Hi Ashley!
Thanks for sharing this. One idea i had for another job: Noticer.
These would be children who, in addition to their regular
participation, take on the added challenge of noticing what's
happening--of noticing the differences that are making a difference.
This would cultivate integral thinking skills needed for living in
complexity: like pattern recognition, witnessing mind, self-awareness,
awareness of we-space, etc. Others who notice things could be
encouraged to have butterfly conversations with the Noticers to
enhance and spread learning all round. At the end of the event, the
Noticers could post their noticings for all to enjoy.
hugs,
Wendy
On 28-Jan-09, at 11:29 AM, ashley cooper wrote:
I'm so glad you enjoyed hearing and feeling the children's wisdom
and discoveries. Thanks for joining me in the celebration!
I heard feedback from one parent of a 3rd grader that her child was
frustrated with the other kids not taking the talking points
seriously and coming up with silly or bogus solutions to problems.
She pretty much saw the exercise as wasted on the uninterested 3rd
graders and told her mom that she'd heard it went much better in the
1st and 2nd grade classes! I told the mom that the frustrations her
daughter experienced of people not 'staying on topic' or keeping it
serious is one that often we have to deal with in groups and we get
to come up with solutions and practices for what to do in those
situations. I let the mom know that if her daughter would like to
talk more about what she experienced/learned at the Open Space, I'd
love to. I haven't had a chance to see her yet... to learn more
about where her frustrations emerged. If we get to talk, I'll be so
excited to be in this learning with her... such precious skills and
opportunities to be having at 9 years old.
And since I'm talking about kids, I'll share another practice that I
do with my students (1st through 3rd graders). We meet once a week
for Friendship Group (I'm the counselor and "Friendship Teacher").
In friendship group, students have various jobs. These provide them
direct opportunities to learn leadership skills for being in
dialogue and learning with a group. The students learn skills to
o Help the group run smoothly
o Help the group to take a pause or slow down when it needs to
o Listen for the main ideas
o Express insights with words and with pictures
Currently there are 3 jobs:
The Listener or the Summarizer. This person wears a badge (that has
a sweet spiral on it, representing the swirling of ideas being
broght together to points) that designates them as the Listener and
often has a clipboard to take notes. They are listening for the main
ideas of our Friendship Group, important points that are being
discussed, something the group is learning or anything interesting
that they hear. At the end of the group, they summarize for the
whole class what they think was important in today's Friendship Group.
Another job is Keeper of the Bells. This person's responsibility is
to hold the Tibetan bells and ring them when they believe the group
needs to refocus for a moment of silence, to take a deep breath, or
to invite the group to stop and savor a great idea that was
mentioned or a powerful moment. Some students get the timing and
listening for this job on their own and it's beautiful (and
refreshing) to experience the moments to pause that they invite.
Other students follow my cues to ring the bells when it would be a
good idea. Then at the end of the group (after the Listener shares
the main ideas) the Keeper of the Bells rings the bells to let us
know group is over. Most of the classes (I work with 9) ring the
bells 3 times at the end. They developed that ritual on their own.
I've also introduced a Graphic Listener or Graphic Recorder who uses
their own form of artistic expression to draw what they hear the
group exploring. Their drawing is simple with pencil and is hung up
in the room after our group for others to view.
This is a new practice that I've introduced this year and am very
happy with how it's working. What ideas do you have for other jobs?
Thank you to all of you for this lovely place to be sharing and
working creatively together!
With gratitude,
Ashley
On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 5:17 PM, Tenneson Woolf
<tenne...@berkana.org> wrote:
Yup, lovely all around. Gems.
And yes to the best description of reinventing the wheel.
Thanks Chris.
Tenneson Woolf
Lindon, Utah USA
tenne...@berkana.org
801 785 2276
801 376 2213 Cell
www.tennesonwoolf.com
www.berkana.org
www.artofhosting.org
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those
who could not hear the music.
Nietzsche
From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of
Chris Corrigan
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 5:54 PM
To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] SV: [OSLIST] OS with students after Obama's
inauguration
Ashley...this is a lovely story of learning from inspiration. Our
family was in Hawaii during the inauguration, which is where Barak
Obama was born, and everyone was so excited there. It was so
inspiring that my own kids started reading voraciously on the
history of Presidents, and thinking a lot about what Obama was
saying and what his election means. It says something that no Prime
Minsiter of Canada has yet inspired such a fit of self-organized
civics study around our house!
And I'm always struck by the fact that most of the time from kids we
hear what the cynical might call "the same old hopes and dreams and
wisdom" but the process of birthing a nugget like that yourself is
profound. For kids (and other disempowered folks in society) having
realizations like this is a profound experience. I am a fan of
"reinventing the wheel" a lot of the time, because the process of
discovery and invention and creative conversationa and collaboration
is just as important as getting the best result, or arriving at a
piece of wisdom that is at once new and timeless. Many
conversations result in nothing new being realized in terms of the
bigger scheme of things (chatterboxes should keep quiet) but it is a
profound moment when people arrive at those conclusions themselves.
They experience themselves as wisdom keepers, and that is a very
useful thing to know about oneself.
Ashely, I am always warmed and moved by your dedication to holding
spaces in which people can discover themselves. It is a great,
great gift, and I hope you know that, and I hope others know that
about you too.
Chris
On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 2:14 PM, Thomas Herrmann <tho...@openspaceconsulting.com
> wrote:
Thanks dear Ashley for this inspiring posting and for the important
work you are doing in the world!
I have facilitated a few OS-events with children. I especially
remember during a facilitated pre-meeting where we used a transfer
in to start the meeting – one of the children (about 10 years old)
then named what we had on the invitation (the event was about how to
prevent harassement and mobbing at schools in the area). It went
something like: One stick is easy to break but many sticks together
are difficult to break.
Just as employers, teachers were astonished by the wisdom,
engagement and willingness to take responsibility amongst the kids –
and scared maybe too...
Thanks again for inspiring me – this is great work!
Warm regards
Thomas Herrmann, Kungsbacka, Sweden
Från: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] För ashley cooper
Skickat: den 26 januari 2009 00:20
Till: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
Ämne: [OSLIST] OS with students after Obama's inauguration
Ready to be inspired?!
I opened space with 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders after President Obama's
inauguration last week. These kids are amazing.
Their questions (designed by the three 3rd graders on the planning
team):
What is something that a group of people working together can change?
What is something that you think is important in our school or in
our world that you would like to discuss?
The event started with a poem written by one of the students on the
planning team:
Our Speech by Mila Kopp
1 person
to a small group
to a large group
opportunity and ideas and change
together we can make a difference
And here are some of my favorite comments:
STOP Globle Warming (happy voice) in ten years (Deep Voice)
make a complante to the president
Invent vical that runs on trash or sun, rain
Nicely tell others to be nice
Help stop war by traiding reciorses
If you are shy talk
If you are a chatterbox let others have a chance to speak
I agree with (another student) that you don't need that many people,
you only need like 5, you don't need like 15 or 20 or 50. You don't
need huge numbers like that.
I learned that when everyone pitches in just a little bit, it can
make a giant difference.
I discovered how pollution can make the air dirty and hurt people
and animals
I discovered a lot of people have ideas too.
I discovered that once you think about it, there is a lot more waste
I learned it can actually be pretty fun to work with other people
Teacher: I learned that you all can have important conversations by
yourselves and that you don't need the adults there. I also learned
that you can self-organize what you want to talk about.
I discovered there is a lot of things to change and like President
Obama, we should start.
You can read more details about these events at :
http://educatingtheheart.blogspot.com/2009/01/together-we-can-make-difference-open.html
And see pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37996625142@N01/sets/72157612937722591/
I hope to have a video to share some day too... but I have to get
permissions to show their beautiful faces!!
with gratitude,
Ashley
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--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Facilitation - Training - Process Design
Open Space Technology
Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com
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Wendy Farmer-O'Neil
CEO Prospera Consulting
we...@xe.net
1-800-713-2351
The moment of change is the only poem. -- Adrienne Rich
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