OBJECTIVE:
Students will recognize the characteristics of effective helping in health sciences.  Students will also engage in an experiential “helper” and “helpee” roles in order to experience helping in action.

TEACHING APPROACH:
Begin the course with a general discussion of helping. Explain that being in the Health and Human Services field means Helping Others.  Throw out a general question:  ”What do you need to know before you can help someone?”  And then answer it.  ”You need to know what someone wants or needs.” Ask students how they are going to find out what someone wants or needs. Tell them that the answer is the most important part of helping.  The answer is: BY ASKING THEM.  One of the biggest mistakes helpers make when trying to help someone is that they never ask the person what he/she needs or wants.  It sounds simple but it is the most important key to helping others.

There are different kinds of helping.  We often think of helping as “doing something for others because they can’t do it for themselves.” This is an important kind of helping.  For example,

1. We might help someone carry something who has a broken arm.
2. We might help someone who doesn’t speak Spanish communicate with someone who only speaks Spanish.
3. We might take care of someone’s pets while they are out of town.

Ask the class to think of other examples.

But, sometimes doing something for others because they can’t do it for themselves isn’t the best way to help them. For example, what happens if we help someone by doing their math homework for them?  Sometimes the best way to help is by teaching others to help themselves.  This way is often more difficult, frustrating and takes more time but, in the end, is the most helpful.  There is an old saying:  ”Give me a fish and I eat for a day; teach me how to fish and I eat for a lifetime.”  What does this saying mean and how does it relate to helping others?Ask the students to share some of the ways they have help others or others have helped them in the past.  Look at each example and decide if they helped or were helped by “doing for” or by “teaching to do”.

After a few minutes of discussion, announce that the class is now going to do an activity that allows students to gain experience being either a helper or a helpee first hand.

ACTIVITY:   The Helping Experience
(Note:  Teacher will need to prepare dixie cup sets for each pair of students in the class.  Each dixie cup set has 16 cups: 5 cups with 5’s written around it; 4 with 4’s written around it; 3 with 3’s written around it; 2 with 2’s; 1 with 1’s and 1 with 0’s.  If there are 20 students, then the teacher will need to prepare 11 sets.  Use one for demonstration and 10 for the student pairs.  If there are an odd number of students, then enlist the extra student to assist you and be an activity observer)

Begin by asking students to divide into pairs, telling them that each pair will need to choose one person to be the helper and one to be the helpee.  Explain the activity by demonstrating what you will be asking the pairs to do. Say “Each pair will be asked to build a pyramid using dixie cups. (Demonstrate while you are talking and leave your model for them to look at during the activity.)  Build a pyramid while you are explaining that has all of the 5’s go on the bottom level, the 4’s on the next level, the 3’s next, the 2’s and the 1’s.  The cup with 0’s is turned upside down on the cup with 1’s.  ”Not too difficult, right?”

Now that the students have paired off, distribute a set of cups to each pair.  Suggest that they can chose to work on a desktop or on the floor whichever is easier.  Let them know not to start until you say “begin” because the pyramid building is a competition.  The pair that successfully builds the pyramid the fastest will be the winner.

Once all the students have their cups and are ready to begin, explain that there are two rules you forgot to tell them about. First, only the helpee may touch the cups.  Second, once the activity begins, the helpee must keep his/her eyes securely shut-no cheating.   The helper will need to be the helpee’s eyes and verbally guide him/her so that they can build the pyramid in the proper cup order.

Allow each pair a moment to arrange their cups any way they choose before the activity begins.  Before giving the pairs the signal to start, remind them that the helpee must keep his/her eyes closed and the helper may not touch the cups or the helpee’s hands at any time.
During the activity, circulate among the pairs noting reactions, frustrations, and any behaviors that will make for a good discussion afterwards.  If possible, have a bag of candy and let the winning pair choose first from it before sharing it with all the participants.

DISCUSSION:

First, let’s talk about the role of the helper:

1. What was it like?  Did you feel frustrated or impatient not being able to touch the cups yourself?
2. Did you want to grab the cups out of the helpee’s hands and build the pyramid faster and better?
3. Did you feel like the helpee wasn’t really listening to your instructions?
4. Did you wish you were the helpee rather than the helper?

Now from the role of the helpee:

1. What was it like being the helpee?
2. Did you want to open your eyes?
3. Did you feel confident in the instructions you were getting from the helper?
4. Would you rather have been the helper than the helpee?
5. What was the hardest part about being so dependent on the helper for your every move?