mental meanderings - you got me going Julie (long)

Harrison Owen owenhh at mindspring.com
Wed Oct 30 11:11:58 PST 2002


At 11:47 AM 10/29/2002 -0400, Chris Weaver wrote:
>Part of the palatability of Open Learning Process is that it feels safe to
>educators because it keeps intact the structure of "teacher in
>charge."  To me, this is not just all right, but necessary.  I have
>personally wrestled and experimented in emergent curriculum,
>child-centered learning, democratic schools, and the like for years.  My
>current belief about the essence of a natural learning methodology for
>humans is that:  young people need mentors; mentors need small groups;
>great mentors have always been space holders; and the better their
>technical expertise with the technical aspects of their craft, the better
>space-holders they are.  Being a space-holder with young people is a
>position of authority in the deepest, richest sense of the word, and there
>are as many ways to do this beautifully as there are people.

Chris -- I can see and appreciate the need for "comfort" on the part of the
teachers, and therefore the apparent necessity to do something palatable --
as you say. But I can't help but wonder what would happen with the same
group of kid/teachers/mentors in (for lack of a better term) pure Open
Space? OK, I understand, they might not come. But how about on the second
go 'round? Suppose next year, you said something like -- "Well, you just
had the introduction. Now how about the whole enchilada?"

I certainly agree that in a learning environment, authority is important --
but it is the authority of knowledge and experience -- and that authority
is not automatically granted along with the title teacher/mentor. The
presumption, I guess, is that they are certified to have the answers. But
more important than "answers" (in my experience) is/are questions. When the
questions are clear and acute, people seem naturally to search for answers,
and will gravitate to those who answer with the authority of knowledge and
experience. And if there are no (immediate) answers, the search goes on,
but it becomes a collaborative one. To me -- such searching and
collaborative finding lies at the heart of every Open Space I have been a
part of. Granted I don't do that much with kids/teachers/mentors -- but I
guess I would be very surprised if there was any radical difference.

Harrison


Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm

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