Julie, please tell us more if you can about how this process unfolded. Love, Toni Petrinovich
----- Original Message ----- From: "Julie Smith" <jsm...@mosquitonet.com> To: <osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu> Sent: Monday, September 02, 2002 10:20 AM Subject: Re: The magic that happens... > Dear Elena, > > When I met with high school students last week, my goal was to introduce > them to the idea of OST, and to invite them to think about how they > might use the OST process in their classroom and in their school. When > one of the students asked if we could just do it (using Harrison's own > words), I knew our fate was sealed. I told the students we needed a > theme, and the theme needed to be something important to them. A number > of ideas were suggested, but not everyone was interested in the same > theme. When we looked at the suggestions more carefully, we saw that > the underlying issue was often respect. Since we didn't have much time > (the class meets for 80 minutes each day), we decided to use "Respect" > as our one-word theme. > > I should also tell you that this was not the first time this class had > met together. They had met together 5 or 6 times previously, and I had > met with them one of those times. The students didn't know each other > well, but they weren't strangers to each other. > > I'm thinking of the students as being in the position of the sponsor of > the OST events we create. (Michael Pannwitz helped me understand this > more clearly.) That way, they are responsible for defining the theme, > creating the invitation, and deciding who to invite. That creates a > very comfortable role for me, as I can simply support them in doing what > they feel called to do. > > The teachers I'm working with are very excited about this process. My > hope is that both classes sponsor an OST event for their schools in > September, and that they also use OST as a tool for learning in their > mediation classes. I'm now thinking I might provide students with a > very brief overview of what the mediation process looks like, and invite > them to give it a try in a practice role-play. As they play with the > process, questions will arise. Those questions can be raised and > discussed using the OST process. As students continue doing practice > role-plays, begin doing actual mediations, and then struggle with > developing the mediation program in the school, questions will continue > to arise. My hope is that the students will begin to use OST when they > need to talk things through with each other, and spend the rest of their > time doing what they've decided they want to do. > > We're also moving very quickly into student-facilitated OST. I expect > to spend some time talking with students about the role of the > facilitator, and then let go and watch them do it. The students I > talked with last week were very eager to take responsibility for this > part of the process. > > Elena, I would be very happy if you shared my address with others who > would like to have it. I wonder sometimes if my messages are too long > for people who are translating into another language. Since I speak > only one language, I'm not sure how to be helpful to those who are > translating. If you or others have any thoughts about this, please let > me know! > > Julie > > * > * > ========================================================== > osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html