Focus Your Locus:

Activities that focus the power of individuals and groups

​BY MIKE GESSFORD AND JUSTIN MCGLAMERY
Copyright 2010 WOOD 'N' BARNES PUBLISHIng

What can we do as teachers, as group leaders and facilitators to help refocus our groups and harness the necessary energy to keep the momentum moving through the experiential learning cycle? Understanding the energy within us is important. Being able to harness and focus the collective power of the group can bring groups back to previous levels of performance and then move them far beyond.
Focus enables people to more clearly access their thoughts. Access to one’s thoughts helps individuals to evaluate previous thoughts and experiences and create new ideas. New ideas create energy. Energy stimulates awareness, which can influence where one’s locus of control resides. Awareness can fuel courage, potentially allowing one to become more individually responsible. Courage leads to an enhanced ability to make new conscious choices, which, when made within groups, lead to mutual accountability. These new choices lead to new opportunities for learning and growth.
New learning and experiences provide opportunities for new thoughts, and the cycle begins anew, with focus enabling people to access their thoughts more clearly.
“It is our goal to provide opportunities for you to learn, relearn, or rethink some active and reflective activities that can be relevant for all types of counselors, teachers, and experiential educators. These activities illustrate the power of the focused individual and of the collective mind.“ 

What people are saying about
focus Your Locus: Activities that focus the power of individuals and groups

This book is engaging, easy-to-read, and full of new and refreshing ideas.  The Focus theme throughout the book is well developed in a logical and organized fashion and is backed up with lots of examples, theories, and pertinent activities.  Those willing to delve more deeply into the psychological and philosophical aspects of facilitation will appreciate and enjoy Mike and Justin’s considerable knowledge of their subject
–Nicki Hall, Board of Directors, High 5 Adventure Learning Center, Brattleboro, VT
A common vision and a feeling of belonging to an organization are the major attributes leading to genuine school improvement and thus student achievement. To this end, time understanding the theory and implementing the practical as described in Focus Your Locus is well worth the time of any educator or school administrator
–Taran Gruber, Principal, Andrew Avenue Elementary, Naugatuck, CT
Facilitating a group is a journey that must be taken one initiative at a time… and each step of the journey is captured in this book.
–Anthony Gronski, Executive Director YMCA Camp Woodstock, Woodstock, CT
I would recommend this book to anyone who works with groups that need to better focus their collective and individual efforts.  It describes several theories of focus and influence and has a good selection of hands-on activities to make it come to life.
​–Sam Sikes, DoingWorks
I’ve been an elementary and junior high teacher for 36 years. Though this book might be targeted at adventure program folks, it’s important for classroom teachers, as well. It is filled with many concrete ideas to help a classroom group of children become more fully engaged.  As a classroom teacher and former adventure course instructor, I know how we are all crunched for time.  Using these techniques will enable the students to learn how to focus and thus become more fully involved in the learning process from the beginning of class on through.
 -Doug Cramphin, Retired Teacher & History Department Head, Ropes Course Instructor, Renbrook School, West Hartford, CT