(Paul, I do remember "shazam" but not exactly where it's from --I must be just a little bit old! ;-)
I would love to meet up with you and Joelle, please let me know when you'll be in Seattle.) It makes sense to me that suspension of the rules, willingness to try something out of the ordinary, and freedom for people to choose their teams & their projects themselves would allow for powerful results--and, I'm still wondering how much the training/education in shared vocabulary and tools, the introduction of radically different possibilities to the whole group together, and so on, contributes to the conditions for "ripening," for moving us closer to that "edge of chaos" from where the next miracle takes birth. One of the phrases from Harrison's The Practice of Peace book that has stayed with me most is "The Practice of Peace is the intentional creation of the requisite conditions under which Peace may occur." so, I am always intrigued to learn more about the specific ways that people create those conditions, how they tend to and cultivate the terrain (that "care and feeding" piece). Lately my friend Rowan and I have been experimenting with applying the principles of Open Space to our teaching work (with great suggestions from Michael H, thank you!). It has certainly been easier to bring those principles/law into courses that are electives--we get to write a passionate course description/invitation, and students then choose to take the course if it stirs their own passion. The students in the elective course we did last year took immediately to the dynamics of passion and responsibility, and created several good projects and a deep community which has had the interesting outcome of encouraging several of the students to leave our school, to more truly follow their passions. (uh-oh! Courses that open space for self-organization are what we now call "the outlaw curriculum.") Where I have felt much more muddl-y is when I have experimented in required courses--most of the students enjoy generating their own discussion topics and projects, and they've done great work together; and at the same time, some students have told me that they don't like chaos, they want me just to tell them what to do, and one of them definitely didn't want to sit in any circle! :-) I will let you know what happens next... thank you! Christy -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 12:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Care and Feeding Sorry, hit the wrong button---were major factors. But, I'm reluctant to say what was "the" major cause---I don't think one exists, it was a confluence of influences and events and "shazam", a miracle. (You have to be quite old to understand "Shazam", lol) Since Joelle and I come to Seattle frequently, maybe we could meet up and talk sometime? sincerely, Paul Everett * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
