mental meanderings - you got me going Julie (long)

[Chris Weaver]

Harrison wrote,

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?"

It's a marvelous question.

On Sunday we will be holding our first family potluck.  Instead of a herd of
same-age kids, we'll have parents and kids together.  And we will use (for
lack of a better term) pure open space - anyone can lead an activity, even
the youngest.  I bet it will work.

But with the school groups, the basics of the situation seem to require
pre-designated leadership.  This is simply because, if we have a theme, it
is fun stuff to do.  And 90 minutes of fun stuff to do, three times a day,
seems to often require neat materials, neat tools, artful space-holding, and
careful preparation.  Can young people provide this for themselves,
spontaneously?  I would say yes, sometimes, but not in a way that would
allow us to deliver the promise of our particular program.  As I ponder it,
however, I can imagine how over time our instructor/mentors could become
more and more transparent - background support.  A ten-year old could
convene the climbing tower, and John & Sharon could let the child give all
the safety instructions, and fill in only when necessary.  Our adults could
be on standby to respond to what the children convene.

Along the lines of phasing this in, we are fortunate in the summer to have
our kids for a whole week of residential camp.  We start with instructor-led
sessions, but by the third day we have often had children-convenors (an
amazing hair-braiding workshop under a hickory tree comes to mind...and
there was one 11-year-old football player who wanted to run all the trails
each day, and several kids joined him).

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.

I suspect that you are right.  We spin out practical structures, less fluid
than simple Open Space, for particular situations of working with children.
Sometimes these additional rules do make it "palatable" for certain groups
to sign up.  The additional rules may enhance the learning experience in a
given time frame or location.  But as always you remind me to ask, "What is
one less thing we can do here?"  We may find that it is our own assumptions,
and not the capacity of the children or the givens of the situation, that
hold us back.

Chris
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