Activators and Deactivators for Club Meetings

Activators are used to motivate self awareness, introduce meeting design, and/or promote sisterhood unity. They are usually brief but have been known to last the entire meeting depending on the individual needs and sensitivities of the group. This can only be determined by the club mentor as she bonds with her group. It is very important that the mentor and girls all participate to exhibit equality and cross-generational bonding.

Examples of Activators:

Journals:
Decorate them. Entries:

• I Am, I Can, I Will;
• Guys can but girls can’t;
• What really bugs me about______;
• Equality means; Play song or read a quote/poem or news article;
• Play an excerpt from the WomanMatter web Radio Talk Show or sound byte from WM homepage and ask girls to react;
• A woman’s place in society/school/home/ workplace is___.

Movement:

JUST MOVE! Put on a girl empowerment song (girls will gladly provide) and just move

Clapping Patterns: One girl initiates a clapping pattern, group tries to follow. Great for eliciting laughter and bonding. Partners can also be used. Use sitting and standing positions.

Mirror work:

Follow ME: Helps girls to experience leading and following. Partners face each other, eye contact a must, designate a leader and a follower. The girls must remain silent (good luck) or use soft music in the background. S-l-o-w-l-y the leader moves and the follower follows. Then reverse roles. Can be done in a seated position to begin with and brought eventually to standing. Journal entries /group discussion good follow up about how it felt to have POWER and how it felt to FOLLOW.

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall:

Mirror work is essential to empowering girls and women. Begin with small compact mirrors and work up to full length. Ties in with “How I see myself in my world” etc. Affirmations can be said, “GIRLSMATTER!” is an easy one. Soliloquies in front of a mirror are a fantastic exercise.

Deactivators relieve stress. Many activators are interchangeable depending on the presentation and pacing of the mentor.

Examples of Deactivators:

Visual Imagery:

Lie on floor with eyes closed and describe a relaxing “picture” for girls to imagine.

Read Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou, song by Olivia Newton- John

Sitting in silence for 1 minute. The possibilities here are endless as you all know and your bond with your girls are an accurate judge of what is most effective.

GM Sisterhood Circle: Girls create their own tradition. DeMasi GM group all stood in a circle, did an overthrow movement with the right arm to the circle center while they said their name. When all names were said individually, they threw them high and shouted “GIRLSMATTER!” to symbolize unity

Scarf Stretching: Slowly stretch using scarves, streamers and fluid material you can get. Toss and catch with different body parts, toss to each other, be creative.

Microphone Work:

This is so important to help girls reduce inhibitions, become socially more adept, and to help them raise their voices and speak out. REMEMBER: if laughter happens, the stress will go right out of their body!

Paper Towel Roll Mic: (of course it is empty). Sitting in a circle, simply pass the roll and have them make a noise, say their name, hold it and give the mentor eye contact etc. Change their body level from sitting, to chair, to standing. Practice in pairs, small and large groups.