I received a recommendation of Dale Hunter, Anne Bailey and Bill Taylor's
"Zen of Groups: A Handbook for People Meeting with a Purpose" on bringing
courses to psychological closure for all the participants including the
instructor. Specifically, they have a section "Clearing and Completing with
the Group." Modern life being modern life, I was able to get this section
instantly on my screen for free by going to Amazon and using the "Search
this Book" utility for "clearing and completing." [If you want to do this:
go to amazon.com, search for "Zen of Groups", then click on the "search this
book" underneath the image of the book cover, and then look for the orange
SEARCH near the top and search for "clearing and completing."] It was
interesting to see the Zen view that negative and positive comments about a
group (say a class) can become unclear to differentiate. Rather the
comments reflect on the person saying them and how the course refracted in
them as unique individuals. Dale Hunter et al. also say that only response
that should be allowed to acknowledgements of others at the end of a group
should be simply "thank you".
Cybercollegially,
Charles Wankel
http://management-education.net