OS with children: What are the unstated assumptions and aims of OS?

[Chris Weaver]

Elena,

I recently facilitated an Open Space for a high school "student council."
This was a group of thirty 15-to-18 year olds who were elected by their
peers to serve for a year.  Their responsibilities typically involve
organizing school social and community events.

One thing I have noticed in working with young people is that the
90-minutes-per-session guideline is, at least sometimes, too long.  The
teen-agers I have worked with tend to address their issues quickly and plan
effectively with less talk.  60 minutes has worked well.

Your description of your event reminded me of one session when the students
met in the office here at our camp, where there are some couches and rolling
desk chairs.  They addressed their issue to their satisfaction in about 15
minutes, and then their meeting became a "party" - they found a couple of
guitars, and were laughing and hanging out, and the law of two feet guided
many people from other sessions into the office to squeeze onto the couches,
the floor, and onto my desk (smile).  This was at 10 in the morning on a
Sunday.

When the next session started they were all over the camp again in new
groups, back to work planning.

At closing circle they shared some powerful new initiatives that they
developed - diversity forums, conflict mediation - but it seemed that much
of the benefit of their meeting was in the non-quantifyable zone of how
community develops when young people are in a space that is truly their own.

Also, this group had arrived at the camp the day before, and had engaged in
some highly active team-building play activities (drama, ropes course, art
studio).  I am happy to see the effects of this type of beginning to an Open
Space event for young people.  We call it "Open Learning Process" - it
shares with OST the patterns of opening circle and talking circles between
sessions, and the youth choose their groups spontaneously, but the offerings
are pre-planned and facilitated by artists & educators.

After this three-session "warm up," the teen-agers had dinner, a
storytelling circle, and then a real party for several hours.  OST began the
next morning, around the theme of "How can we serve our school community
this year?"

Best of luck with your work with youth.  I have shared the photos of your
meeting on the Lake, which people here enjoyed very much.

Chris Weaver
Swannanoa, North Carolina

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