Having just sent off a draft of my lesson plans to Youth Communication, I saw this debate in the Times: “When Do Kids Become Adults?” The discussion touches on a lot of the issues that I bring up in my workshops: recent findings in neuroscience on the time it takes Read more…
I’ve been neglecting this blog, I know, but it’s been for good reason. I’m developing a couple new workshops, one on the teen brain for New Alternatives for Children (more on that later), and two for Youth Communication‘s Summer Writing Workshop (apply here). This year’s theme is identity, so they Read more…
I’m not sure if I’ve already mentioned in this space how I fell into what I’m doing. Basically, one evening my husband came home from a mentoring training session and told me how his group facilitator was struggling with the question of how to help her young people transition to Read more…
One of the joys of working with youth is being there when they suddenly lay themselves bare. Most educators would consider this phenomenon nothing less than a minor miracle. I don’t mean this in a “let’s talk about our feelings” way, which not everyone responds well to. Besides, I am Read more…
The funny thing about the name E. chose—Heaven’s Battle Front—is that his is a peaceful tribe. They are not warriors, but explorers, he said, and anyone over 16 (who grew up in the tribe) could join. E. described the tribe as a large, family-like community that was divided into sub-tribes, Read more…
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 Read 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 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 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…)