OS and Teenagers

[Virginia]

Esther
I, too, have used Open Space only with teens at college (for US OSlisters
this means a more trade oriented post secondary ed. in Canada, typically
meaning they are younger by one year than university entry level)

Interestingly, mine nick named me "crazy woman" (I think Birgitt may have
posted the first installment of this story on this list before I got
online) as they did not know what to do with themselves or what I expected
of them - the CHAOS reigned supreme as you have also discovered during the
topic posting and the sign up.

I also found that the students were in their full mode of "tribe" behaviour
with looking to the dominant members in the group, not sure if they wanted
to speak up...this is where the safe space creation is critical.  My kids
now respect and listen to all of their peers more carefully as they have
progressively been exposed to ongoing healing circle teaching methods
through out this semester.

Birgitt in her process facilitation course has taught me how right brain
exercises 'transfer in' the students full spirit - they now treat this like
a feeding frenzy at the start of each class (laughter, diving to the centre
of the circle like scramble!!). The rewards of teaching third year design
as a part of my landscape architecture practice are great!
I enjoyed your sharing Esther!
To all a great sunny day (yet again here in Ontario)
Virginia
----------
> From: eewing at INFORAMP.NET
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.IDBSU.EDU
> Subject: Re: OS and Teenagers
> Date: Wednesday, March 25, 1998 7:46 AM
>
> 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