Paw Prints to Learning
Teach young people about animal welfare and how they CAN make a difference in animals' lives.
“Best Practices”
Youth in Philanthropy Activities
- Read each activity carefully before implementing it. Visualize how it will work and make sure you have all of the materials needed for a successful experience.
- Be intentional in your instruction to produce specific outcomes. Be sure you have a clear understanding of the purpose, where you want to go, and how you will get there.
- Empower youth to take leading roles and support them in fulfilling their role to the best of their ability. The more ownership youth have, the more engaged they will be, the more relevant the activity becomes, and the more apt they will be to put it into practice.
- Use “facilitative training techniques”. Facilitative training is training that is based on the facilitator being able to bring out the best from the group. In facilitative training, the participants should be talking and contributing more than the facilitator(s). The facilitator should serve as a guide.
- Utilize the “right to pass”. This is empowering for your group and will actually increase participation as the group feels they have the control over when and how they choose to participate. You can always come back to someone later and use positive techniques to draw members out.
- Practice the processing questions in advance. Processing questions enable you to reinforce the major points from the activity. Processing questions should be at the conclusion to summarize and can also be used throughout the activity. It is better to have a few well-crafted questions relevant to your group rather than too many.
- Be affirming, encouraging and show appreciation. Build on strengths and assets.
- Be creative. Use a variety of communication techniques such as: media, storytelling, movement, art, role-playing, and community field trips.
- Know your audience and be sensitive to their situations. Select activities that will work well with your group and make adjustments as needed. Flexibility is key—but still must be thought through and intentional.
- Have fun!!