, the twelve one-hour sessions in course is to engage participants in:
- building personal power
- learning about the rights movement for disability equality and how it applies to them
- acting together to contribute to the community
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Session 0
Participant Orientation
An engaging and fun orientation session to precede the coming 12 sessions. Also a chance to set up technology and communication protocols.
Objectives
–Review the material in the Participant Kits.
–Build anticipation and enthusiasm for the coming 12 sessions.
–Get everyone’s commitment to attend and participate in each session.
–Learn how the group works together and make adjustments so that everyone is comfortable with the distance learning format.
Materials provided
–Participant Kit for each participant (pdf)
–Trainer Guide (pdf)
–Attendance Form
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–Distance Learning Tips
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Session 1
Smile – Greet – Repeat and Jumbled Sentences
Participants practice smiling, greeting, making eye contact while they encounter new people each day. Breakout teams rearrange sets of scrambled words to make sentences about friendship, choose a favorite, then discuss.
Objectives
–Experience using skills needed for first meeting people.
–Notice the difference between engaging others when greeting them, and not doing so.
–Participants have the chance to think a little more deeply about aspects of friendship, and what it takes to be successful at making friends.
–Participants work together to solve a puzzle.
Materials provided
— Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–Checklist for Greeting People
–Our Friendship Poem
–Friendship Poem Starters
–Jumbled Sentences
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Session 2
Conversation Starters and Write a Friendship Poem
Participants follow prompts to practice starting light social conversations. Breakout teams pick a starter phrase and create poems about friendship.
Objectives
–Experience starting a simple conversation after greeting someone.
–Notice what’s involved in starting a conversation.
–To engage participants to consider qualities of friendship.
–Participants practice working together on a common goal.
Materials provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–Conversation Starters
–Online Sand Timer click to access: http://sandtimer.toolten.io (Trainer Guide only)
Our Friendship Poem
–Friendship Poem Starters
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Session 3
What’s That You’ve Got There? and What Am I Doing Wrong?
Participants reveal an object from home, and others notice and ask questions. talk to another person, while the other team tries to guess the wrong behavior. Teams come up with examples of how NOT to greet or talk to another person, while the other team tries to guess the wrong behavior.
Objectives
–Participants get lots of practice on small talk.
–Participants experience how small talk goes back and forth between two people, not one person dominating.
–Participants gain ability to notice the use of new skills for making friends.
Materials Provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–Checklist for Small Talk
–Checklist for Greeting (from Session 1b)
–Checklist for Small Talk (from Session 3a)
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Session 4
Picture What You Love and Three Things in Common
People silently look over a number of photos, choose one that shows something about them, what they like to do, and talk about how friends are often folks that like to do the same things we do. Breakout teams find three things they all have in common, and one thing unique to each person. Then regather to try to stump the other team.
Objectives
–Participants notice and name what activities they like.
–Participants compare their interests to those of others.
–Participants connect their interests to the idea of making friends with similar interests.
–Participants understand parts of yourself that are well-known, and parts hidden.
–Participants understand that other people also have parts well-known and parts hidden.
Materials Provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–That’s ME!
–Activity Images
–Three Things in Common
–Unique to Each Person
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Session 5
Rights That Help You Make Friends and More Greeting Practice
Participants use mini-posters, based on the Supreme Court Olmstead Decision, to tell each other about rights that help people with disabilities make friends. Revisit DETS 104 Session 1a Smile Greet Repeat for more practice.
Objectives
–Become familiar with some key rights of integration.
–Experience telling others about rights and how they connect to friendships.
Materials provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–Rights Help Friendships Posters
–Discussing The Posters
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Session 6
Barriers to Making Friends and More Small Talk
Participants look at before/after drawings to notice what’s different, friendship-wise, if barriers are getting in the way of your inclusion rights. Reprise DETS 104: Session 2a, Conversation starters for more practice.
Objectives
–Participants make connection lack of rights to friendship difficulties.
–Participants embody their understanding by creating skits together.
Materials provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–What’s Different
–Rights Help Friendships Posters (from Session 5a)
–Barriers to Having Friendships
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Session 7
My Friendship Goal and More What’s That You’ve Got There
Participants use a worksheet to name one goal in their life around friendships, what factors help them reach it, and what stands in the way. Same process as Session 3a. This time participants are asked to bring an object from the kitchen: could be food item, utensil, etc.
Objective
–Participants start to build the ability to assess their goals, and how to work toward the friendships they want.
Materials provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–My Friendship Goal worksheet
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Session 8
Dear Abby and Make a Friendship Poster
Imaginary readers have written to Dear Abby with friendship problems, and breakout teams use rights posters to give advice. Participants make a “friendship poster” featuring their own photo and the right they feel strongest about.
Objectives
–Participant recognize friendship barriers (caused by lack of right) and consider strategies to address them.
–Get participants talking about what options they have to resolve difficulties in their life.
–Continue to connect the rights of integration with your own life and experience and friendships.
–Practice at expressing yourself, and showing that to others.
Materials Provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–Rights Help Friendships Posters (pages 22-27 from Session 5a)
–Dear Abby Letters (facilitators only)
–Rights Help Friendships Posters with photos attached, from Session 7
–Right of Friendship Poster
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Session 9
Assertiveness Training and Text Three People
Volunteers take turns role-playing simple situations three times: once passively, once aggressively, and once assertively. Participants share their phone numbers with each other, and commit to texting each person at least once in the following week.
Objectives
–Understand the difference between communicating passively, aggressively, and assertively.
–Experience which communication method is most effective.
Materials Provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–I’ll Do My Best handout
–Discussion questions for role-plays (Trainer Guide only)
–Assertiveness Quiz (Trainer Guide only)
–Assertive Communication Sketch, Aggressive Communication Sketch and Passive Communication Sketch (Trainer Guide only)
–Role Play Scenarios (Trainer Guide only)
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Session 10
Your Personal Starter and Give Compliments
Participants practice using conversation starters, then each develops one on a topic they care about, to practice in their daily life, at home and out in the community. Go around the circle and practice giving compliments.
Objectives
–Participants develop something they can use in the community.
–Assignment get’s people interacting with new people in their lives.
Materials provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–My Conversation Starter
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Session 11
Games With Friends
Participants play a game Scattergories (or other game) as a way to practice connecting with others, using new friendship skills.
Objectives
–Give folks yet another way to practice new skills of building friendships, connecting with others.
–Learn a simple game you can play with others in your life.
Materials Provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–Scattergories Game-sheets
–Dice
–Scattergories Letter Generator-(Trainer Guide only)
–Charade Words
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Session 12
Review and Celebrate Our Achievement
Recognition and celebration of participants’ successful completion of all 12 sessions.
Materials Provided
–Attendance Form (Trainer Guide only)
–Series Overview Card
–Feeling Faces
–Leadership Poster of completion
–Full Participant Kit with filled out worksheets, posters, poem, art, etc.
–Graduation Certificate template: to complete one per graduate, if you choose to do certificates, and mail in advance of Session 12. (Trainer Guide only)