Assignments
Group Observation_Reflection Paper 1
Assignment
Task: Submit to complete this assignment
Five page reflection paper on community-based group observation.

Please read the following instructions carefully.

Attend a minimum of three hours of community-based group meetings (see Syllabus for acceptable types of groups), and take notes on each group experience while it is still fresh on your mind.

Write a reflection paper describing the following.  Please note that these are some particularly important aspects to attend to, but you may include other aspects that you think are important:

1. The name of the group and a brief overview of its nature, purpose, location, and schedule (Note the exact date, time and duration of each group observed, and include this information on the same documentation form that you used for your proposal, as the last page of the paper–doesn’t count in paper page total).

2.  Major content and themes that came up during the group, your observations about the group process, and notable contributions of group members.

3.  Your observations about the experiences of individual group members. You can focus on all members, several different ones, or any particular individual.

4.  Your observations of the facilitator and his or her role, and how effective you felt that this person was.

5.  Your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during your observation/participation in the group.

6.  Things you learned from attending the group.  Particularly attune your writing to the ways in which you saw material from the readings demonstrated in the group, e.g. stages of group development, types of group process, leadership style, etc…

7.  A personal critique of group effectiveness. What did you see as being effective in the group process and dynamics?  Were there aspects of the group that you felt were not helpful or were even harmful to its members?  What would your ideas be for improving this group, if you were the designer or facilitator?

Please submit this assignment with a separate title page including your name, the date, the course name, instructor name, and the title of the assignment (doesn’t count in page total).  Integrating assigned readings in with your reflections is encouraged, and you should use APA format and referencing style in this paper.

Additional Information:

Participation in Community-Based Group Experiences.

                    In order to be consistent with CACREP requirements, the course requires students to become a member or observer of a community-based group.  More than one type of group can be attended.  Six hours of community group attendance is required.  Examples of acceptable participation include attendance at a support group, task group, or educational group. If attending 12-step meetings, make sure that they are listed as Open meetings. Examples of qualifying groups are Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Overeaters Anonymous (OA), or other support type groups like Weight Watchers. Task groups meeting the requirement would include local school board meetings or church meetings/groups. It is also possible to attend a drop-in group at a local hospital that may be discussing specific health concerns or to attend local community organizations that might have a theme or topic (psycho-educational group). Attending an online group for six hours of face to face group meeting participation is required. If unsure of the appropriateness of the group, then please confirm the group with the instructor. One 5-page reflection papers are required to document these group experiences. The reflection will be completed after attending a minimum of three hours of meeting time.  Failure to attend and document group attendance for the required hours will be reflected in the grade for the assignment.

Your typed reflection should include:

1. Title page with name, date, course, instructor, and assignment title.

2. Type of groups, dates/times (beginning to end) of groups attended, and

    location of the groups/meetings.

3. Theme/purpose/ and format of the group/meeting.

4. Your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during group/meeting.  How did the group affect you?

   
5. Observations about the content and process of the group/meeting.

6. Observations about the role and skill level of the group facilitator.

7. What you learned from group observation/participation. You should connect experiences to readings and course material such as group leadership style, or stages of group development.