OS and Teenagers

eewing at inforamp.net eewing at inforamp.net
Wed Mar 25 04:46:59 PST 1998


Hi from Esther Ewing of Toronto:

I have mostly lurked in this list but have some thoughts to share about
using OS:

I conducted an Open Space at a high school in North York (now part of the
Toronto District School Board) on the topic of Safety at Downsview ( the
name of the school).

The participants were volunteers - students - as well as the appropriate
teachers, ie. those who were in guidance and positive peer culture
teachers. What I learned:

1. I need to discuss with the teachers their role ahead of time - how to be
part of the discussion but not overpower - not to debate with the kids but
at the same time express their own views. A couple of teachers did not
manage that balance as well as they could.

2. I need to give more time to the actual signing up for sessions with
teens as they spent time discussing who else was going to which sessions
before they would make their own decisions. Especially the girls tended to
hold back on signing up for sessions until they could see which of their
friends, male or female, were going where. In other words, for them there
was a highly social aspect of choice as well as what aspect of the topics
would be meaningful for them. It took almost three times the amount of time
for the kids to sign up as it would adults.

3. It also took more time to open the space. They needed more examples of
how things would work.

They were almost unanimous in liking the process: "Miss, I actually felt
listened to!" A couple of boys didn't like it. They said that it was too
open and allowed some (unidentified) others too much say. A couple of kids
came to persuade others that drugs were okay(!!) and to justify their own
lifestyle choices. The kids did not reward that but they were so vocal that
a teacher had to step in and make sure that others got heard. A whole bunch
of kids came because it meant that they could skip French class but got
really engaged in the process.

Overall, the kids said that they would like more Open Space process. The
teachers felt relieved that they didn't have to be solely responsible for
fixing all the school safety issues, they could share that with the kids.
And they liked that the kids were willing to try to get things happening.

That's all, folks,

Regards,
Esther



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