The Clock

Taken from Silver Bullets by Karl Rohnke
After having a few warm-up exercises, ask the group to form a large hand-in-hand circle.

Indicate to the circled group that you would like them to rotate clockwise 360 degrees in one direction and then return 360 degrees back to the start. The goal is to see how quickly the group can complete the double rotation. The attempt is timed and time is stopped if anyone breaks his/her grip with a partner. Group cooperation is obviously essential. A good time for 30-35 people is anything below 30 seconds. In establishing a time goal, assign about one second per player, subtracting an additional second every ten participants. Place sweatshirts (or some such markers) at both "six o'clock" and "twelve o'clock" (3 and 9 o'clock too, if you're compulsive) inside the circle, so that the group has boundaries to rotate around and reference points for starting and finishing. If you want to increase the difficulty of this moving problem, ask the group to begin in a seated-on-the-ground position and also finish up in that position. The clock stops when the last person sits on the ground.

If the group breaks contact three separate times, stop the activity for that day and suggest coming back to it at another time. It gives the group something to look forward to and encourages after-class conversation. In your debriefing discussion, ask these questions to encourage group interaction:

1. Why did the group have so much trouble retaining connected grip?
2. What could have been done to keep the group together as they attempted the double rotation?
3. Is it important to have fast people in the group?
4. Would it have been more efficient to exclude the slow runners? More satisfying?