Personal Empowerment groups conducted through Twin Cities RISE! typically are 2.5 hours in length and occur twice a week.  Through experience in working with secondary special education students, it is recommended that the groups in St. Paul Public Schools occur weekly and that they are 30-45 minutes in length.  These lessons are intended to be the foundation of social skills instruction.  How other curriculum/activities can supplement the lessons contained within this manual.  During Empowerment groups, fidelity to the manual and lesson order is expected.  The curriculum does spiral and concepts will be revisited.

It is recommended that Empowerment be delivered as a social skills group, not as a “class.”  While the difference can be subtle, it is important to establish group rules, norms, and expectations consistent with a social skills or therapeutic group.  For example, all staff and students sit in a circle and help develop the norms and expectations of the group.  The ritual of the group should be established during the first group and consistently followed.  This includes the time, day, place, and length of group as well as the opening group ritual and the process followed within the group.  A talking piece is helpful in groups in which student expectations for the care of property is high.   It is vitally important that there are reasonably high expectations of student behavior in the group.  Be clear ahead of time what your expectations are in terms of the minimal standard of behavior and how you are going to handle behavior that is outside that boundary.  Students should be able to return to group if asked to leave during the middle of a session as long as they have emotionally regrouped and are able to re-enter the group without causing a disruption.  Leaders will need to adapt some of the specifics of the format of the group based on the population.  For example, if students are power struggling about completing a check-in, the leader can ask for a couple of students to volunteer their check-in and therefore, one can avoid a power struggle with a student who is reluctant to check in.  In addition, if check-in is taking too long, choosing only a couple of volunteers for check-in is an effective way of shortening the process.

It is recommended that teachers and para-professionals participate in the group on a weekly basis for several reasons.  One, is that the staff are learning the material alongside the students and essentially get “trained” while the students are learning.  In addition, the application of Empowerment principles and language extends beyond the group and into the academic milieu.  Furthermore, staff has the opportunity to model empowerment concepts within the group setting.  Finally, staff is expected to bring in examples from the academic milieu as it relates to the content being discussed in group.  This “brings Empowerment to life” through direct application of material.

A flip chart, white board, or overhead projector with transparencies are necessary for the group and will be used during the majority of the lessons.  In addition, a computer and LCD projector are required for many of the lessons when video or audio clips are used.  Finally, the curriculum is intended to be evolving to include recent relevant video or song clips and news articles.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Empowerment principles are relevant to EVERYBODY, not just the students we work with.  Both the personal and professional application of these principles to the adults’ own lives will be a powerful and transformative experience.