Opening space, transfer-in, small spaces

[Laurel and Rick]

Hi Julie,

I was inspired by your story.  When I first started reading your posting
about how you planned to structure your 6 days, my stomach lurched when I
read that after the OST, you planned to return to didacticism.  I thought
the last two days would dissipate whatever magic was in the air from the
OST.  It seemed strange to move from "the wisdom is all in this room" to
"let me teach you skills" (with the inherent assumption that the
participants lack this knowledge and these skills, and require an expert to
teach them).  It didn't surprise me that the last two "skill building" days
seemed superfluous after the OST - when, in fact, people had probably been
using (and realizing they already had) those very skills they came to learn.
What a wise and wonderful teacher you were to recognize this, let go of your
plans, and let the group get what they needed!

The jury is out for me on "transfer in" processes - I think that they can be
quite captivatiing for a number of people, but that you can lose just as
many folks who feel threatened by the process and just shut down.  Perhaps
it's the practical folk I deal with, but I must say that humour and a spirit
of fun go further than too much levity.  I've been to facilitations using
"transfer in" (as a participant) when folk felt violated, manipulated,
cynical, uncomfortable and "put upon" by the facilitator.  I prefer OST
because I believe the "egoless" facilitator is the best way to unleash the
power of the group - as was so clearly illustrated in your story.

Thanks again, Julie.  Your story sang to me!

Laurel.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Julie Smith" <jsmith at mosquitonet.com>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: Opening space, transfer-in, small spaces


> Greetings ~
>
> I have some limited experience using OST in the classroom that might be
> useful to others considering using this approach.
>
> A colleague and I co-teach a university course for teachers called
> Conflict Resolution in the Classroom.  This is a course we've taught 4
> or 5 times in the past 2 years.  With some encouragement and ideas from
> Judi, we decided to try using OST in this class this year.
>
> The class met in May and June for six hours a day over six consecutive
> days (except for weekends).  We framed our planning around our textbook,
> which was easily divided into five sections.  (We couldn't assign
> reading for the first day of class because students didn't have their
> books yet.  We used the first day as an opportunity to get to know each
> other, to play some games and talk about using cooperative games as a
> way to help create connections and improve classroom culture, to cover
> some basic conflict resolution theory, and to talk about how the class
> would be structured.)
>
> In our planning process, we decided days 2, 3, and 4 were most
> appropriate for OST because the topics on those days were philosophical
> in nature.  We pulled the themes for those days directly from the
> section titles in our textbook.  We were less sure how to use OST for
> the skill-building kinds of topics that we are accustomed to covering,
> so we reserved days 5 and 6 to cover basic negotiation and mediation
> skill-building kinds of things.
>
> Thirteen teachers participated in the class.  The first day of class was
> great.  We covered the ground we wanted to cover, and there was a sense
> of connection, trust, and curiosity beginning to build.
>
> Day 2 we held our first OST. It was wonderful. Intense engaged
> conversation, laughter, learning, insight, and growing respect and
> regard.  In hindsight, I was really happy this day unfolded as it did,
> as several groups met in different places over different topics, in
> typical OST fashion.  As it turned out, after Day 2 the class was
> completely unwilling to separate into small groups again.  They just
> liked and respected each other too much.  No one wanted to miss a single
> word.
>
> Days 3 and 4 were also done in OST.  Topics were posted, and then
> combined, and then arranged in such a way that the group stayed together
> and met as a whole to discuss all the topics as a group.  As I said, no
> one wanted to miss a word.
>
> By the time we got to days 5 and 6, I was feeling very full and
> satisfied and mostly irrelevant.  I did a little overview of a
> negotiation process that is the core of some of the trainings I do,
> expecting to move into a full day of discussion and role-playing, but it
> fell flat.  They weren't done talking with each other yet.  It wasn't
> over, and I was getting in the way.  So I let go of my expectations and
> got out of the way.  We didn't formally open space on days 5 and 6, but
> things ended up moving back into that mode.
>
> The biggest learning for me was a deeper understanding of the vast need
> for teachers to simply have an opportunity to talk with each other.  OST
> revealed the gaping wound of isolation experienced by so many teachers.
>
>
> (When I started thinking about what the school system does with those
> rare moments of time that COULD be opportunities for talking (like
> in-service days and continuing education courses), I realized all the
> time is taken up with "experts" talking at teachers.  There is virtually
> no time made available to teachers to simply talk with each other.  We
> used OST at two teacher in-services in May, and expect to use the
> process in additional in-services next year.  It's conceivable that
> using OST with teachers may lead to them using OST in THEIR classrooms.)
>
> The students loved the class.  We loved the class.  Of the many classes
> I've been involved in as student and instructor, this one shines most
> brightly.
>
> I think there is much more to be learned from using OST in the
> classroom.  I'm still thinking about the skill-building kinds of things
> I'm accustomed to focusing on in my work with both youth and adults, and
> wondering where they fit and how important they are.  These days I'm
> paying more attention to how people are relating to each other and less
> attention to the content of what they're talking about.  I find myself
> caring less about whether students pick up the nuance of communication
> theory, and more about whether they look each other in the eye and smile
> as they walk out the door at the end of the day.
>
> Julie
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html