Group Contracting.
Description
Development of Knowledge and Skills in doing group work practice standards. The purpose of these assignments is to increase students’ knowledge and skills about the Practice Standards developed by the International Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups (IASWG). This assignment involves two main phases; a) assessment; and b) knowledge and skills building. Knowledge Development Paper. (25% of final grade). The professor and student will select one item from the Practice Standards for which they scored lowest. Students complete 4 pages (minimum) critical discussion of the item and how the item could be utilized in group work practice. For example, one item requires that group workers in the pre-group phase, “reach out to and recruit potential group members.” The student would describe how, specifically, this would be done with his/her particular group. The item number I have been assigned is 22: The group worker works collaboratively with members to develop a beginning contract for work that identifies tasks to be accomplished, goals to be achieved, and the process by which the work is to occur. Each paper must include the following information in three sections: 1. Description of the skill and its importance from the group work literature.
2. Include at the beginning of the paper the item number and write out the skill completely. 3. Students must cite two sources (one can be the textbook), with full APA citation AND page number, and include a reference list. Identification of the level of evidence. Identify the type of evidentiary support of your two (or more) sources and explain how they meet the criteria (authority-based or is it research-based? See Macgowan 2008, pp. 32-33, for discussion). Give an example of how the skill would be applied in your practice. Give specific, concrete examples, using the first-person language, such as in a script of a role-play (i.e., “I said…;” “member 2 said…,” etc). Underline where the skill is being illustrated in your script. After each underlined portion, identify in parentheses which skill is being demonstrated to ensure the skill is linked to one (or more) of the principles discussed in section 1. It is very important that it is clear that you are demonstrating the application of the skill(s) in the role-play example. Skills Development and Demonstration (role plays) (25% of final grade). This assignment is to be done by the student in the role of group worker, with 3-5 other students as group members (all students must participate in the role plays as group members). Students engage in classroom exercises to develop knowledge and skills of the Practice Standards. Each student will demonstrate in a role play, their one skill from the previously identified Practice Standard. For the development of the skills, students will work in groups to help build the skills in role-plays. This is an opportunity for the student to seek – and get – mutual aid/support from other class members as skills are developed. During class time, each student will facilitate a group experience in which they demonstrate the respective skill. The demonstration will be evaluated by the professor and peers. Students must achieve a rating of “B” (demonstrated “clearly”) to receive a passing grade (students must NOT read from a script or utilize notes in their role plays).