D. is the oldest in the group. Since he is 21 he no longer has a dedicated mentor, but Rachael, the group facilitator, still has him participate in the activities while helping him transition to more of a leadership role. Rachael thought that D. would get the most out of the activity compared to the rest, who were all three or more years younger. D. called his group the “psych-out” tribe, where “psych” refers to Read more…
(Lots of posts today because so much has happened in the last few days.) Two days ago I attended a Wesleyan event featuring Lara Galinsky, who makes a living helping individuals follow their path to fulfilling work. She has a saying that HEAD + HEART = HUSTLE , where ‘head’ is all the stuff you’ve learned in school and skills you’ve picked up in past jobs; ‘heart’ is what moves you; and ‘hustle’ is like Read more…
Continuing the thought process from this post, in talking with more and more people about my curriculum, it occurs to me that launching my program ideas is not so unlike getting a dissertation project off the ground. Here are some of the questions I asked myself then, which I am again asking myself as I develop and pitch my curriculum: (more…)
When I designed the Tribal Rites of Passage workshop I wondered if any of the young people would choose to imagine their tribe along ethnic lines. It wasn’t something I actively wanted to avoid or encourage, but during mentor training I mentioned that to help their partners think about the tribes they belonged to (or wanted to belong to), they should be somewhat creative in asking questions. Where do you fit in? What type of people do you admire? Do you participate in any sort of community? Whatever tribe they chose, I wanted it to be something deeply meaningful, rather than just an automatic or default answer.
C. was the only one in the group (aside from one of the adults, and I’ll get to that later) who wished to define her tribe ethnically. (more…)
If A.’s ritual was infused with a spirit of adventure, B., the second young person to present, described a rite of passage that struck me as intensely personal. The ritual was for boys 15 and older (without an age cut-off). B. joked around that girls don’t have to go through the ritual because “women can do everything by themselves.” The values that the tribe sought to inculcate in their initiates were respect, responsibility, cooperation, patience, Read more…
The first person who presented—let’s call him A.—decided just to stand up and describe his ritual without any visual aids (he and his mentor both claimed to be “unable to draw,” and since content was my first priority, I saw no reason to object). He was the one I mentioned who was a bit anxious during the first session. Since he has trouble writing, his mentor wrote down all his ideas and just served to Read more…
Here’s the thing about last Thursday: If I had harbored any doubts about the impact of the first workshop and whether or not I was too ambitious about what could be accomplished in the span of one mentoring session (I certainly was), everything came together beautifully during the follow-up session. After everyone arrived and had a bit of dinner, we went over all the concepts I planned on reviewing in the allotted time of fifteen minutes. I didn’t get to the bonus questions, but then again, I didn’t show the final two videos attached to those questions during group. I think in a different context (with a group of older teenagers or in a situation where we didn’t have to put aside time for dinner or evaluations) we could hew closer to my original lesson plan for the first session. The second session, however, ran longer. (more…)
I don’t yet have the evaluations in hand from the last workshop, but based on the energy in the room and the output of the young people, I could safely say that the Tribal Rites of Passage activity was a success. Even though some people could not make it back for the second session due to personal and work issues, several things indicated that the participants were in fact engaged by the last session. (more…)
Last night’s workshop went really well and I miss the group already. Have a few posts up my sleeve, but I need to send out some emails and write a few evaluations today. Stay tuned.
Talking about reviews in the previous post brought to mind how important it is to give constant signposts to your students. From personal experience, I know what it’s like to get so preoccupied keeping up with weekly lessons at the expense of losing sight of the larger arc of a course. A well-written syllabus will guide students through a course and show how each week contributes toward a larger lesson. But another way of reminding students where we’re at and where we’re headed is by writing down a daily class agenda and doing regular reviews at the beginning of class. (more…)