How to Use this Book Adjusting the Activities The activity instructions are written for the classroom setting. Small adjustments may need to be made for other settings, such as individual work, counseling groups, workshops, or trainings. Please adapt the games to suit your needs and preferences. Read through the “Activity Summary” for each exercise. You may wish to share some of the information presented in the objectives with the class as a way to set up the intention of the exercise. Adding a personal story or anecdote that relates to this objective may make the purpose of the exercise more meaningful for students. Many of the activities can be turned into personal writing assignments if group sharing is not beneficial. Notice the “Add On” sections in some of the activities that allow you to expand the exercises. Be creative and experimental in playing with the cards and activities. The activities possible with the Things to Know Before You Say “Go” cards are endless. Some of the Things to Know Before You Say “Go” cards may not be suitable for your setting. Set those cards aside it will not affect the activities in this book. There are three blank cards in each Things to Know Before You Say “Go” set. Use these cards to write your own questions and add them to your deck. Additional Questions At the back of this book is a list of additional questions that may help you during classroom discussion or small group conversations. Pull questions from this list to deepen the students’ inquiry and understanding of a particular issue. Number of Decks Needed Many of the games or activities will require more than one deck of cards, depending on the size of the classroom. A separate deck of cards should be available for each 10-15 students. If only one deck is available, modify the activities in this book by decreasing the number of cards individuals may select from the deck in the activities, or by having some students be observers and offer feedback of the activities rather than players. Ratings for Activities Symbols rate the activities for size of the group and for the intensity (emotional pull) of the activity: I Suitable for individual exploration P Suitable for working with partners G Suitable for small groups of 5-8 participants C Can be played as a full class  Light on the emotions  May stir some emotion  Likely to be rather emotional (use these activities only in settings where there is emotional safety or privacy). Keeping Your Cards Sorted If you have several decks you may want to be able to sort them easily if they get mixed. Stack the deck so the questions are all facing forward and upright, then simply use a marker and put a colored stripe across the spine of the deck. Use a different color for each deck. This will make it easy to find all the cards from that deck in the future. Feel free to give me feedback and offer new suggestions for activities to do with the Things to Know Before You Say “Go” cards. Email me at elsbeth@CourageToBloom.com. —Elsbeth Martindale, Psy.D. VI • THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU SAY GO COPYRIGHT © 2011 BY ELSBETH MARTINDALE