SV: [OSLIST] OS with students after Obama's inauguration

Tue Jan 27 17:17:39 PST 2009

Yup, lovely all around. Gems.

And yes to the best description of reinventing the wheel. 

Thanks Chris.

Tenneson Woolf

Lindon, Utah USA

 <mailto:tenneson at berkana.org> tenneson at berkana.org

801 785 2276

801 376 2213 Cell

 <http://www.tennesonwoolf.com> www.tennesonwoolf.com

 <http://www.berkana.org> www.berkana.org

 <http://www.artofhosting.org> www.artofhosting.org

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could
not hear the music.

Nietzsche

  _____  

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Chris
Corrigan
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 5:54 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] SV: [OSLIST] OS with students after Obama's
inauguration

Ashley...this is a lovely story of learning from inspiration.  Our family
was in Hawaii during the inauguration, which is where Barak Obama was born,
and everyone was so excited there.  It was so inspiring that my own kids
started reading voraciously on the history of Presidents, and thinking a lot
about what Obama was saying and what his election means.  It says something
that no Prime Minsiter of Canada has yet inspired such a fit of
self-organized civics study around our house!

And I'm always struck by the fact that most of the time from kids we hear
what the cynical might call "the same old hopes and dreams and wisdom" but
the process of birthing a nugget like that yourself is profound.  For kids
(and other disempowered folks in society) having realizations like this is a
profound experience.  I am a fan of "reinventing the wheel" a lot of the
time, because the process of discovery and invention and creative
conversationa and collaboration is just as important as getting the best
result, or arriving at a piece of wisdom that is at once new and timeless.
Many conversations result in nothing new being realized in terms of the
bigger scheme of things (chatterboxes should keep quiet) but it is a
profound moment when people arrive at those conclusions themselves.  They
experience themselves as wisdom keepers, and that is a very useful thing to
know about oneself.

Ashely, I am always warmed and moved by your dedication to holding spaces in
which people can discover themselves.  It is a great, great gift, and I hope
you know that, and I hope others know that about you too.  

Chris

On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 2:14 PM, Thomas Herrmann
<thomas at openspaceconsulting.com> wrote:

Thanks dear Ashley for this inspiring posting and for the important work you
are doing in the world!

I have facilitated a few OS-events with children. I especially remember
during a facilitated pre-meeting where we used a transfer in to start the
meeting – one of the children (about 10 years old) then named what we had on
the invitation (the event was about how to prevent harassement and mobbing
at schools in the area). It went something like: One stick is easy to break
but many sticks together are difficult to break.

Just as employers, teachers were astonished by the wisdom, engagement and
willingness to take responsibility amongst the kids – and scared maybe
too...

Thanks again for inspiring me – this is great work!

Warm regards

Thomas Herrmann, Kungsbacka, Sweden

  _____  

Från: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] För ashley cooper
Skickat: den 26 januari 2009 00:20
Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Ämne: [OSLIST] OS with students after Obama's inauguration

Ready to be inspired?!

I opened space with 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders after President Obama's
inauguration last week. These kids are amazing.

Their questions (designed by the three 3rd graders on the planning team):

*	What is something that a group of people working together can
change?
*	What is something that you think is important in our school or in
our world that you would like to discuss?

The event started with a poem written by one of the students on the planning
team:

Our Speech by Mila Kopp
1 person
to a small group
to a large group
opportunity and ideas and change
together we can make a difference

And here are some of my favorite comments:

*	STOP Globle Warming (happy voice) in ten years (Deep Voice)
*	make a complante to the president
*	Invent vical that runs on trash or sun, rain
*	Nicely tell others to be nice
*	Help stop war by traiding reciorses
*	If you are shy talk
*	If you are a chatterbox let others have a chance to speak
*	I agree with (another student) that you don't need that many people,
you only need like 5, you don't need like 15 or 20 or 50. You don't need
huge numbers like that. 
*	I learned that when everyone pitches in just a little bit, it can
make a giant difference. 
*	I discovered how pollution can make the air dirty and hurt people
and animals
*	I discovered a lot of people have ideas too.
*	I discovered that once you think about it, there is a lot more waste
*	I learned it can actually be pretty fun to work with other people
*	Teacher: I learned that you all can have important conversations by
yourselves and that you don't need the adults there. I also learned that you
can self-organize what you want to talk about.
*	I discovered there is a lot of things to change and like President
Obama, we should start.

You can read more details about these events at :
http://educatingtheheart.blogspot.com/2009/01/together-we-can-make-differenc
e-open.html

And see pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37996625142@N01/sets/72157612937722591/

I hope to have a video to share some day too... but I have to get
permissions to show their beautiful faces!!

with gratitude,
Ashley

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-- 
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Facilitation - Training - Process Design
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com

Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com
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