Crossing the Line

Involved & Inclusive
Involved & Inclusive

An exercise that is often used to bring the group to awareness of minority viewpoints and/or power dynamics that either exist in the room or generally influence the program.

Materials

  • No materials are required for this activity.

Framing

A reflective activity that helps you and your group figure out what goes well, what doesn’t, and what needs improvement.

Instructions

  1. All participants are asked to stand on one side of the room. They are told that the facilitator will read a series of statements.
  2. Once a statement is read, all participants for whom that statement is true personally walk to the other side of the room.
  3. The facilitator uses a reflective prompt such as “Notice who is on one side of the room and who is on the other.” Participants silently acknowledge the configuration of the room’s participants.
  4. Participants are asked to rejoin the individuals who did not move.

Modify

  • To save time with large groups, you may limit the number of persons asked the question to three to five people. 

Safety

  • There are no foreseeable safety concerns.

Wrap-up

This activity serves as a reflection or debrief activity and so wrap-up questions or a discussion is not necessary.



Submitted by Osgoode Youth Association. Originally sourced from the University of Minnesota. “Quality Matters Toolkit.”