John.............You might find this web site helpful. It's a program started more than 30 years ago in the South Bronx www.UnitasNYC.org
Grace T. ----- Original Message ----- From: "john engle" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 8:56 AM Subject: circle: group processes, etc > raffi, what a great story! what a privilege to have the opportunity to work > with circle. > > a number of your questions pulled at me to respond. for the moment, i will > respond to these: > > . To those who do peace work, conflict resolution work, and work in > sister fields: What other tools, training, (spiritual) practices have been > helpful in making you a better facilitator and trainer? > > I recognize this is a big question. The more group work I do, the more > I return to the question of the quality of my presence. > > Also, I see that I would like to develop further in how I design > workshops (to learn how to design better). And to understand adult > education principles better. > > 8. Anybody out there trained in processwork? Familiar with it? > I'd be curious to learn what this kind of work has done for you and > others. Your doubts about this kind of work would also interest me. > > raffi, i have been practicing leading "touchstones" discussion for four or > five years. here in haiti, many open space practitioners are also > touchstones discussion leaders. in fact, in haiti we call this process wonn > refleksyon which translates to reflection circles. thus, on our website, we > use reflection circle term instead of touchstones. > > to learn more about touchstones, go to: touchstones.org > > early on in our experiments with open space here in haiti (eight or nine > years ago) we discovered that the traditional role of authority in haiti is > so strong, that very frequently, the person who proposed the subject--thus, > was in a position of authority because people came to "hear" him or > her--would engage in a monologue for the entire time. > > we also discovered that people who engaged in these monologues would be > frustrated afterwards with others because they refused to participate. yet > some among the others would be frustrated because they didn't feel there was > an opportunity for them to share. > > plus, people who were illiterate, street kids, children in servitude and > others who are marginalized might not have the "presence" or confidence to > ever propose a subject or ever say anything in a public setting. > > while i believe that continued opportunities in open space might allow a > group to become adequately aware of what was happening and begin making > necessary adjustments, i am too aware of limits in patience. if someone > feels uncomfortable and does not see results inspite of efforts over and > over again, s/he may cease to invest in continuing. > > we have found that touchstones discussions are perfect. it is an exercise > intended to be done with a group perhaps once a week for 45 minutes to one > and a half hours each session. over time, the group becomes highly skilled > in group process; aware of who is talking and who is not, who is listening > and who is not. people become better at getting their point across more > quickly, thus not dominating time which does not allow others to share. > identifying what is not clear to them and asking effective questions, etc. > > through this practice, a group develops habits which help its members to > continue to evolve individually and collectively. and, people who are > practiced in touchstones are in a good position to really make use of their > time in open space meetings, in the sense that they might be able to see > tangible results more quickly. i do need to add that i buy the argument that > says, "if a group has time and space, just because they don't feel that they > are moving forward (whatever that may mean), does not mean that they are > not." again, because of habits and traditions, sometimes we lack patience > and need to see changes more quickly. i also should add that a discussion > leader with touchstones becomes very aware of his/her power. one who might > observe a group that is evolved in touchstones discussions will not, during > the majority of the time that the group is together, be able to determine > who the discussion leader is. > > thank you for taking the time to share your rich experience and for inviting > us to share our thoughts and experiences. > > john > > > http://www.beyondborders.net/experiment.htm > > _________________________________________________________________ > MSN Search, le moteur de recherche qui pense comme vous ! > http://search.msn.fr/worldwide.asp > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected], > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
