Using OS in classroom (and community)

[Julie Smith]

> Julie: It might be interesting to get someone else to open the space
for
> your class to allow you to participate, like anyone else. You could
> initiate a discussion about this knowledge that you think you should
> share...It would be very interesting to see what would happen. Will
> everyone come to your group? Will some come to hear you and then tell
> others -- teaching each other? Will no one come to your group? WOW!
The   > possibilities are endless. I'd like to be there just to see what
happens!

Double WOW!  Great idea, wendy and fredr'c!  And how 'bout this:  the
"someone else" opening space could be other members of the class.
Taking turns opening space would allow all of us the opportunity to
participate in both roles: as facilitator and as participant.  The
mostly silent listening/space holding aspect of the facilitator role is
a nice fit with the mediator role, so whatever role a person landed in
on a particular day would be full of opportunities to learn and grow.  I
also like how this idea honors the importance of the role of mostly
silent space holder while giving everyone an opportunity to also engage
in the active participant role.

Hmmmmmm....... so simple!  I like it.

Back to brass tacks.  My job is help students learn how to mediate.  I
can play with that a bit, though..... the theme could be lots of things
broader and potentially more interesting than merely mediation..... what
if I asked the class to take on the role of sponsor for the OST?  We
could talk about what OST is and how it works, and see if they want to
run the class in OST. If yes, they could define the theme, design the
invitations, think about space and other things (timeline? food?), and
decide who to send invitations to (now THAT'S interesting, isn't it?
Who might they invite and for what reason?) AND.... one of the givens
could be that students learn how to mediate.  Let them figure out how to
make happen what they want to happen, given the givens.

If all goes well, we'll all have experienced not just one but two peace
practices: OST and mediation.  What an amazing set of tools to have
access to at the ripe young age of high school students.

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