Hi, Ms. Funda - You asked: < I am asking just for curiosity. Has anyone ever tried OS with kids or with under 14 years old students?>
In my experience it is (as others have said) the adults who can sometimes be the trickiest part - and a lot of pre-work with the organizer and the adults 'in charge' can help that. In one event my coordinator found some great workshops to offer to teachers at the same time as the Open Space was happening - to give the teachers something else to do / somewhere else to go. And also we made it very clear that I was in charge of the room and if they saw anything they should come to me...and so on. Plus also as Glory says the issue of - can the young people leave when 'it's over' for them - or are they trapped in the room until it's over...in one occasion I experienced, the kids who were tired could not leave until the entire Open Space was over and that was so frustrating. And as with adults - but also kids can be so physically active - I find that hydration (making sure participants have enough water) is an important thing. (and maybe good for that poor kid who ate too many biscuits and soda, Thomas - the poor thing!) And kids even more than adults will enjoy also using the paper and markers for drawing pictures, which I also post on the "breaking news" wall and put into the Book of Proceedings, if you're creating one of those. After all, it is documentation of the energy in the room. And if the kids are young enough so that writing notes would be a burden or difficulty for them, maybe you either can not need notes, or have a young person in each group draw a big picture on a flipchart in each discussion area which is a graphic documentation of the discussion, or (if there are enough adult helpers) there could be an adult notestaker in each discussion area *IF* this would not feel oppressive to the freeness of conversation for the kids and *IF* it is clear that the notes-taking adults are NOT to guide the conversation - I let the 'scribes' know (in the very rare instances when scribes are used) they can speak up only to ask for clarification for their own note-taking ("can you repeat that last thing you said, please?") but not for guiding the conversation in any way (I explain to them the power dynamics they hold and how important it is to give the power to the participants instead for this particular situation). And maybe after the event the teachers (or parents, or community workers - if this is not a school-based situation) can a week or two after the event read some of the proceedings back with the kids in discussion circles if they want to follow some of those ideas that arose in the Open Space - if they are working with kids who cannot read. But the most challenging thing I have had happen is that - in a rare occasion or two - adults in charge felt it looked like uncontrolled chaos, and felt that some kids were not 'working' (because they were going off and having conversations in twos and threes and in some groups there was laughing or movement or play even though the issue was a serious issue) and they wanted to stop the process. (Do not worry - they did not, after all...) So again, the pre-work with people in charge and those who work with them is essential, in my estimation - really underline what it will look like (it will look a little random sometimes) and how it is all 'the work' and so on... Oh yes, and kids tend to rush into the center of the circle to post topics immediately, no waiting. Like fish to water (Glory), ducks to water (Eddie)... ...like bees to pollen (I just made that one up)... Take care, Lisa ________________________________ L i s a H e f t Consultant, Facilitator, Educator O p e n i n g S p a c e 2325 Oregon Berkeley, California 94705-1106 USA +01 510 548-8449 lisah...@openingspace.net www.openingspace.net * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist