This innovative counseling tool features a deck of 54 illustrated cards showing facial expressions of various emotions. The cards help students in grades 6 through 12. learn “the language of emotions” as they reflect on their feelings and life experiences.
A facilitator’s manual provides implementation guidelines and 119 suggested activities. The activities are flexible and provide a collection of starting points to help promote personal growth and trusting relationships with others.
The 119 Face Card activities are identified for use with middle school or high school students or both. Some activities work best in one-to-one settings. Others can be used with either individuals or with different size groups. Each activity focuses on one of the following themes: Reflection, Prediction, Empathy, Cooperation, or Problem Solving.
What sets Face Cards apart from other seemingly similar products is that instead of pairing each expression with a specific word, Face Cards “speak for themselves.” An expression that says “worry” to one person might say “pensive” to another, or even “queasy” to a third. Words have definitions. Pictures can mean almost anything.
Counselor Comment
“I could see immediately how many ways I could use Face Cards in my everyday counseling. The cards are especially helpful for those students who simply cannot communicate effectively and who miss the visual clues that are so important when interacting with peers. The kids just think they’re fun.”
—Gaye Dunn, Counselor, Glenview Middle School, East Moline, Illinois
The 119 Face Card activities are divided into eight groups:
- Thinking About Myself—”Many of the 27 activities in this group seek personal information. With this in mind, it is paramount that you possess the proper skills should you choose to push your students beyond their comfort threshold. Obviously, not every activity is for everyone. Then again, it takes just a touch of creativity to alter one of these ideas to suit your own goals.”
- Relating to Others—”The goal of this group of 16 activities is to get people thinking about how they relate to one another. Similar to the previous group, some of the activities have the potential to get personal. Likewise, ensuring a safe, supportive, and considerate atmosphere is paramount to a successful experience.”
- The BIG Picture—”Our world is filled with individuals, who, when gathered together, constitute many diverse groups. This group of eight activities asks your students to consider their place among all the peoples and places of our world.”
- A Little Bit of Anything—”This group of 22 activities encourages creative thinking whether through storytelling or by empathizing with inanimate objects. Some activities might send students outside. Others might ask them to socialize. Many will get people thinking in new ways.”
- Working with Partners—”Although these six activities are just fine in and of themselves, many of them work well as a bridge to the highly interactive activities found later in this book.”
- Groups of All Sizes—”Many of the activities in the previous group assumed that one person was responsible for the instructions. A noteworthy difference here is that the instructions for these 11 activities are for everyone at once. In practical terms, this means that students do not have the same luxury of leisurely selecting their cards. Those who take too long are likely to see the card they would have picked whisked away before their very eyes.”
- Team Building and Other Challenges—”There are all kinds of teams out there: organized groups of people working together for a common cause. Through the use of these nine activities, in combination with things that you and your team already do, you will reach new heights of critical and creative problem solving.”
- Window Activities—”Window activities use see-through name tag holders as windows. These 12 highly interactive activities are for large groups. Unless stated otherwise, they involve cards picked at random and worn facing out.”
