Best Practice Session

Saturday, June 26: 1:00-2:00pm

Session goal:To have YACers understand that each YAC does things differently, and to use this session as a framework for sharing those differences and similarities.

1:00pmSession Opening

Introduce the session and begin by asking the YACers what they thing Best Practices are, using:

  1. Post-it brainstorming on the topic “what is a Best Practice?”
  2. One-word activity with the question “what is one word that comes to mind when you think of a Best Practice?”

Discuss the results of the activity and explain to everyone in general what Best Practices are.

1:10pmYAC Best Practices

Hand out the YAC Best Practices One Pager. Then, use one of the following methods to facilitate the YAC Best Practices discussions.

OPTION 1:

Break into groups (no more than 6 per group). Assign each group a set of Best Practices. Each group will be responsible for presenting back to the room about what each of their YAC Best Practices mean and how YACs can meet them. Have them discuss the following:

  • What does the Best Practice mean?
  • Does your YAC meet this Best Practice? How?
  • Why is the Best Practice important?

Ahead of time, you and your partner should choose from the following, or create your own activity:

  1. List for each of their Best Practices
  2. Drawing or cartoon illustrating their thoughts/answers for each
  3. Short skit (1-2min) illustrating a good/bad way of meeting their Best Practices

Ask your students to do the activity you selected while discussing their answers.

Have each group present their YAC Best Practices. After each group presents, address any questions that come up and add any important items they may have missed.At the end, do a summary wrap-up of the traditional YAC Best Practices and hand out the YAC Best Practices Manual as a resource that they can take back to their YAC.

OPTION 2:

Break into groups of 6-8 people. Instruct them to work through the list of YAC Best Practices, allowing everyone to talk about what their YAC does to meet each Best Practice (or comment that they don’t do that one). Allow conversation to flow naturally – if there is a lack of discussion, suggest going around the table for each Best Practice, or talking about one that they all find interesting or problematic.

After they have gotten through a majority of the Best Practices (while keeping an eye on the time), bring the discussion back to the whole group. Call out specific YAC Best Practices, asking a few questions like “what were some ideas for _____?” and “how many people meet BP # ___?”. At the end, do a summary wrap-up of the traditional YAC Best Practices and hand out the YAC Best Practices Manual as a resource that they can take back to their YAC.

1:35pmYACer Best Practices

Hand out the YACer Best Practices One Pager. Tell each person to read through the One Pager and evaluate whether or not they, as an individual, meet the YACer Best Practices. Then, choose from one of the following activities, or create your own.

1. Group Discussion

Review the YACer Best Practices as a room. Survey everyone to see how many people meet each YACer Best Practice. Start discussions on topics that 1) a lot of people aren’t meeting or 2) that they are meeting. Ask questions like, “How do you meet this Best Practice?,” “Why don’t you meet this Best Practice?,” and “How could you improve?” At the end of the discussion, hand out the YACer Best Practices Manual.

2. Small Group Brainstorming

Divide the students up into groups based on which YACer Best Practice they think that they don’t meet/most need to improve on. Have them brainstorm ideas of how they could improve in the Best Practice they aren’t meeting. Then, bring the discussion back to the whole group and get the highlights from each group. At the end, do a summary wrap-up of the YACer Best Practices and hand out the YACer Best Practices Manual as a resource that they can both use for themselves and take back to their YAC.

1:55pmSession Wrap-up

Summarize the importance of the YAC Best Practices and YACer Best Practices and make sure they have each of the four handouts. Also, tell them that they can take a YAC Best Practices Assessment Brochure if they want one, but don’t hand these out to everyone.

Supplies: Best Practices One Pagers

Best Practices Manuals

Best Practices Assessment Brochures

YACer Best Practices One Pagers

YACer Best Practices Manuals

Large Post-it Sheets

Markers

Room Assignments:

Ellen and Harley- C104

Kurt and Dustin- C105

Ross and Grace- C108

Bryan- C109

Christian- C110

Kylie- C210

Mackenzie- C211