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<font size=3>Jay:<br>
<br>
I did Open Space in a school setting with teens. The topic was "How
to make the school safer". The teens came and they really "got
into" the methodology. There were two things that were surprising at
the time but not in retrospect:<br>
<br>
1. The female teenagers took forever to decide which sessions to go to
because they worked by mutual consensus and they didn't want to commit to
a session until they knew who else was going to be there! So there was a
lot of negotiation. It reminded me of my teenage daughters trying to
decide what to do on a Friday night. No one knows until they are walking
out the door with their friends - if then!<br>
<br>
2. You need to prep the adults to be very careful not to dominate the
discussions and to allow for discussions to happen. In the case where I
did it in the school, when a kid said something about liking drugs, for
example, one teacher jumped in and made it clear that it was the kind of
statement that wasn't allowed. That effectively squelched the discussion
in that room. <br>
<br>
In the debrief, the teachers commented that they had been unsure as to
how much to participate and how much to let things happen. If I was doing
it again I would have a meeting with the teachers first to brief them and
to help them have that discussion ahead of time.<br>
<br>
Good luck,<br>
In my opinion, teens get into this very enthusiastically and that it is
the adults who are not sure about doing it. The teens in my school,
embraced it with vigour.<br>
<br>
Regards<br>
Esther<br>
<br>
P.S. Feel free to contact me for more information.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
At 11:50 AM 5/26/99 -0400, you wrote:<br>
>Hi all:<br>
>I am talking with a respected community health program that brings
200 teens<br>
>together with their 50 adult advisors for three days every summer for
a<br>
>leadership retreat about the possibility of doing a day or more of
this event<br>
>in Open Space.<br>
><br>
>They are very excited about it but are skeptical (isn't everyone?)
that it<br>
>will work with teens. They have asked me for cases, for
articles, and for<br>
>phone numbers of folks who have used it with teens. If you are
willing and<br>
>able, please post, or email to me: brief case summaries, phone
numbers of<br>
>contact persons, and/or references to written material to help me
settle<br>
>their jitters a bit.<br>
><br>
>Thanks in advance for your help. Open Space would be GREAT for
these folks.<br>
>Best, Jay<br>
><br>
>Jay W. Vogt<br>
>Peoplesworth<br>
>166 Hubbard Street<br>
>Concord, MA 01742<br>
>(978) 371-3134 - Voice<br>
>(978) 287-5431 - Fax<br>
>jaywv@aol.com - Email<br>
><br>
><br>
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