Ed, I just realized one more thing. One of the aspects of mediation that always appealed to me was the complete lack of authority I had in my role as mediator. I reveled in that aspect of my role. It is that same lack of authority that appeals to me in the role of OST facilitator. The concept of authority-over is chilling to me. My entire being resists it.
Trying to figure out how to claim a place of no authority as an adult in a school setting has been difficult for me. Though I have been in no way authoritarian in my work with students, I never found a way to escape that feeling that I was still in that authority-over role, and to some extent I know the students felt the same way. Your experience has given me a way to make explicit what I had been unsuccessfully leaving implicit. Gaining clarity on this is very valuable to me. Thank you. Julie * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
