The following is a piece I wrote this morning to help me stay hopeful. This was after a very heated discussion with my husband at the breakfast table.
Frustrated, angry and fearful of what is in store for Canada with the latest events? Imagine what could happen if we thought outside the box for a minute. For example, instead of having another election in the spring of 2009, what if we locked the four parties into a room and made them use hope language to determine the future of Canada? But then again, we know that those who create the problem are least effective in finding a workable solution. Who, then, might be in that room?
For starters, how about a business woman, Aboriginal Elder, one representative from the various ethnic groups that make up Canada [I know what you are thinking ~ but we ARE thinking outside the box and who knows what is possible~], a Union worker, one of the youth who most recently participated in “So You Want to be the Next Prime Minister” television show, two mayors, one urban, one rural, a homeless person, a doctor, teacher, and social worker, sitting around a table. With the exception of the Aboriginal Elder, all are under that age of 40. Imagine if you will, the possibilities for Canada and the world.
This is only one of many possibilities of what could happen in the next few months. Please send along your ideas ~ if for no other reason, but to humor me so that the events of the last couple of weeks do not paralyze me like it has my country.
In the meantime, I am thankful that we have a few weeks to sort out what happens next.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
A Story from One Who Inspires Me
I am very fortunate to work with some of the most awesome people in the world. One of them is Wendy Edey. She is Director of Counselling at the Hope Foundation of Alberta.
When I arrived to work with the HOPE KIDS program, she gently stood by my side to help my find my way. When I was called out for the first time to work with grade eight students and their teachers, it was Wendy who told me stories of things she did with students that gave me the courage to go out to hear about their hope. It was her encouragement that helped me begin to pull together the Nurturing Hopeful Souls resource. In addition to her talents as a hope-focused counsellor, Wendy is a story teller extraordinaire.
In her most recent posting on The Hope Lady Blog, Wendy tells what happened when she visited a classroom of very young students who wanted to share their hope representations with her. I urge you to check out Wendy's story called "Drawing Hope in the Classroom" because it is one that I have often experienced, but have not been able to say so eloquently!!
When I arrived to work with the HOPE KIDS program, she gently stood by my side to help my find my way. When I was called out for the first time to work with grade eight students and their teachers, it was Wendy who told me stories of things she did with students that gave me the courage to go out to hear about their hope. It was her encouragement that helped me begin to pull together the Nurturing Hopeful Souls resource. In addition to her talents as a hope-focused counsellor, Wendy is a story teller extraordinaire.
In her most recent posting on The Hope Lady Blog, Wendy tells what happened when she visited a classroom of very young students who wanted to share their hope representations with her. I urge you to check out Wendy's story called "Drawing Hope in the Classroom" because it is one that I have often experienced, but have not been able to say so eloquently!!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Student Engagement
Finding the following list of questions embedded in the article "Bringing Student Engagement Through the Classroom Door" in Education Canada Vol 48 no4 by Jodene Dunleavy made my heart sing.
I believe the Hope-Focused Service-Learning project addresses these questions. Take a look ~
Does the work they are asked to do matter to them?
Does it connect to the lives they are living now and the ones they look forward to in the future?
Do they feel the work has value to them beyond achieving success at school?
Do they have opportunities to engage with the ideas of the disciplines they are studying in ways that allow them to develop a deep understanding of complex interrelated concepts and a chance t build 'new to them' ideas or knowledge in a community of learners?
Do they have a sense of ownership and responsibility for their learning, a role to play in co-designing and assessing how and what they learn?
Are they challenged in their learning and supported through relationships that encourage them to take risk, ask questions, make mistakes, and discuss how they feel about learning?
What do you think?
I believe the Hope-Focused Service-Learning project addresses these questions. Take a look ~
Does the work they are asked to do matter to them?
Does it connect to the lives they are living now and the ones they look forward to in the future?
Do they feel the work has value to them beyond achieving success at school?
Do they have opportunities to engage with the ideas of the disciplines they are studying in ways that allow them to develop a deep understanding of complex interrelated concepts and a chance t build 'new to them' ideas or knowledge in a community of learners?
Do they have a sense of ownership and responsibility for their learning, a role to play in co-designing and assessing how and what they learn?
Are they challenged in their learning and supported through relationships that encourage them to take risk, ask questions, make mistakes, and discuss how they feel about learning?
What do you think?
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
From Audacious Hope to Living Hope
As I watched the crowds gather and then listen and cheer as President Elect Obama spoke last night, I could help but think about how things not possible at one time sometimes become a reality. Wendy Edey, my mentor extraordinaire, taught me how things that are not possible at one time, do sometimes become possible. Wendy learned this in her conversations with clients in her hope-focused counselling practice at the Hope Foundation of Alberta. You can read about Wendy's work on her blog at www.thehopelady.blogspot.com.
Having read a good number of books on Obama, both his autobiographies and a biography done on him, I think about how he built his vision on a dream. He did so through tenacity and conversing with others, face to face, in a crowd or through his writing. He mobilized a country to say WE CAN make a difference.
But he did something more than that. Obama demonstrated through his thinking, relating, feeling, and acting that hope is about belief and expectation. He lives hope, audacious, imagined and real. Because his imaginations are "as if behaviours" (Sarbin, 1998), we are drawn toward his vision, believing and expecting that WE CAN work together to be the world a more equitable, peaceful and sustaining place for a greater number of people.
Barack Obama has taught us that if we embrace the multi-dimensional nature of hope great things are possible.
(for more information on "living hope" see Keen, J.A., 1995)
Having read a good number of books on Obama, both his autobiographies and a biography done on him, I think about how he built his vision on a dream. He did so through tenacity and conversing with others, face to face, in a crowd or through his writing. He mobilized a country to say WE CAN make a difference.
But he did something more than that. Obama demonstrated through his thinking, relating, feeling, and acting that hope is about belief and expectation. He lives hope, audacious, imagined and real. Because his imaginations are "as if behaviours" (Sarbin, 1998), we are drawn toward his vision, believing and expecting that WE CAN work together to be the world a more equitable, peaceful and sustaining place for a greater number of people.
Barack Obama has taught us that if we embrace the multi-dimensional nature of hope great things are possible.
(for more information on "living hope" see Keen, J.A., 1995)
Friday, October 31, 2008
Giving Hope a Second Thought
For forty some years I did not give hope a second thought. I was fortunate in that others helped me to cope with difficulties or setbacks. I learned that these setbacks made me stronger and even resilient. However, when I bumped up against a system that was not about to change in my lifetime, I realized that coping was not enough.
When I noticed that hope was a recurring theme in my journal of twelve years, one of my mentors, Dr. Jean Clandinin, encouraged to take the "Hope & Helping Relationship" course as part of my graduate work.
For a very long time, I kept my study of hope at arms length. Hope was for those much less fortunate. It was not until I connected to what was causing me to run the 'treadmill of life' to anesthetize myself to things and events that were in effect cutting me off to what was important to me and who I was, that I realized the importance of paying attention to hope in its many forms. That is as a way of thinking, relating, feeling and behaving.
I am continually amazed at what I see when others uncover and access their hoping selves so they can cope with the uncertainties of life. I see what happens when teachers look on the inside of masks to see their students' hidden hopes. Hidden and protected in some cases because others did not see them as important hopes. I see what happens when a ten year old emphatically states that she has to help her mom see that hope is much more than having money. I see what happens when a student takes off his hood for the first time in class to create and share his hopes on his hope poster.
Someday, perhaps, we will understand why these things happen so that individuals can envision and work toward a future in which they can participate with interest and enthusiasm. For the time being, I am content with asking how we can build on what happens when we make hope visible and accessible.
When I noticed that hope was a recurring theme in my journal of twelve years, one of my mentors, Dr. Jean Clandinin, encouraged to take the "Hope & Helping Relationship" course as part of my graduate work.
For a very long time, I kept my study of hope at arms length. Hope was for those much less fortunate. It was not until I connected to what was causing me to run the 'treadmill of life' to anesthetize myself to things and events that were in effect cutting me off to what was important to me and who I was, that I realized the importance of paying attention to hope in its many forms. That is as a way of thinking, relating, feeling and behaving.
I am continually amazed at what I see when others uncover and access their hoping selves so they can cope with the uncertainties of life. I see what happens when teachers look on the inside of masks to see their students' hidden hopes. Hidden and protected in some cases because others did not see them as important hopes. I see what happens when a ten year old emphatically states that she has to help her mom see that hope is much more than having money. I see what happens when a student takes off his hood for the first time in class to create and share his hopes on his hope poster.
Someday, perhaps, we will understand why these things happen so that individuals can envision and work toward a future in which they can participate with interest and enthusiasm. For the time being, I am content with asking how we can build on what happens when we make hope visible and accessible.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Hope for the Future: The Role of Self-Assessment
For those of you who do not know it - I am an educator who believes in the power of intentionally using hope to enhance quality of life. As such, I am interested in how hope guides us to move toward a future that we can participate with enthusiasm and interest.
Even though the title 'Learning to Hope' transcends the boundaries of classrooms I do spend a lot of time thinking about what I did an what we do inside classrooms to both inspire hope and to use hope to inspire a desirable future. School, in North America, at least, has been back in for the last six weeks or so. That means our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program is back up and running in elementary and junior high schools. It also means that I am back to thinking about the role of assessment in the program and in our lives in general. And since I believe self-assessment is an important component of our hoping selves, I would like to share with you what Steven Wolk writes about self-assessment in the Sept, 2008 article titled 'Joy in School' of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's Educational Leadership journal.
"The idea of assessment in school is not inherently bad; children assess themselves all the time. When they're busy doing something they love outside school, such as tae kwon do, baking, or playing the saxophone - when they're playing the saxophone - whey they're experiencing flow - they don't mind assessment at all. In fact they see it as an important part of the process. But for most students, assessment in school is the enemy . . . Imagine if we graded toddlers on their walking skills." (p.14).
I believe, like Steven Wolk does, that self-assessment helps us to work toward a desired and positive future. I believe that self-assessment builds internal locus of control and, in turn, a sense of responsibility for our individual and collective actions.
That is why I am determined to continue to find ways to make room for reflection through story telling and conversations with students, teachers and community mentors and members about their hope-focused service-learning experiences.
Even though the title 'Learning to Hope' transcends the boundaries of classrooms I do spend a lot of time thinking about what I did an what we do inside classrooms to both inspire hope and to use hope to inspire a desirable future. School, in North America, at least, has been back in for the last six weeks or so. That means our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program is back up and running in elementary and junior high schools. It also means that I am back to thinking about the role of assessment in the program and in our lives in general. And since I believe self-assessment is an important component of our hoping selves, I would like to share with you what Steven Wolk writes about self-assessment in the Sept, 2008 article titled 'Joy in School' of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's Educational Leadership journal.
"The idea of assessment in school is not inherently bad; children assess themselves all the time. When they're busy doing something they love outside school, such as tae kwon do, baking, or playing the saxophone - when they're playing the saxophone - whey they're experiencing flow - they don't mind assessment at all. In fact they see it as an important part of the process. But for most students, assessment in school is the enemy . . . Imagine if we graded toddlers on their walking skills." (p.14).
I believe, like Steven Wolk does, that self-assessment helps us to work toward a desired and positive future. I believe that self-assessment builds internal locus of control and, in turn, a sense of responsibility for our individual and collective actions.
That is why I am determined to continue to find ways to make room for reflection through story telling and conversations with students, teachers and community mentors and members about their hope-focused service-learning experiences.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Imagintion Guiding Our Hope(s)
With school back in and well underway, I am meeting Hope Kids ~ some of whom have been in the program and some new Hope Kids. Yesterday I met with a group of junior high students who are in our Hope-Focused Community Service HOPE KIDS program. These students meet during lunch hour once a week. During this time, we uncover and access our hopes so that we can bring hope to others in the community. The Hope-Focused Community Service HOPE KIDS program is different from our in school program in that we are not so concerned with making connections to school curriculum, but to the curriculum of life. By that I mean, we are learning about hope and our hoping selves as we interact with others in the community outside the school.
Here's an example of what happens during the lunch hour. Since some of these youth participated in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program in grade five and then in a similar lunch hour program in grade six, some of us created new hope kits and some of us added to our existing hope kit. We shared the contents of our kits and how each item informs our hoping self. Then one of the Hope Kids shared her proposal for where she believes we should do our next 'hope project' in the community.
In order to help us 'imagine' what it would look like, she wrote, "Imagine us ..." We were in stitches listening to her imaginings of what our project would look, feel and sound like ~ I could not quite see myself in a top hat, but who knows?
At the end of her proposal, we decided that she had an idea worth exploring, which means that we need to find out more about which hope activities we might embrace, but more importantly why those activities. At our next meeting we will outline what exactly we do need to inquire about to ensure we are meeting the 'hope needs' of children who are hospitalized. This might mean interviewing individuals who have different experiences.
In the meantime, we are starting to collect images to represent our conversations together to help us to remember our stories of uncovering and making our hopes visible.
Imagination helped us to see ourselves bringing hope to sick children in the hospital. I believe it will be a tool that we use often as we work to convince each other of what is possible when we use hope to guide our service.
Here's an example of what happens during the lunch hour. Since some of these youth participated in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program in grade five and then in a similar lunch hour program in grade six, some of us created new hope kits and some of us added to our existing hope kit. We shared the contents of our kits and how each item informs our hoping self. Then one of the Hope Kids shared her proposal for where she believes we should do our next 'hope project' in the community.
In order to help us 'imagine' what it would look like, she wrote, "Imagine us ..." We were in stitches listening to her imaginings of what our project would look, feel and sound like ~ I could not quite see myself in a top hat, but who knows?
At the end of her proposal, we decided that she had an idea worth exploring, which means that we need to find out more about which hope activities we might embrace, but more importantly why those activities. At our next meeting we will outline what exactly we do need to inquire about to ensure we are meeting the 'hope needs' of children who are hospitalized. This might mean interviewing individuals who have different experiences.
In the meantime, we are starting to collect images to represent our conversations together to help us to remember our stories of uncovering and making our hopes visible.
Imagination helped us to see ourselves bringing hope to sick children in the hospital. I believe it will be a tool that we use often as we work to convince each other of what is possible when we use hope to guide our service.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Creativity, Imagination, & Hope
Yesterday I had the honour of meeting grade seven students who were creating scarecrows of hope. They were doing this to kick off their study to understand how intentionally using hope enhances quality of life. They were also making the 'hope' scarecrows for the Hope Foundation's annual Harvest of Hope Affair on September 26. The students were working in groups to create thematic scarecrows of hope that represent their hopes for the future. For example, one of the scarecrows was a graduation scarecrow.
As I reflect back on my visit and the conversations that I had with the students and their teacher, Ms. Holt, I could not help but think about the relationship between hope, creativity and imagination. "Creativity is most often defined as a process of construction of the new, while imagineation is a form of thought in whihc the new is brought to awareness"(Gallas, 2001, p. 460).
As these students create their scarecrows and then imagine (in the reflections they will be doing) how "their scarecrow" represents what they hope for in the future and what they will have to do to get to the images that surface as they imagine what is possible.
I believe this tells us that creativity and imagination have a special role to play in learning to hope. Furthermore, for those who feel that hope is about goal achievement, it would appear that it is equally important to pay attention to the role of creativity and imagination.
Reference:
Gallas, K. (2001). "Look, Karen, I'm running like jell-o": Imagination as a question, a topic, a tool for literacy research and learning. Research in the Teaching of English. 35, 457 - 492.
As I reflect back on my visit and the conversations that I had with the students and their teacher, Ms. Holt, I could not help but think about the relationship between hope, creativity and imagination. "Creativity is most often defined as a process of construction of the new, while imagineation is a form of thought in whihc the new is brought to awareness"(Gallas, 2001, p. 460).
As these students create their scarecrows and then imagine (in the reflections they will be doing) how "their scarecrow" represents what they hope for in the future and what they will have to do to get to the images that surface as they imagine what is possible.
I believe this tells us that creativity and imagination have a special role to play in learning to hope. Furthermore, for those who feel that hope is about goal achievement, it would appear that it is equally important to pay attention to the role of creativity and imagination.
Reference:
Gallas, K. (2001). "Look, Karen, I'm running like jell-o": Imagination as a question, a topic, a tool for literacy research and learning. Research in the Teaching of English. 35, 457 - 492.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Nurturing Hopeful Souls Workshop
Nurturing Hopeful Souls:
Hopeful Practices and Activities
for
Children and Youth
Workshop
For individuals who would like to know more about specific hope-focused practices and strategies and how to implement them with children and youth so they are able to:
- visualize and work toward a positive and meaningful future
- work toward goals
- build resilience
- become more engaged in their school studies
Friday, November 28, 2008
at
The Hope Foundation of Alberta
11032-89 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
$250.00
In addition to learning more about making hope visible and accessible, you will receive a copy of Nurturing Hopeful Souls resource with easy ten easy to implement strategies to help get you started!!
Register by calling (780) 492-1222 before November 21, 2008
Hopeful Practices and Activities
for
Children and Youth
Workshop
For individuals who would like to know more about specific hope-focused practices and strategies and how to implement them with children and youth so they are able to:
- visualize and work toward a positive and meaningful future
- work toward goals
- build resilience
- become more engaged in their school studies
Friday, November 28, 2008
at
The Hope Foundation of Alberta
11032-89 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
$250.00
In addition to learning more about making hope visible and accessible, you will receive a copy of Nurturing Hopeful Souls resource with easy ten easy to implement strategies to help get you started!!
Register by calling (780) 492-1222 before November 21, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Hope Wonders
I thought you might be interested in seeing the 128 questions grade five students generated about hope when they participated in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program last year. They each chose three questions from this list to write their hope essays. I will share some of their findings in future postings.
Does hope matter?
What does hope mean?
Where does hope come from?
Where is hope all the time?
What is hope?
Why is it called hope?
How can you make hope?
Does everyone have hope?
Where can you find hope?
How does hope work?
Where do we keep hope?
Whey do we need hope?
What does hope sound like?
Why do we have hope?
When does hope come into action?
What is the history of hope?
Can you give hope to one another?
How old is hope?
Is hope contagious?
Where does hope live in people?
Can someone take your hope away?
How many times has hope been said in the world?
Can hope make a difference in your life?
Who is hope?
Can hope give you help?
Where can you find hope?
What does hope mean to other people?
Who has hope?
What does hope look like?
Where can you get hope?
Are there different types of hope?
Why do we have hope?
Who made hope?
Is hope useful?
Can people see hope in different ways?
When do you need hope?
When can hope come to you?
Is hope useful?
Does hope communicate?
Why do we need hope?
Can you touch hope?
What s the point of hope?
Does hope affect people?
Do aliens have hope?
Does hope bring peace?
Does everyone in the world have hope?
What can see hope?
Do animals have hope?
Can hope take the form of a person?
How big can hope get?
How is hope connected to love?
Are people hope?
Does hope have hope?
Does hope connect the world?
Can hope morph?
Is hope connected to people?
What makes hope special?
How small can hope get?
What does hope bring?
Do all living things have hope?
Does hope hide?
Is hope alive?
Does hope have a voice?
Is hope endangered sometimes?
Is hope here?
Does hope involve science?
Does hope connect with the universe?
What does hope eat?
Why is hope everywhere?
Does hope bring you luck?
Does hope make our lives better?
Do you need hope?
Does hope involve someone?
Where is hope in our life?
Can people destroy hope?
Should there be a “hope day”?
Has there been a “hope day”?
How smart is hope?
How can you feed your hope?
How does hope help us?
Does hope bring us humour?
Is there a relationship between hope and humour?
Is hope love?
Are people hope?
Does hope die?
How does hope move?
What does hope help us with?
What does hope feel like?
Does hope involve countries?
What is hope made of?
Can people make hope?
How much hope is there in the world?
Are there places that give us hope?
Is hope a dream?
Is hope loud?
Is hope soundless?
How strong is hope?
How does hope survive?
Does hope have feelings?
Is there hope in heaven?
Is there hope in our classroom?
Who gave us hope?
Can God give us hope?
Is hope above us?
Do hope and peace connect?
Is hope in the mountains?
Is hope in friends?
Do trees have hope?
Is hope connected to kindness, friendship, and peace?
Where does hope come from?
Does hope communicate?
What does hope mean?
Where does hope come from?
Where is hope all the time?
What is hope?
Why is it called hope?
How can you make hope?
Does everyone have hope?
Where can you find hope?
How does hope work?
Where do we keep hope?
Whey do we need hope?
What does hope sound like?
Why do we have hope?
When does hope come into action?
What is the history of hope?
Can you give hope to one another?
How old is hope?
Is hope contagious?
Where does hope live in people?
Can someone take your hope away?
How many times has hope been said in the world?
Can hope make a difference in your life?
Who is hope?
Can hope give you help?
Where can you find hope?
What does hope mean to other people?
Who has hope?
What does hope look like?
Where can you get hope?
Are there different types of hope?
Why do we have hope?
Who made hope?
Is hope useful?
Can people see hope in different ways?
When do you need hope?
When can hope come to you?
Is hope useful?
Does hope communicate?
Why do we need hope?
Can you touch hope?
What s the point of hope?
Does hope affect people?
Do aliens have hope?
Does hope bring peace?
Does everyone in the world have hope?
What can see hope?
Do animals have hope?
Can hope take the form of a person?
How big can hope get?
How is hope connected to love?
Are people hope?
Does hope have hope?
Does hope connect the world?
Can hope morph?
Is hope connected to people?
What makes hope special?
How small can hope get?
What does hope bring?
Do all living things have hope?
Does hope hide?
Is hope alive?
Does hope have a voice?
Is hope endangered sometimes?
Is hope here?
Does hope involve science?
Does hope connect with the universe?
What does hope eat?
Why is hope everywhere?
Does hope bring you luck?
Does hope make our lives better?
Do you need hope?
Does hope involve someone?
Where is hope in our life?
Can people destroy hope?
Should there be a “hope day”?
Has there been a “hope day”?
How smart is hope?
How can you feed your hope?
How does hope help us?
Does hope bring us humour?
Is there a relationship between hope and humour?
Is hope love?
Are people hope?
Does hope die?
How does hope move?
What does hope help us with?
What does hope feel like?
Does hope involve countries?
What is hope made of?
Can people make hope?
How much hope is there in the world?
Are there places that give us hope?
Is hope a dream?
Is hope loud?
Is hope soundless?
How strong is hope?
How does hope survive?
Does hope have feelings?
Is there hope in heaven?
Is there hope in our classroom?
Who gave us hope?
Can God give us hope?
Is hope above us?
Do hope and peace connect?
Is hope in the mountains?
Is hope in friends?
Do trees have hope?
Is hope connected to kindness, friendship, and peace?
Where does hope come from?
Does hope communicate?
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Looking Forward and Back
It's funny, but when I started this blog I could not stop writing on it. This summer something else happened. I got busy finishing up a few publications and I pretty left this blog to fend for itself. Funnier yet, blogs don't do well when left alone to fend for themselves. I guess I hoped that someone would contact me ~ let me know what they think about my musings in relation to their experiences.
In the meantime, I did publish. The 'Nurturing Hopeful Souls' resource with hope-focused practices and activities for working with children and youth is being printed as I write this. I have to secure an ISBN number and the cover to add to the 'Teacher Hope Initiative Story' monograph and then that publication will be ready to print. I had wonderful discussions with teachers who were attending the Alberta Teacher's Association Summer Conference in Banff in mid August. I created my first ever digital story last week and am excited about sharing what I learned with teachers and students who participate in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
It has been a summer to catch up. Now it is time to gear up.
We have three Hope-Focused Service-Learning workshops planned on October 3, January 23, April 24 and a celebration wrap-up scheduled for July 2.
We have a 'Nurturing Hopeful Souls' Workshop planned for October 16. Those attending this workshop will receive a copy of the resource and will have a chance to participate in the practices and activities in a safe environment.
I am looking forward to working with the St. Albert Rotarians early in September as they step forward to mentor the new Hope Kids in the various projects that we have been building over the last four years. Funding from TD Trust in St. Albert will also help us move forward on some of the new ideas that developed since our last wrap-up meeting on July 3.
I am looking forward to the 'Principals of Hope' seminar that we have planned for February 3.
It seems that I am learning that hope is about endings and beginnings...looking forward and back.
In the meantime, I did publish. The 'Nurturing Hopeful Souls' resource with hope-focused practices and activities for working with children and youth is being printed as I write this. I have to secure an ISBN number and the cover to add to the 'Teacher Hope Initiative Story' monograph and then that publication will be ready to print. I had wonderful discussions with teachers who were attending the Alberta Teacher's Association Summer Conference in Banff in mid August. I created my first ever digital story last week and am excited about sharing what I learned with teachers and students who participate in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
It has been a summer to catch up. Now it is time to gear up.
We have three Hope-Focused Service-Learning workshops planned on October 3, January 23, April 24 and a celebration wrap-up scheduled for July 2.
We have a 'Nurturing Hopeful Souls' Workshop planned for October 16. Those attending this workshop will receive a copy of the resource and will have a chance to participate in the practices and activities in a safe environment.
I am looking forward to working with the St. Albert Rotarians early in September as they step forward to mentor the new Hope Kids in the various projects that we have been building over the last four years. Funding from TD Trust in St. Albert will also help us move forward on some of the new ideas that developed since our last wrap-up meeting on July 3.
I am looking forward to the 'Principals of Hope' seminar that we have planned for February 3.
It seems that I am learning that hope is about endings and beginnings...looking forward and back.
Friday, August 8, 2008
A Poem of Hope
I preparation for a workshop for teachers title 'Hope for Humanity', I came across this poem, composed by a young girl in Belarus, Russia, near the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster area.
I did not pick the title for the workshop. That was done by the organizers after we had a conversation about our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. As I think about what I am seeing and hearing from teachers, parents, community mentors and members, students and funders about the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program, I believe this poem speaks to the many ways we can activate hope. And so I will take this poem to the presentation. In the meantime, I wanted to share it with those of you who won't be in the presentation.
One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake a dream.
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal.
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room,
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey,
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what's true.
One life can make the difference.
You see, it's up to you.
I did not pick the title for the workshop. That was done by the organizers after we had a conversation about our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. As I think about what I am seeing and hearing from teachers, parents, community mentors and members, students and funders about the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program, I believe this poem speaks to the many ways we can activate hope. And so I will take this poem to the presentation. In the meantime, I wanted to share it with those of you who won't be in the presentation.
One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake a dream.
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal.
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room,
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey,
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what's true.
One life can make the difference.
You see, it's up to you.
Friday, August 1, 2008
TELUS: Building Critical Hope and Learned Hopefulness
I just have to share with you the wonderful event that Laurie, our Executive Director at the Hope Foundation, and I attended last evening. It was the TELUS Celebration of Giving event held here in Edmonton. We were invited because we received funding from TELUS last year.
Twenty different charities received a cheque from the Employee Giving program. What that means is that besides the community grants that TELUS provides every year to assist non-profits make a difference in their community, the employees also give to their charities of their choice! The mood in the room was indeed celebatory for everyone - those receiving cheques and those of us who were there because we had received previous funding. We had an opportunity to share with each other the good work that is happening in our communities. We also had an opportunity to see what happens when an organization chooses to make a real difference in the communities where their employees live and work - TELUS calls it "give where you live". I know that TELUS employees also volunteer their time in their community. That resonates for me because it is what our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program espouses. Students are encouraged to interact with and bring hope to those in their own community first. Stephen John Quaye calls that building critical hope. He states, "When students become active, their critical hope often leads to three learning outcomes that are valued in higher education: appreciation of differences, cultivation of students' voices, and connection to global society." It's also about building opportunities for learned hopefulness. Back in 1990 Zimmerman learned that those who gave back to the community were better able to envision and work toward a personally desired future.
But there is more - TELUS is donating 200 dinners to the Bissel Centre and Hope Mission in honour of the 200 guests who attended the Celebration of Giving event.
This morning I woke up feeling rejuvenated knowing that there are hopeful organizations like TELUS out there who are bringing hope both to their employees and to individuals within our community.
As I come to the end of this entry I realize that I have just repeated myself. The previous blog (image) says it all!
References:
Quaye, S. J. (2007). Hope and learning: The outcomes of contemporary student activism. About Campus, 12(2), 2-9.
Zimmerman, M.A. (1990). Toward a theory of learned hopefulness: A structural model analysis of participation and empowerment. Journal of Research in Personality, 24, 71-86.
Twenty different charities received a cheque from the Employee Giving program. What that means is that besides the community grants that TELUS provides every year to assist non-profits make a difference in their community, the employees also give to their charities of their choice! The mood in the room was indeed celebatory for everyone - those receiving cheques and those of us who were there because we had received previous funding. We had an opportunity to share with each other the good work that is happening in our communities. We also had an opportunity to see what happens when an organization chooses to make a real difference in the communities where their employees live and work - TELUS calls it "give where you live". I know that TELUS employees also volunteer their time in their community. That resonates for me because it is what our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program espouses. Students are encouraged to interact with and bring hope to those in their own community first. Stephen John Quaye calls that building critical hope. He states, "When students become active, their critical hope often leads to three learning outcomes that are valued in higher education: appreciation of differences, cultivation of students' voices, and connection to global society." It's also about building opportunities for learned hopefulness. Back in 1990 Zimmerman learned that those who gave back to the community were better able to envision and work toward a personally desired future.
But there is more - TELUS is donating 200 dinners to the Bissel Centre and Hope Mission in honour of the 200 guests who attended the Celebration of Giving event.
This morning I woke up feeling rejuvenated knowing that there are hopeful organizations like TELUS out there who are bringing hope both to their employees and to individuals within our community.
As I come to the end of this entry I realize that I have just repeated myself. The previous blog (image) says it all!
References:
Quaye, S. J. (2007). Hope and learning: The outcomes of contemporary student activism. About Campus, 12(2), 2-9.
Zimmerman, M.A. (1990). Toward a theory of learned hopefulness: A structural model analysis of participation and empowerment. Journal of Research in Personality, 24, 71-86.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Connect the World With HOPE
Another slogan from a grade five student who participated in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Hope Slogans
This spring grade five students participating in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program create t-shirts with hope slogans. Since a picture is worth a 1000 words, at least, I decided to post a few of these slogans for you to ponder.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Hope Lit International Data Base
For those of you who read this blog from time to time, I will not be posting for the next little while. I don't want to say how long because it may only be a couple of weeks. What I do know is that if I do post during the month of June it will be very sporadic.
I will be back in full force in July and look forward to reflecting on what I am learning about hope on this site once again. In the meantime, you may want to check out the International Hope Data Base that you can access on the Hope Foundation of Alberta's web page at www.ualberta.ca/hope. It is the only data base of its kind in the world and is used by anyone who wants to know more about a specific topic on hope.
When I started at the Hope Foundation, we had one filing cabinet on hope research - theoretical and applied. About 2004, it became apparent that we could not house the articles in the Jack Chesney Resource Centre at Hope House. So a summer student created a taxonomy of hope articles and books on a variety of hope topics. Now you can look up a topic, see what has come to our attention (we have search engines letting us know what is new) and then obtain what you need to know to be able to obtain it.
I will be back in full force in July and look forward to reflecting on what I am learning about hope on this site once again. In the meantime, you may want to check out the International Hope Data Base that you can access on the Hope Foundation of Alberta's web page at www.ualberta.ca/hope. It is the only data base of its kind in the world and is used by anyone who wants to know more about a specific topic on hope.
When I started at the Hope Foundation, we had one filing cabinet on hope research - theoretical and applied. About 2004, it became apparent that we could not house the articles in the Jack Chesney Resource Centre at Hope House. So a summer student created a taxonomy of hope articles and books on a variety of hope topics. Now you can look up a topic, see what has come to our attention (we have search engines letting us know what is new) and then obtain what you need to know to be able to obtain it.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Hopes Inspiring
As I begin winding the school year down, my conversations with students in classrooms for the year, I am struck by how profound children and youth are when we make the time to hear what they have to say ~ especially about hope.
Yesterday a fourteen year old student eloquently described the difference between caring with and caring for. Because caring was one of his 7 C's of hope I was curious about how he described the difference. But there was another reason. I believe the Hope-focused Service-learning program is more a "caring with" program. The students description of the difference between the two describes why I think the Hope-focused Service-learning program is about caring with. He said, "Caring with is doing stuff with someone else. Like cleaning up the schoolyard together. Caring for is donating to someone or adopting." Caring with means interacting with another person or as another student described co-operating and communicating with someone to create hope.
Teachers, too, shared, books that they thought I should add to the Hopeful Picture Books bibliography that I am creating and will share on my website www.learningtohope.ca in the very near future. Since all books are essentially about hope, the bibliography will be arranged according to discussion themes like perseverance, courage, and imagination.
These conversations feed my hope to start planning for next year!
Yesterday a fourteen year old student eloquently described the difference between caring with and caring for. Because caring was one of his 7 C's of hope I was curious about how he described the difference. But there was another reason. I believe the Hope-focused Service-learning program is more a "caring with" program. The students description of the difference between the two describes why I think the Hope-focused Service-learning program is about caring with. He said, "Caring with is doing stuff with someone else. Like cleaning up the schoolyard together. Caring for is donating to someone or adopting." Caring with means interacting with another person or as another student described co-operating and communicating with someone to create hope.
Teachers, too, shared, books that they thought I should add to the Hopeful Picture Books bibliography that I am creating and will share on my website www.learningtohope.ca in the very near future. Since all books are essentially about hope, the bibliography will be arranged according to discussion themes like perseverance, courage, and imagination.
These conversations feed my hope to start planning for next year!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Hope-apotamus Youth Art Show
Every year we invite children and youth to create 2-D representations of hope for Hope Week. Hope Week is celebrated during the last week of January. We are going to change it up this year.
Instead of asking for hope representations we are going to ask for hope-apotami, 2-D and 3-D representations. I imagine that they will be seen all over the city after our Hope Week. I imagine that some of them will be close to life size ~ especially if a group of children or youth take on the project.
We are, at the moment, looking for individuals who would be interested in sitting on a committee to organize this undertaking. Then we will be looking for children and youth to participate. If you are interested in becoming involved, please let me know by contacting the Hope Foundation at (780) 492-1222 or replying to this posting.
Looking forward to hearing from you!!
Instead of asking for hope representations we are going to ask for hope-apotami, 2-D and 3-D representations. I imagine that they will be seen all over the city after our Hope Week. I imagine that some of them will be close to life size ~ especially if a group of children or youth take on the project.
We are, at the moment, looking for individuals who would be interested in sitting on a committee to organize this undertaking. Then we will be looking for children and youth to participate. If you are interested in becoming involved, please let me know by contacting the Hope Foundation at (780) 492-1222 or replying to this posting.
Looking forward to hearing from you!!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Hope and Courage
Learning to hope and about hope happens most often when I am in conversation with one or more individuals. This happened last week when I met with a group of junior high students. They were sharing what they have been creating in their explorations of hope in their health classes. We were taking photographs of their work from their hope folios so that we could create a digital story of their experience of connecting with their hope individually and collectively.
When we turned to what they have noticed since doing the hope study one of the students said it has made him more courageous to work toward becoming a soccer player. I remembered that it was grade five students who told us courage was missing from our list of 7 C's. Hope research and literature suggests courage is needed to hope and hope is needed to have courage.
Knowing from experience that the original list of 7 C's are a good starting point in a hope discussion, but like hope are unique to everyone and change depending on one's circumstances, we began to tease out the original list of 7 C's. I was surprised that this group of students listed four from the original list. Usually I have to add most of the original list. They listed commitment, creativity, caring, and community. One of the students suggested cooperation, which is not on the original list.
Like I said earlier, this list is really a jumping off point for being able to identify and make explicit one's hope in the moment. If we had created our 7 C symbols on that day, I am certain that they would be different than they will be when we do them this week. Our hopes change. What I gleaned from this activity, is that we could create symbols of our individual and group 7 C's at different points and then reflect on how they have changed depending on what we were experiencing at the time. I believe this is one example of where we can reflect and track how we use hope to overcome adversity and uncertainty in our lives. This would, in my opinion be an excellent hope tool to use when experiencing feelings of hopelessness about an outcome. An adult and child could use these to determine actions, thoughts, feelings, and relationships from the past to overcome a current obstacle in one's life.
On my walk back to the Hope Foundation, I thought about cooperation. After spending a year making hope explicit from time to time, these students identified cooperation as an important component of hope. Studying what contributes to a hopeful community is part of the hope-focused service-learning program. Working cooperatively in teams is one of the service-learning competencies. The fact that these students identified cooperation as one of the 7 C's of hope tells me, once again, that we are on the right track. Imagine what our world would look, feel and sound like if we cooperated with each other?
When we turned to what they have noticed since doing the hope study one of the students said it has made him more courageous to work toward becoming a soccer player. I remembered that it was grade five students who told us courage was missing from our list of 7 C's. Hope research and literature suggests courage is needed to hope and hope is needed to have courage.
Knowing from experience that the original list of 7 C's are a good starting point in a hope discussion, but like hope are unique to everyone and change depending on one's circumstances, we began to tease out the original list of 7 C's. I was surprised that this group of students listed four from the original list. Usually I have to add most of the original list. They listed commitment, creativity, caring, and community. One of the students suggested cooperation, which is not on the original list.
Like I said earlier, this list is really a jumping off point for being able to identify and make explicit one's hope in the moment. If we had created our 7 C symbols on that day, I am certain that they would be different than they will be when we do them this week. Our hopes change. What I gleaned from this activity, is that we could create symbols of our individual and group 7 C's at different points and then reflect on how they have changed depending on what we were experiencing at the time. I believe this is one example of where we can reflect and track how we use hope to overcome adversity and uncertainty in our lives. This would, in my opinion be an excellent hope tool to use when experiencing feelings of hopelessness about an outcome. An adult and child could use these to determine actions, thoughts, feelings, and relationships from the past to overcome a current obstacle in one's life.
On my walk back to the Hope Foundation, I thought about cooperation. After spending a year making hope explicit from time to time, these students identified cooperation as an important component of hope. Studying what contributes to a hopeful community is part of the hope-focused service-learning program. Working cooperatively in teams is one of the service-learning competencies. The fact that these students identified cooperation as one of the 7 C's of hope tells me, once again, that we are on the right track. Imagine what our world would look, feel and sound like if we cooperated with each other?
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Five Major Components of a Hope-Focused Service-Learning Program
There are many wonderful outcomes that we are seeing in our pilot Hope-Focused Service-Learning programs! I think you will agree that comments like the ones from students in the last post tell us that we need to continue this work.
Perhaps if I tell you about what it is that contributes to the success of the program you will better understand why I am so very excited about what I see and hear when I interact with teachers, students, community members and funders.
Simply put there are five main components that must be addressed in a Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
1. It must have a hope focus. The Nurturing Hopeful Souls: Hopeful Practices and Strategies for Children and Youth provides a solid foundation for exploring and maintaining a hopeful perspective. Up until this point this resource has been used in its draft form. However, it will be ready for purchase on the Hope Foundation's website or by calling or visiting the Hope Foundation in June 2008.
2. Secondly, service tasks must be connected to and help to ensure curriculum outcomes are addressed.
3. Hope-Focused Service-Learning seeks to maximize student voice through inquiry-based, experiential learning.
4. Students must be engaged in service tasks that meet genuine "hope" needs of the school or local community and have significant consequences for themselves and others.
5. Assessment and especially self-assessment is used as a way to enhance student learning. Self-assessment requires ongoing reflection before, during and after service.
There are other components of course, many of which are incorporated into these five main ones. For example, students and teachers develop an essential question that guides their inquiry around a hope-focused service-learning project. Because reflection is a hope practice it is embedded into the self-assessment component.
As we conclude our third year of pilots, the Hope-Focused Service-Learning manual and training modules are being pulled together so that whole schools can use a Hope-Focused Service-Learning focus. I will keep you posted as we move into this arena next year!
Perhaps if I tell you about what it is that contributes to the success of the program you will better understand why I am so very excited about what I see and hear when I interact with teachers, students, community members and funders.
Simply put there are five main components that must be addressed in a Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
1. It must have a hope focus. The Nurturing Hopeful Souls: Hopeful Practices and Strategies for Children and Youth provides a solid foundation for exploring and maintaining a hopeful perspective. Up until this point this resource has been used in its draft form. However, it will be ready for purchase on the Hope Foundation's website or by calling or visiting the Hope Foundation in June 2008.
2. Secondly, service tasks must be connected to and help to ensure curriculum outcomes are addressed.
3. Hope-Focused Service-Learning seeks to maximize student voice through inquiry-based, experiential learning.
4. Students must be engaged in service tasks that meet genuine "hope" needs of the school or local community and have significant consequences for themselves and others.
5. Assessment and especially self-assessment is used as a way to enhance student learning. Self-assessment requires ongoing reflection before, during and after service.
There are other components of course, many of which are incorporated into these five main ones. For example, students and teachers develop an essential question that guides their inquiry around a hope-focused service-learning project. Because reflection is a hope practice it is embedded into the self-assessment component.
As we conclude our third year of pilots, the Hope-Focused Service-Learning manual and training modules are being pulled together so that whole schools can use a Hope-Focused Service-Learning focus. I will keep you posted as we move into this arena next year!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
A Case for Hope-Focused Service-Learning
As a student driven program, Hope-Focused Service-Learning projects empower youth to demonstrate the responsible use of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in building healthy, resilient selves and communities. Youth, parents, teachers, and community members work together to increase protective factors at the individual, family and community level. Meeting genuine community needs through experiential activities creates respect for diversity. Making hope visible and accessible, while meeting genuine community needs enables participants to envision and work toward a desired and positive future. Documenting and telling individual and collective stories of the Hope-Focused Service-Learning experience makes large-scale transformations possible.
A Hope-Focused Service-Learning program is divided into five phases. In the first phase students and their teacher explore hope and service through a particular subject or across subjects. An enduring question that provides a focus for the hope-focused service-learning project that is connected to curriculum often surfaces in phase one. For example, one grade five student asked, "What does hope have to do with being a good citizen?"
In phase two, students and teachers examine how they contribute to a hopeful learning environment while building on service-learning competencies like working on a team, developing open-ended questions and deep listening skills. They also begin examining hope in the school, neighbourhood or community. In so doing, they conduct a needs assessment and then they plan, with the help of community members, their parents and teachers, a hope-focused service project with an evaluative component.
In phase three, students carry out a hope-focused service project in their community or school. Students examine how they are individually and collectively making a difference using hope as their guide. With the help of their teachers, parents, and the community members with whom they interact, students also track what they what they are learning about themselves personally, socially, academically and how that learning may influence future career choices.
In phase four students evaluate, using their hope-folio reflections, how they made a difference in the community individually and collectively. They also do a formal evaluation that is connected to their needs assessment and original hopes. Students have an opportunity to build a demonstrative e-portfolio using digital stories as one means. They also reflect on what they have learned in connection to their enduring question.
In phase five students, parents, teachers and the community celebrate what they learned and the difference they made by making hope visible and accessible in their own lives and in the lives of others in the community.
Assessment for learning occurs at all phases. Teachers, parents and students work toward and track academic, personal, social, citizenship and career outcomes. Students develop self-assessment competencies that will serve them in the future. Comments from grade five students who participated in a pilot Hope-Focused Service-Learning program speak to its importance.
I used to think why do we do service? Now I know that we do it to help others.
Follow your dreams till the end. If you have struggles hope will guide you.
If you look deep down even when you’re depressed you can find a spark of hope.
Hope is a word that means believing in you and others. Hope is related to almost everything you do, like and believe in.
Hope goes everywhere. People really don’t think about hope and they should. Hope is something that should be shared with everyone.
At the beginning of the year when I first heard that we were learning about hope, I thought why hope. We already know all about it. But now I know that what I thought before was wrong. I’m glad that we are learning about hope. It has a lot of different meanings. Hope is a very good thing. It helps you learn more about yourself.
Hope is making people happy so they can have hope. Hope can mean different things to different people. One other thing that I think it is, it is something that drives you toward ACHIEVEMENT!
Hope can be many different things. I think it is something that can help you in the future to move on in life.
A Hope-Focused Service-Learning program is divided into five phases. In the first phase students and their teacher explore hope and service through a particular subject or across subjects. An enduring question that provides a focus for the hope-focused service-learning project that is connected to curriculum often surfaces in phase one. For example, one grade five student asked, "What does hope have to do with being a good citizen?"
In phase two, students and teachers examine how they contribute to a hopeful learning environment while building on service-learning competencies like working on a team, developing open-ended questions and deep listening skills. They also begin examining hope in the school, neighbourhood or community. In so doing, they conduct a needs assessment and then they plan, with the help of community members, their parents and teachers, a hope-focused service project with an evaluative component.
In phase three, students carry out a hope-focused service project in their community or school. Students examine how they are individually and collectively making a difference using hope as their guide. With the help of their teachers, parents, and the community members with whom they interact, students also track what they what they are learning about themselves personally, socially, academically and how that learning may influence future career choices.
In phase four students evaluate, using their hope-folio reflections, how they made a difference in the community individually and collectively. They also do a formal evaluation that is connected to their needs assessment and original hopes. Students have an opportunity to build a demonstrative e-portfolio using digital stories as one means. They also reflect on what they have learned in connection to their enduring question.
In phase five students, parents, teachers and the community celebrate what they learned and the difference they made by making hope visible and accessible in their own lives and in the lives of others in the community.
Assessment for learning occurs at all phases. Teachers, parents and students work toward and track academic, personal, social, citizenship and career outcomes. Students develop self-assessment competencies that will serve them in the future. Comments from grade five students who participated in a pilot Hope-Focused Service-Learning program speak to its importance.
I used to think why do we do service? Now I know that we do it to help others.
Follow your dreams till the end. If you have struggles hope will guide you.
If you look deep down even when you’re depressed you can find a spark of hope.
Hope is a word that means believing in you and others. Hope is related to almost everything you do, like and believe in.
Hope goes everywhere. People really don’t think about hope and they should. Hope is something that should be shared with everyone.
At the beginning of the year when I first heard that we were learning about hope, I thought why hope. We already know all about it. But now I know that what I thought before was wrong. I’m glad that we are learning about hope. It has a lot of different meanings. Hope is a very good thing. It helps you learn more about yourself.
Hope is making people happy so they can have hope. Hope can mean different things to different people. One other thing that I think it is, it is something that drives you toward ACHIEVEMENT!
Hope can be many different things. I think it is something that can help you in the future to move on in life.
Monday, April 28, 2008
The following statements were made by teachers and teacher assistants who attended a series of five professional development 'Dare to Hope' sessions over a period of seven months.
I used to be burnt out and detached, but now I am refreshed/hopeful.
I used to be overwhelmed, but now I can see each students' unique qualities.
I used to just care for, but now I know how to care with as well.
I used to have less of an idea of how to effectively build hope. Now I have community, caring, coping, creating, committing and celebrating as ways to think about building courage to take hopeful actions.
I used to think only some people needed hope.
I now think everybody needs hope, needs to be a part of hope and to keep hope at the front of everything.
I used to think that hopefulness was an indefinable term.
Now I have started to use hopeful language and hopeful thoughts in a very discrete manner.
I used to teach to, hope for, see children as needing.
Now I learn with, do, see children as giving.
I used to be burnt out and detached, but now I am refreshed/hopeful.
I used to be overwhelmed, but now I can see each students' unique qualities.
I used to just care for, but now I know how to care with as well.
I used to have less of an idea of how to effectively build hope. Now I have community, caring, coping, creating, committing and celebrating as ways to think about building courage to take hopeful actions.
I used to think only some people needed hope.
I now think everybody needs hope, needs to be a part of hope and to keep hope at the front of everything.
I used to think that hopefulness was an indefinable term.
Now I have started to use hopeful language and hopeful thoughts in a very discrete manner.
I used to teach to, hope for, see children as needing.
Now I learn with, do, see children as giving.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Promising Futures Youth Summer Camp
Well the snow days are coming to an end so it's back to finding funding for our Hope-Focused Summer Camp for approximately twenty youth from the City Centre schools in Edmonton and Montana School in Hobbema. This first ever summer camp is being hosted and facilitated by the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and the Hope Foundation during the first two weeks of July.
Students who have been making hope visible and accessible in their personal lives, school studies and their communities will have an opportunity to learn carpentry skills, participate in daily sports and contribute to their Hope e-portfolios. We are piloting this project with a small group of Junior High students as part of our initiatives to help youth envision and move toward a future in which they can participate willingly. In addition to having an opportunity to learn many skill sets, the youth will have an opportunity to see what it is like to participate in post-secondary life.
Although we have chosen to start small this year, we do have dreams for the future. One of those dreams includes helping youth who attend becoming mentors during the school year as well as expanding the experiences to include welding, millwright, culinary arts, and even science camps.
When I was in Junior High school my mom was working toward finishing her BEd. We lived about two hours north of Edmonton so she rented an apartment on campus during the summer months. In order to keep us busy and happy she enrolled us in swimming lessons at the University of Alberta pool. Not only was I able to follow her around, but I had an opportunity to navigate my own way around campus and University life. In addition to choosing to become an educator like my mom (I helped her in her classroom whenever I could), I learned skills that have enhanced by life both inside and outside the classroom. When I did become a student in the Education Faculty some six years later I felt very confident to embark on what for many was a very scary experience.
I believe that youth who are fortunate to attend the camp at NAIT this summer and beyond will have an experience similar to mine!!
I also believe that there are others out there who would like to participate to help build on this very unique and promising opportunity. With that, I look forward to telling you how it is evolving in future posts!!
Students who have been making hope visible and accessible in their personal lives, school studies and their communities will have an opportunity to learn carpentry skills, participate in daily sports and contribute to their Hope e-portfolios. We are piloting this project with a small group of Junior High students as part of our initiatives to help youth envision and move toward a future in which they can participate willingly. In addition to having an opportunity to learn many skill sets, the youth will have an opportunity to see what it is like to participate in post-secondary life.
Although we have chosen to start small this year, we do have dreams for the future. One of those dreams includes helping youth who attend becoming mentors during the school year as well as expanding the experiences to include welding, millwright, culinary arts, and even science camps.
When I was in Junior High school my mom was working toward finishing her BEd. We lived about two hours north of Edmonton so she rented an apartment on campus during the summer months. In order to keep us busy and happy she enrolled us in swimming lessons at the University of Alberta pool. Not only was I able to follow her around, but I had an opportunity to navigate my own way around campus and University life. In addition to choosing to become an educator like my mom (I helped her in her classroom whenever I could), I learned skills that have enhanced by life both inside and outside the classroom. When I did become a student in the Education Faculty some six years later I felt very confident to embark on what for many was a very scary experience.
I believe that youth who are fortunate to attend the camp at NAIT this summer and beyond will have an experience similar to mine!!
I also believe that there are others out there who would like to participate to help build on this very unique and promising opportunity. With that, I look forward to telling you how it is evolving in future posts!!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
'Getting to Maybe' - A Book Review
Today is a snow day. I love snow days ~ even in April. I love snow days because snow days are days that I do not or cannot get outside to do the jobs that I would normally do. Snow days are days when I linger longer than usual in a good book - I am reading a few good books at the moment. 'Getting to Maybe' is one of the good books that I currently have on the go.
'Getting to Maybe' is filled with stories about individuals who have answered the call to make a difference by deliberately focusing on what cannot be controlled by intentionally working toward a particular outcome. Perhaps it is the paradoxical and yet practical nature of what the authors suggest that has me intrigued. For the book is filled with stories and strategies about and for moving toward what is possible alongside the premise that we are not in control of what is possible. Perhaps I am intrigued because standing still and leaping forward are how we have been forced to work at the Hope Foundation. Often times, we find ourselves leaping forward without knowing what the outcomes will be. In other words, we have learned to trust and use our intuitions when we see what happens when we intentionally make hope visible and accessible in our lives and the lives of those with whom we interact.
Our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program is one example of standing still and leaping forward before everything and everyone is in place. If we waited for all the pieces to be in place children and youth would miss out on what is possible in their school studies, individual lives and the community in which they live. In fact, it is children and youth who are propelling our work forward.
The authors of 'Getting to Maybe' use the explorer metaphor. It is a metaphor that I oftentimes use to describe our work. 'Getting to Maybe' describes why we need to be explorers, willing to chart our course and let ourselves be guided by forces out of our control at the same time. Hearing and seeing what is happening when children and youth have an opportunity to use hope to become meaningfully engaged in their studies and their communities fuels my hope to continue to find adults to support what is possible when hope is made visible and accessible in the lives of children and youth!!
'Getting to Maybe' provides a road map to what is possible when we think outside the box. At the end of every chapter there is a set of suggestions for those of us who are explorers in new territories. These prompts provide answers and encouragement when we are just about ready to turn back and retreat to the same old ways of thinking, feeling, acting and relating.
As Eric Young, in the forward explains,'Getting to Maybe' adequately addresses how we can move the dial on our most complex and seemingly intractable social problems and how we can be more than just anxious critics of the status quo or wishful thinkers about a better future. 'Getting to Maybe' is a resource that every explorer needs on their journeys to become actual and effective agents for large-scale transformations. It is not a book for the complacent or cynical.
The book speaks to the voluntary sector, business organizations, funding agencies, government and philanthropists. One of the ideas that transcends across the borders of each of these groups is developmental evaluation. At the Hope Foundation we are fortunate that most of our supporters recognize the importance of being able to integrate creativity and critical thinking when evaluating programs like Hope-Focused Service-Learning. To quote the authors, "Developmental evaluators ask probing questions and track results to provide feedback and support adaptations along the emergent path. This can be especially important in the explorative, reorganization phase of social innovation that looks and feels chaotic and is characterized by many false starts, dead ends and trial-and-error experimentation. Only when the ideas have crystallized can a more orderly, more predictable exploitation phase begin, one that takes invention and turns it into innovation. But if the ideas are not allowed to gestate in the reorganization phase, nothing really innovative can be born" (p. 83).
For this reason and many more reasons woven into the 229 pages, I believe 'Getting to Maybe' is a book for anyone who is at all hopeful about the future. I believe that we need complex solutions for the world we live in. 'Getting to Maybe' provides hope focused practices and strategies to solve the complex problems we face individually and globally in ways that encourage us to be both creative and courageous.
'Getting to Maybe' is filled with stories about individuals who have answered the call to make a difference by deliberately focusing on what cannot be controlled by intentionally working toward a particular outcome. Perhaps it is the paradoxical and yet practical nature of what the authors suggest that has me intrigued. For the book is filled with stories and strategies about and for moving toward what is possible alongside the premise that we are not in control of what is possible. Perhaps I am intrigued because standing still and leaping forward are how we have been forced to work at the Hope Foundation. Often times, we find ourselves leaping forward without knowing what the outcomes will be. In other words, we have learned to trust and use our intuitions when we see what happens when we intentionally make hope visible and accessible in our lives and the lives of those with whom we interact.
Our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program is one example of standing still and leaping forward before everything and everyone is in place. If we waited for all the pieces to be in place children and youth would miss out on what is possible in their school studies, individual lives and the community in which they live. In fact, it is children and youth who are propelling our work forward.
The authors of 'Getting to Maybe' use the explorer metaphor. It is a metaphor that I oftentimes use to describe our work. 'Getting to Maybe' describes why we need to be explorers, willing to chart our course and let ourselves be guided by forces out of our control at the same time. Hearing and seeing what is happening when children and youth have an opportunity to use hope to become meaningfully engaged in their studies and their communities fuels my hope to continue to find adults to support what is possible when hope is made visible and accessible in the lives of children and youth!!
'Getting to Maybe' provides a road map to what is possible when we think outside the box. At the end of every chapter there is a set of suggestions for those of us who are explorers in new territories. These prompts provide answers and encouragement when we are just about ready to turn back and retreat to the same old ways of thinking, feeling, acting and relating.
As Eric Young, in the forward explains,'Getting to Maybe' adequately addresses how we can move the dial on our most complex and seemingly intractable social problems and how we can be more than just anxious critics of the status quo or wishful thinkers about a better future. 'Getting to Maybe' is a resource that every explorer needs on their journeys to become actual and effective agents for large-scale transformations. It is not a book for the complacent or cynical.
The book speaks to the voluntary sector, business organizations, funding agencies, government and philanthropists. One of the ideas that transcends across the borders of each of these groups is developmental evaluation. At the Hope Foundation we are fortunate that most of our supporters recognize the importance of being able to integrate creativity and critical thinking when evaluating programs like Hope-Focused Service-Learning. To quote the authors, "Developmental evaluators ask probing questions and track results to provide feedback and support adaptations along the emergent path. This can be especially important in the explorative, reorganization phase of social innovation that looks and feels chaotic and is characterized by many false starts, dead ends and trial-and-error experimentation. Only when the ideas have crystallized can a more orderly, more predictable exploitation phase begin, one that takes invention and turns it into innovation. But if the ideas are not allowed to gestate in the reorganization phase, nothing really innovative can be born" (p. 83).
For this reason and many more reasons woven into the 229 pages, I believe 'Getting to Maybe' is a book for anyone who is at all hopeful about the future. I believe that we need complex solutions for the world we live in. 'Getting to Maybe' provides hope focused practices and strategies to solve the complex problems we face individually and globally in ways that encourage us to be both creative and courageous.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Hoping Hands
When I started at the Hope Foundation as Manager of HOPE KIDS, the youth who volunteered out of school to bring hope to those in care centres had difficulty articulating what exactly that meant. Over time we learned that representations of hope, like pieces of art work, 3-D models like hope trees, and graphic organizers enabled us to put words to our actions.
This led to out Hope Youth Art Project where we asked students to create 2-D representations of hope for our annual HOPE WEEK during the last week of January. This image is one of the submissions. It is a collection of students' art in early elementary. Each piece of art in itself makes a pretty strong statement about these young childrens' understanding of hope. The repetition of the images as a whole speak, in my opinion, to the power of our collective hope or the collective hope of our youth.
Resource and proposal writing have kept me away from my blog these past few days. This image which is over our couch in the living room at the Hope Foundation, reminds me of the power of our collective hope and support for each others' hope. When I am feeling overwhelmed and not sure about how things will turn out, it is this image that comes to my mind. When we put together each small step we make, each pebble we move, the mountain does appear to be movable afterall.
Every year I am more hopeful about what I see happening in the lives of children and youth as they make hope both visible and accessible in their own lives and the lives of others. Although we may have to take a break from the Hope Youth Art project next year because we do not have the resources (people to carry out the project) to make it happen, I have this image to remind me of what we did do at one time, despite the odds against it happening.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Early Hopes
When I first started paying more attention to hope and how it influences quality of life (Hope Foundation's Mission), I was often asked if we are born with hope. I would immediately think of a new born baby who looks around the world with interest, who cries to let the world know that he or she is hungry or wet or hurting. Who learns that sometimes crying helps to get what he or she needs and sometimes it doesn't and to distinguish between the two.
My husband related the following story upon his return from a recent visit to see our grandchildren. Our grandson, who is learning to walk was trying to get over to see what his older sister was painting. Every time he managed to get about two feet away from her, his mom and dad would run up and tickle him while they pulled him back and tried to distract him with something else. But he was determined. He crawled faster and faster each time looking both ways for his parents.
Then when he was his two feet away and before his mom even got up, he collapsed whimpering. His mom realized his frustration. This time she picked him up and cuddled him, talking soothingly to acknowledge his feelings. Explaining at the same time, that his sister needed her space. Because it was his bedtime, she got him ready for bed. By this time he was content to settle into his crib.
I imagine, he is going to have many more experiences like this one. He is a very determined little boy. He spends all day walking around the couch and along the walls. He does not give up easily. He loves playing with his sister. This was an unusual event because he and his sister play together for long periods of time. But there are times when she will be doing things that he is not old enough to particate in. That is one of the lessons we all learn at some point - sometimes we have to let go of a hope.
One thing is for sure. He knows he has a strong support system to turn to when he cannot attain his hopes and/or goals. If his mother had not comforted him, his father, grandfather or sister would have.
At eight months old he has already learned a lot about hope. These early learning experiences, framed by a lot of love and guidance, build his trust - both in himself and in others. Reserach demonstrates that learning to hope in trusting and loving relationships creates a strong foundation to hope from!
My husband related the following story upon his return from a recent visit to see our grandchildren. Our grandson, who is learning to walk was trying to get over to see what his older sister was painting. Every time he managed to get about two feet away from her, his mom and dad would run up and tickle him while they pulled him back and tried to distract him with something else. But he was determined. He crawled faster and faster each time looking both ways for his parents.
Then when he was his two feet away and before his mom even got up, he collapsed whimpering. His mom realized his frustration. This time she picked him up and cuddled him, talking soothingly to acknowledge his feelings. Explaining at the same time, that his sister needed her space. Because it was his bedtime, she got him ready for bed. By this time he was content to settle into his crib.
I imagine, he is going to have many more experiences like this one. He is a very determined little boy. He spends all day walking around the couch and along the walls. He does not give up easily. He loves playing with his sister. This was an unusual event because he and his sister play together for long periods of time. But there are times when she will be doing things that he is not old enough to particate in. That is one of the lessons we all learn at some point - sometimes we have to let go of a hope.
One thing is for sure. He knows he has a strong support system to turn to when he cannot attain his hopes and/or goals. If his mother had not comforted him, his father, grandfather or sister would have.
At eight months old he has already learned a lot about hope. These early learning experiences, framed by a lot of love and guidance, build his trust - both in himself and in others. Reserach demonstrates that learning to hope in trusting and loving relationships creates a strong foundation to hope from!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Teacher Hope Initiative Monograph
I am in the final stages of pulling together the Teacher Hope Initiative Story. In 1995 a group of teachers on extended disability came together for a day long workshop on intentionally using hope. A small group from that day were so inspired by what they experienced with Wendy Edey as their facilitator that they decided to form a group to see if they could ensure other teachers had an opportunity to explore using hope. Over time, the group called themselves "teachers helping teachers". Here is how they described themselves:
We, are a cooperative of teachers who meet together to enhance teacher health by focusing on hope. We are a combination of support group, therapy group, think tank, advocacy group and comedy hour....Since our first Hope Day in October 26, 1995, we have been an evolving, resilient group of health-challenged teachers. We are important to one another in all the decision that have to be made during our illnesses as well as at those points where we must consider reentry, changes of occupation or retirement.
Under Wendy's guidance, the "teachers helping teachers" group met weekly for three years. During that time other teachers on extended disability were able to participate in Hope Days, changes were made to policies for teachers on extended disability, and a health model was developed.
When I joined the Hope Foundaiton staff in 2000 I met some of the original members of the "teachers helping teachers" group as they continued to meet ocassionally. Often times they would meet with a teacher or two who were newly on extended disability. I was curious about resilience and hope at the time and so when Wendy suggested that I take on the telling of their story almost ten years after the pilot when I was searching for a research project for my Horowitz Scholarship, I jumped at the chance.
I knew that narrative inquiry would be the way to approach the research for me. Teachers could tell and re-tell stoires about themselves in relation to their experiences before, during and after the Teacher Hope Initiative experience. I have always been curious about teacher identity - how it is shaped and how it evolves through the stories teachers tell about themselves and the stories that are told about them. These teachers' identity, as I understood it at the time, was greatly influenced by their illnesses and disabilities.
That in a nutshell is a brief description of what and how the Teacher Hope Initiative and its resulting Story came into being. As a researcher doing narrative inquiry, my story became important to the telling. And so, the THI story includes my voice as I attempted to pull together the research participants' individual stories and the THI story in itself.
One of the outcomes of the research was the re-development of the teacher health model. One of our next tasks is to demonstrate how the newly developed model can be used as a tool to make decisions from a place of hope. The reason I believe the health model is important it that it became very apparent early in the telling of the stories that the teachers were well one day and on extended disability the next.
My greatest wonder in all of this, as the final pages of the THI Monograph are being edited, is how the participants' story and the model itself will enhance quality of life of others. With that wonder - I am looking forward to letting you know when they are ready for you to provide your thoughts and wonders!!
We, are a cooperative of teachers who meet together to enhance teacher health by focusing on hope. We are a combination of support group, therapy group, think tank, advocacy group and comedy hour....Since our first Hope Day in October 26, 1995, we have been an evolving, resilient group of health-challenged teachers. We are important to one another in all the decision that have to be made during our illnesses as well as at those points where we must consider reentry, changes of occupation or retirement.
Under Wendy's guidance, the "teachers helping teachers" group met weekly for three years. During that time other teachers on extended disability were able to participate in Hope Days, changes were made to policies for teachers on extended disability, and a health model was developed.
When I joined the Hope Foundaiton staff in 2000 I met some of the original members of the "teachers helping teachers" group as they continued to meet ocassionally. Often times they would meet with a teacher or two who were newly on extended disability. I was curious about resilience and hope at the time and so when Wendy suggested that I take on the telling of their story almost ten years after the pilot when I was searching for a research project for my Horowitz Scholarship, I jumped at the chance.
I knew that narrative inquiry would be the way to approach the research for me. Teachers could tell and re-tell stoires about themselves in relation to their experiences before, during and after the Teacher Hope Initiative experience. I have always been curious about teacher identity - how it is shaped and how it evolves through the stories teachers tell about themselves and the stories that are told about them. These teachers' identity, as I understood it at the time, was greatly influenced by their illnesses and disabilities.
That in a nutshell is a brief description of what and how the Teacher Hope Initiative and its resulting Story came into being. As a researcher doing narrative inquiry, my story became important to the telling. And so, the THI story includes my voice as I attempted to pull together the research participants' individual stories and the THI story in itself.
One of the outcomes of the research was the re-development of the teacher health model. One of our next tasks is to demonstrate how the newly developed model can be used as a tool to make decisions from a place of hope. The reason I believe the health model is important it that it became very apparent early in the telling of the stories that the teachers were well one day and on extended disability the next.
My greatest wonder in all of this, as the final pages of the THI Monograph are being edited, is how the participants' story and the model itself will enhance quality of life of others. With that wonder - I am looking forward to letting you know when they are ready for you to provide your thoughts and wonders!!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Making Hope and Hopeful Words Visible and Accessible
Since I am not in classrooms this week because it is spring break, I find myself re-reading and reflecting on what has transpired over the last six months of this year. I am a grade five class, in two junior high classes and I work with grade sixes during lunch hour on the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. We have been exploring hope (phase one of five phases) and are now moving outward to think about hopeful places and places where we can bring hope to others. With the exception of the grade six class, which is really a Hope-Focused Community program (not connected to curriculum per se) the other projects are connected to curriculum. Teachers in these classrooms make the curriculum connections and with student direction and leadership determine how the program in each classroom unfolds.
As I reflect back and beyond to other years I am reminded about some of the aha moments. One of those moments happened when I connected what I learned from grade fives and participants in the 'Hope Studies Certificate Program' for LPN's and Health Care Aides which is delivered through NorQuest College here in Edmonton. It is a continuing education program that is divided into three courses: HOPE 1001: Practical Strategies for Using Hope; HOPE 1002: Using Hope to Increase Job Satisfaction; HOPE 1003: Different Theories of Hope. I developed the Hope Studies Certificate Program curriculum and had an opportunity to deliver a number of the initial programs offered.
It was during the second course, using hope to increase job satisfaction, that the word "respect" came up in the conversation between participants. I was not surprised to hear that it came up as a necessary ingredient for hopeful work places. What did surprise me was that I had just heard the word respect the day before in my conversation with the grade five students.
Placing these two conversations side by side led me to add a lesson on "respect" in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. Very early in our exploration of hope we do a Y chart on respect. In other words, we unpack what respect looks, sounds and feels like. It is the connection to what respect feels like that I find helps children and youth begin to understand why 'respect' creates a hopeful interaction. We spend a lot of time on how hope and a hopeful learning environment feels in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. Taking the time to unpack what a concept like hope and/or respect looks, sounds, and feels like seems to be well worth the time. It seems that when we do take the time, it is much easier to recognize when we need to change our behaviours to more hopeful ones.
And so, as I work on making changes to the draft Hope-Focused Service-Learning Manual this week, I will include a section about the importance of unpacking what words like respect, hope and hopeful learning environments look, sound and feel like.
As I reflect back and beyond to other years I am reminded about some of the aha moments. One of those moments happened when I connected what I learned from grade fives and participants in the 'Hope Studies Certificate Program' for LPN's and Health Care Aides which is delivered through NorQuest College here in Edmonton. It is a continuing education program that is divided into three courses: HOPE 1001: Practical Strategies for Using Hope; HOPE 1002: Using Hope to Increase Job Satisfaction; HOPE 1003: Different Theories of Hope. I developed the Hope Studies Certificate Program curriculum and had an opportunity to deliver a number of the initial programs offered.
It was during the second course, using hope to increase job satisfaction, that the word "respect" came up in the conversation between participants. I was not surprised to hear that it came up as a necessary ingredient for hopeful work places. What did surprise me was that I had just heard the word respect the day before in my conversation with the grade five students.
Placing these two conversations side by side led me to add a lesson on "respect" in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. Very early in our exploration of hope we do a Y chart on respect. In other words, we unpack what respect looks, sounds and feels like. It is the connection to what respect feels like that I find helps children and youth begin to understand why 'respect' creates a hopeful interaction. We spend a lot of time on how hope and a hopeful learning environment feels in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. Taking the time to unpack what a concept like hope and/or respect looks, sounds, and feels like seems to be well worth the time. It seems that when we do take the time, it is much easier to recognize when we need to change our behaviours to more hopeful ones.
And so, as I work on making changes to the draft Hope-Focused Service-Learning Manual this week, I will include a section about the importance of unpacking what words like respect, hope and hopeful learning environments look, sound and feel like.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Taking a Hopeful Stance
On the weekend my husband and I watched the movie 'Bordertown'. It is about women and families who are forced to work in the factories that make televisions and computers for North America since NAFTA in Ciudad, Juarez, Mexico. But it is more than a movie about women and their families who have been forced off their land with no options beyond working in the factories. Over 300 of the women have been murdered and many many more are missing with little recourse.
I know more about the women of Juarez this morning after watching the movie because it made me feel both hopeless and hopeful. As we watched the movie and then the special commentary about the making of the movie and the results of making the movie, I felt, on some level, like there was nothing I could do to make a difference.
However, that overwhelming feeling did not persist. I decided to take a hopeful stance. After watching the movie itself, we purposefully tuned into the information provided by the producers to see how we could 1)find out more; 2) learn how we might be able to make a stand beyond as individuals. I found myself asking myself the hope-focused question, "What are the smallest things that I can do?"
Hence this posting. I feel I can go forward knowing that I have begun to "do something" to affect a change. I am aware of violence against women, but until this morning, I had not ever opened the Amnesty International website - a website that I will spend more time on - not only to inform myself, but to have conversations with others who, too are feeling overwhelmed about injustices around the world. Being informed helps me to take the appropriate action. I may not know what I need to do now, but I do know that I am moving in a direction that will help me to know what I need to do in the future, one step at a time.
Similarly, there are times when someone will comment on the futuility of the "small" things I do to affect environmental changes. However, if I don't make these small changes in my life, I feel hopeless about the fate of our planet and for the children who will be left to try to survive. For example, I use public transit whenever possible after working with grade five students last year. I was pleasantly surprised to see that our Federal Government, too, is doing their part. Canadians can now use their bus fares to offset their income tax. A small measure? I think not. This change is a huge change in mindset. I imagine that Canadians will consider, if not begin to use public transit when they see another advantage for doing so.
I believe that it is the small things that we do to make a difference that encourage us to take the next steps whether individually or collectively. We may not be able to stop all the injustices, but we are moving in the right direction when we ask ourselves, "What is the smallest thing I can do?" to move toward a desirable future for all.
I know more about the women of Juarez this morning after watching the movie because it made me feel both hopeless and hopeful. As we watched the movie and then the special commentary about the making of the movie and the results of making the movie, I felt, on some level, like there was nothing I could do to make a difference.
However, that overwhelming feeling did not persist. I decided to take a hopeful stance. After watching the movie itself, we purposefully tuned into the information provided by the producers to see how we could 1)find out more; 2) learn how we might be able to make a stand beyond as individuals. I found myself asking myself the hope-focused question, "What are the smallest things that I can do?"
Hence this posting. I feel I can go forward knowing that I have begun to "do something" to affect a change. I am aware of violence against women, but until this morning, I had not ever opened the Amnesty International website - a website that I will spend more time on - not only to inform myself, but to have conversations with others who, too are feeling overwhelmed about injustices around the world. Being informed helps me to take the appropriate action. I may not know what I need to do now, but I do know that I am moving in a direction that will help me to know what I need to do in the future, one step at a time.
Similarly, there are times when someone will comment on the futuility of the "small" things I do to affect environmental changes. However, if I don't make these small changes in my life, I feel hopeless about the fate of our planet and for the children who will be left to try to survive. For example, I use public transit whenever possible after working with grade five students last year. I was pleasantly surprised to see that our Federal Government, too, is doing their part. Canadians can now use their bus fares to offset their income tax. A small measure? I think not. This change is a huge change in mindset. I imagine that Canadians will consider, if not begin to use public transit when they see another advantage for doing so.
I believe that it is the small things that we do to make a difference that encourage us to take the next steps whether individually or collectively. We may not be able to stop all the injustices, but we are moving in the right direction when we ask ourselves, "What is the smallest thing I can do?" to move toward a desirable future for all.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Hopeful Books?
I am often asked to provide a list of "hopeful" books for children and youth. I have started a list (with the help of a lot of other people). But the list is really books that fit within particular categories. For example, we have books on imagination, perseverence, creativity, and stories of individuals who have overcome insurmountable odds in their lives by using hope. The reason for the categories is simple. All books, in my opinion are about hope. Even the books that are for all intents and purposes about topics that we might consider less hopeful. I believe that books help us to understand what we need to know about our own lives and so I see books as having themes of hope and despair intertwined much like they are in our own lives.
The best example of what I mean by this is the book A Fine Balance. I do not have the book in front of me as I write this post, but I remember the line that caught my attention. It was the line that summed up the story really. One of the characters was asked why he kept on going when things really were quite hopeless. His answer. Hope and hopelessness sit side by side. The hopelessness informed his hope and the kinds of things he had to do to maintain hope for a better life for himself and those closest to him. Up until that time I had kept hope and hopelessness very separate. In fact, I did everything possible to keep any feelings of hopelessness at bay. When I look back now, I realize that I was not being hopeful, but what some would call Polyanaish. I was focusing on the positive. In so doing, I was running faster and faster on the 'treadmill of life' to ignore what was causing me to feel less hope. As a result my life was becoming less and less meaningful.
I was reading A Fine Balance about the same time that I was working on a photographic representation of my hope for my Master's Degree. When I took the time to acknowledge my feelings of hopelessness, I also became more aware of what I needed to live intentionally from a place of hope.
In my opinion books like A Fine Balance remind us that we need hope to deal with the despairing and painful times in our lives. Further, I believe it is how we interact and what we do with books that helps us and those with whom we interact to understand out hope more than reading books that just elevate our hope because they make us feel good.
For those of you who are curious about the themes, I will be posting my list of hopeful categories along with what others have suggested as discussion questions that can help us to connect with what we are reading through a hopeful lens.
The best example of what I mean by this is the book A Fine Balance. I do not have the book in front of me as I write this post, but I remember the line that caught my attention. It was the line that summed up the story really. One of the characters was asked why he kept on going when things really were quite hopeless. His answer. Hope and hopelessness sit side by side. The hopelessness informed his hope and the kinds of things he had to do to maintain hope for a better life for himself and those closest to him. Up until that time I had kept hope and hopelessness very separate. In fact, I did everything possible to keep any feelings of hopelessness at bay. When I look back now, I realize that I was not being hopeful, but what some would call Polyanaish. I was focusing on the positive. In so doing, I was running faster and faster on the 'treadmill of life' to ignore what was causing me to feel less hope. As a result my life was becoming less and less meaningful.
I was reading A Fine Balance about the same time that I was working on a photographic representation of my hope for my Master's Degree. When I took the time to acknowledge my feelings of hopelessness, I also became more aware of what I needed to live intentionally from a place of hope.
In my opinion books like A Fine Balance remind us that we need hope to deal with the despairing and painful times in our lives. Further, I believe it is how we interact and what we do with books that helps us and those with whom we interact to understand out hope more than reading books that just elevate our hope because they make us feel good.
For those of you who are curious about the themes, I will be posting my list of hopeful categories along with what others have suggested as discussion questions that can help us to connect with what we are reading through a hopeful lens.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Learned Hopefulness & Happiness
The headline in the Edmonton Journal (Friday, March 21, 2008) read "Surprise! Money can buy happiness" caught my attention. It caught my attention because I am all too aware of previous studies on happiness that stress once a person's basic needs are met, more money does not make one happier. Apparently, as Elizabth Dunn, a University of British Columbia psychologist found, giving does increases our happiness.
This research is not surprising when we look at how volunteering or helping another increases our hope or what Zimmerman (1990) named learned hopefulness. I see this happening with Hope Kids in our HOPE KIDS programs and especially in our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
In the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program children and youth develop skills, knowledge and attitudes that help them envision and work toward a future in which they can participate. I have seen youth who for all intents and purposes demonstrate what we understand as learned helplessness at the beginning of our work. These youth do not see themselves as contributing to their own well-being. They most certainly do not see themselves contributing to the well-being of others. They often blame others for their failures. When these youth explore, their hidden hopes and discover new hopes and ways of achieving those hopes under the guidance of a caring teacher who listens well and encourages them to use their hope to develop new skills, a new sense of what they are capable of and want to work toward becomes possible not only in their eyes, but in the eyes of other adults and peers with whom they interact.
Aknin a student research collaborator in the study states that, "Making the right decision with money seems to promote self-esteem." I wonder what future happiness studies will report when participants in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program use hope to determine where and how to use their talents and money to make the world a more hopeful place.
This research is not surprising when we look at how volunteering or helping another increases our hope or what Zimmerman (1990) named learned hopefulness. I see this happening with Hope Kids in our HOPE KIDS programs and especially in our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
In the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program children and youth develop skills, knowledge and attitudes that help them envision and work toward a future in which they can participate. I have seen youth who for all intents and purposes demonstrate what we understand as learned helplessness at the beginning of our work. These youth do not see themselves as contributing to their own well-being. They most certainly do not see themselves contributing to the well-being of others. They often blame others for their failures. When these youth explore, their hidden hopes and discover new hopes and ways of achieving those hopes under the guidance of a caring teacher who listens well and encourages them to use their hope to develop new skills, a new sense of what they are capable of and want to work toward becomes possible not only in their eyes, but in the eyes of other adults and peers with whom they interact.
Aknin a student research collaborator in the study states that, "Making the right decision with money seems to promote self-esteem." I wonder what future happiness studies will report when participants in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program use hope to determine where and how to use their talents and money to make the world a more hopeful place.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Art Used to Show What Hope Means
This article appeared in the Edmonton Sun. I thought it was appropriate to add because it demonstrates the work we do at the Hope Foundation. Josie's hope model (Tuesday, March 18 posting) was presented at the AGM that this article refers to. I don't think I have to say much more ~ except to let you know that if you click on the article it will enlarge so that you can read it!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Building Hopes, Building Futures
I often tell people I have the BEST job in the world because I get to interact with children and youth on a regular basis. I am often amazed at the depth of thinking that I hear when I take the time to listen to what children and youth have to say on the topic of hope. Here's just one example.
Sitting around the table with five junior high students who are embarking on the second phase of the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program where we begin to determine where in our community we need to bring hope to others, our conversation turned to what we know about hope to help us proceed. This is what they said to summarize what they learned thus far in phase one of exploring hope and service:
- Hope can help people come out of anything.
- We know what brings hope into others' lives because we share our hopes with each other.
- There are people who don't have a lot of hope.
- Hope is easy to get and give.
- Whether or not you have hope depends on the kind of person you are and where you live. For example, you might be a child in Africa and you may not have hope until someone notices you.
- If you give hope, you get hope back.
- If you give respect, you get respect back.
- To have hope we need to trust each other to share.
I don't know about you, but I find these statements pretty insightful. In a previous post I talk about the power of being open to what we are noticing about hope in our daily interactions and activities with each other. The above list is the first list we have made since beginning our work together some five months ago(one hour a week).
The next step as I see it, is for us to search for examples to demonstrate these understandings so as to build new understandings - individually, as a group, and in the work we do with others in the community. In so doing, we will begin to tell the individual and group stories of what it means to use hope as a guide in our daily interactions with each other.
Sitting around the table with five junior high students who are embarking on the second phase of the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program where we begin to determine where in our community we need to bring hope to others, our conversation turned to what we know about hope to help us proceed. This is what they said to summarize what they learned thus far in phase one of exploring hope and service:
- Hope can help people come out of anything.
- We know what brings hope into others' lives because we share our hopes with each other.
- There are people who don't have a lot of hope.
- Hope is easy to get and give.
- Whether or not you have hope depends on the kind of person you are and where you live. For example, you might be a child in Africa and you may not have hope until someone notices you.
- If you give hope, you get hope back.
- If you give respect, you get respect back.
- To have hope we need to trust each other to share.
I don't know about you, but I find these statements pretty insightful. In a previous post I talk about the power of being open to what we are noticing about hope in our daily interactions and activities with each other. The above list is the first list we have made since beginning our work together some five months ago(one hour a week).
The next step as I see it, is for us to search for examples to demonstrate these understandings so as to build new understandings - individually, as a group, and in the work we do with others in the community. In so doing, we will begin to tell the individual and group stories of what it means to use hope as a guide in our daily interactions with each other.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Expectant Waiting
Walking back from the 'Hope and Helping Relationship' class at the University of Alberta where Kevin Jones presented on how he applies hope in his work as a teacher and principal, I found myself wondering what I would write about on today's blog. As a new blogger I am quite amazed at how much I look forward to writing every weekday morning. Yet, I never know what I am going to write until I sit down at the computer. I don't know if I trick myself into thinking I don't know, but I find myself being drawn to the computer to find out what I have to say.
It is a little like hope and the work we do at the Hope Foundation. We hope for the things that we are not certain. We are optimistic for the things that we know will come about. As a result, hope can be hard work. Sometimes our hopes do not happen, but the process of hoping can also bring about that which we were not expecting. In an earlier blog I quoted Valclav Havel who spoke about hope not having to have things turn out, but being okay with how they turn out. It is hope that enables us to deal with the pain and difficulties of life.
Because we hope for the things we are not certain, it is difficult to write and stick to outcomes for our programs at the Hope Foundation. However, we are getting better at making predictions about what might happen because we have collected more evidence about what does happen when we are intentional about using hope in different settings.
One of the things that we have gotten much better at doing is waiting patiently for the right time for things to happen. It seems that when we try to hard to work toward a particular outcome either something else happens or nothing happens at all.
Marcel, a Catholic theologian called what we often do - 'expectant waiting'. We have known for a very long time about the benefits of making hope visible and accessible. While waiting for the rest of the world to catch on, we work with those who are at first drawn to hope like we were at first. I cannot count how many times I have heard workshop participants say, "Things have shifted. I see the world and how I participate in it differently now that I have discovered the power of hope in my life." After a year of studying hope, a grade five student put it this way. "I used to think hope was just nothing but a meaningless word, but now I think it is a feeling that drives you to succeed."
And so as I sit down to write I am open to what it is that I need to become more aware of. I am also curious about what will surface when I allow myself to create and be creative. I am pretty certain that I start the process much earier during the many conversations I have, on the solo walks I take and the moments where I make myself sit quietly trying to empty my mind of all I have to do. As I write this, I am realizing it is the same process I find myself engaged in each time I walk into a classroom to have a conversation about hope or embark on a new hope project with a new group of individuals.
It is a little like hope and the work we do at the Hope Foundation. We hope for the things that we are not certain. We are optimistic for the things that we know will come about. As a result, hope can be hard work. Sometimes our hopes do not happen, but the process of hoping can also bring about that which we were not expecting. In an earlier blog I quoted Valclav Havel who spoke about hope not having to have things turn out, but being okay with how they turn out. It is hope that enables us to deal with the pain and difficulties of life.
Because we hope for the things we are not certain, it is difficult to write and stick to outcomes for our programs at the Hope Foundation. However, we are getting better at making predictions about what might happen because we have collected more evidence about what does happen when we are intentional about using hope in different settings.
One of the things that we have gotten much better at doing is waiting patiently for the right time for things to happen. It seems that when we try to hard to work toward a particular outcome either something else happens or nothing happens at all.
Marcel, a Catholic theologian called what we often do - 'expectant waiting'. We have known for a very long time about the benefits of making hope visible and accessible. While waiting for the rest of the world to catch on, we work with those who are at first drawn to hope like we were at first. I cannot count how many times I have heard workshop participants say, "Things have shifted. I see the world and how I participate in it differently now that I have discovered the power of hope in my life." After a year of studying hope, a grade five student put it this way. "I used to think hope was just nothing but a meaningless word, but now I think it is a feeling that drives you to succeed."
And so as I sit down to write I am open to what it is that I need to become more aware of. I am also curious about what will surface when I allow myself to create and be creative. I am pretty certain that I start the process much earier during the many conversations I have, on the solo walks I take and the moments where I make myself sit quietly trying to empty my mind of all I have to do. As I write this, I am realizing it is the same process I find myself engaged in each time I walk into a classroom to have a conversation about hope or embark on a new hope project with a new group of individuals.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Josie's Hope Model
Last night eleven year old Josie presented her multi-dimensional hope model at our AGM. There are many things that I find amazing about Josie's model.
I will describe what it looks like so that you too can see how amazing it is. It is a four sided diamond shape. On each of the four points there are the words faith, dreams, courage, and knowledge. The inside of the diamond is a radiant blue. The word hope is on the inside with red and yellow sun rays radiating outward back to the four words. Each of the words also have an arrow pointing from the word back to hope in the center. On the outside of the diamond shape Josie wrote a note to Sandi Hiemer, the school counsellor, saying that is you Sandi!! Then on the outside of each word she wrote you have faith, you have courage, you have knowledge, you have dreams, most importantly you have hope.
Josie told us how faith, courage, dreams and knowledge make up her hope. She began her presentation with "I believe there are four things that help us to have hope. I have faith in my family and friends. I have faith in others. I have faith in my school. They teach me so much to get into university and college." Her description included present and future hopes and how they in essence feed off of each other. She then went on to do the same for knowledge, courage and dreams.
By now I probably don't have to say much about how amazing the model is. But even as I write this, I am struck by something that I did not think about since seeing it and having a discussion with Josie last Thursday and then hearing her presentation last night. So I will tell you why I think it is amazing, just in case I missed something else.
First of all it is a multi-dimensional model that represents her hope. If we were to impose another model or scale of hope to measure Josie's hope we might miss the most important components of her hope. Sometimes we get a call at the Hope Foundation asking us for a scale to measure children or youth hope. We do have a couple of measures at the Hope Foundation, but when I look at Josie's model, I am not sure they would encompass what is hopeful for her now and how she sees these four pillars as helping her to move toward a desired and meaningful future.
The arrows and rays in Josie's model illuminate how faith, courage, dreams, knowledge and then, in turn, her hope inform each other. The arrows from the words faith, courage, knowledge, and dreams point inward, the rays from hope radiate back out toward to influence her courage, faith, knowledge, and dreams.
Finally, I want to comment on the fact that she named Sandi as a significant adult in her world who influences her current understanding of hope, but also her hope for the future.
The arrows and rays along with naming Sandi as a significant adult demonstrate to me how hope and resilience overlap and inform each other, but also how hope motivates resilience.
I imagine that Josie has used and will continue to us this model without paying much attention to how it works to sustain her hope. I imagine also that hope may very well become a stronger guiding force in Josie's life now that she has made hope visible to both herself and the adults who interact with her.
I will describe what it looks like so that you too can see how amazing it is. It is a four sided diamond shape. On each of the four points there are the words faith, dreams, courage, and knowledge. The inside of the diamond is a radiant blue. The word hope is on the inside with red and yellow sun rays radiating outward back to the four words. Each of the words also have an arrow pointing from the word back to hope in the center. On the outside of the diamond shape Josie wrote a note to Sandi Hiemer, the school counsellor, saying that is you Sandi!! Then on the outside of each word she wrote you have faith, you have courage, you have knowledge, you have dreams, most importantly you have hope.
Josie told us how faith, courage, dreams and knowledge make up her hope. She began her presentation with "I believe there are four things that help us to have hope. I have faith in my family and friends. I have faith in others. I have faith in my school. They teach me so much to get into university and college." Her description included present and future hopes and how they in essence feed off of each other. She then went on to do the same for knowledge, courage and dreams.
By now I probably don't have to say much about how amazing the model is. But even as I write this, I am struck by something that I did not think about since seeing it and having a discussion with Josie last Thursday and then hearing her presentation last night. So I will tell you why I think it is amazing, just in case I missed something else.
First of all it is a multi-dimensional model that represents her hope. If we were to impose another model or scale of hope to measure Josie's hope we might miss the most important components of her hope. Sometimes we get a call at the Hope Foundation asking us for a scale to measure children or youth hope. We do have a couple of measures at the Hope Foundation, but when I look at Josie's model, I am not sure they would encompass what is hopeful for her now and how she sees these four pillars as helping her to move toward a desired and meaningful future.
The arrows and rays in Josie's model illuminate how faith, courage, dreams, knowledge and then, in turn, her hope inform each other. The arrows from the words faith, courage, knowledge, and dreams point inward, the rays from hope radiate back out toward to influence her courage, faith, knowledge, and dreams.
Finally, I want to comment on the fact that she named Sandi as a significant adult in her world who influences her current understanding of hope, but also her hope for the future.
The arrows and rays along with naming Sandi as a significant adult demonstrate to me how hope and resilience overlap and inform each other, but also how hope motivates resilience.
I imagine that Josie has used and will continue to us this model without paying much attention to how it works to sustain her hope. I imagine also that hope may very well become a stronger guiding force in Josie's life now that she has made hope visible to both herself and the adults who interact with her.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Today at the Hope Foundation's Annual General Meeting we have students from Montana School in Hobbema sharing their hope art and the accompanying stories of hope. Eleven students participated in the Youth Hope Art Project that coincides with HOPE WEEK during the last week of every January. The reason we are having a special pre-AGM showing of their work tonight is because their artwork turned into a story that they want others to hear.
In addition to the art work and stories, we are hoping that one of the grade five students from Montana School will share her newly created hope model. We do not as of yet, have a multi-dimensional hope model for children and youth like we do for adults. However, as we are seeing, children and youth see hope as a multidimensional construct that is more than the goal setting theory of hope. I say this because last week grade six Hope Kids at Katherine Therrien school also shared their DNA's of of hope with me. In our conversation at Katherine Therrien school, like the one I had with the grade five student from Montana School, I heard things like, "This is my hope now." It would seem that these youth understand that our hopes change over time.
As soon as I get the models of hope off my camera and permission from the grade five student to share her model I will share them with those of you who cannot be at our Annual General Meeting tonight!
In addition to the art work and stories, we are hoping that one of the grade five students from Montana School will share her newly created hope model. We do not as of yet, have a multi-dimensional hope model for children and youth like we do for adults. However, as we are seeing, children and youth see hope as a multidimensional construct that is more than the goal setting theory of hope. I say this because last week grade six Hope Kids at Katherine Therrien school also shared their DNA's of of hope with me. In our conversation at Katherine Therrien school, like the one I had with the grade five student from Montana School, I heard things like, "This is my hope now." It would seem that these youth understand that our hopes change over time.
As soon as I get the models of hope off my camera and permission from the grade five student to share her model I will share them with those of you who cannot be at our Annual General Meeting tonight!
Friday, March 14, 2008
More Discoveries
A very good friend and colleague of mine, Wendy Edey, read the posting titled making discoveries and suggested I change the title to discovering to hope. She knows about these things because she has been blogging and using hope-focused strategies in her work longer than me. I agree with her. Discovering to hope, like the title of this blog and my upcoming website (under construction) addresses the many multitude of things that are made possible when we use the term discover instead of learn. It is a better title because it intriguing and better says what I was trying to in that posting.
And yet, I can not change the title. For one thing it took me a long time to come up with the title 'making disoveries'. Making discoveries says something that discovering to hope doesn't.
Discovering connotates, to me at least, the necessity of continually asking new questions. Learning connotates completion - being finished with something. With hope, as with much of what we experience in life, there is no end to what we understand and struggle with. I often end my reflections with new wonders. Often times glimmers of insight don't come to these wonders for a long time, but when they do, they seem to have extra meaning. Perhaps it is because I have something to attach them to.
Wendy's suggested title might become the title of a chapter in a book some day. Making discoveries will most likely be a sub-title. In the meantime, I will continue to ponder how making discoveries is the first step or at least one of the steps that enables us to disover the power of hope. So now I am left wondering about the title for this posting.....
And yet, I can not change the title. For one thing it took me a long time to come up with the title 'making disoveries'. Making discoveries says something that discovering to hope doesn't.
Discovering connotates, to me at least, the necessity of continually asking new questions. Learning connotates completion - being finished with something. With hope, as with much of what we experience in life, there is no end to what we understand and struggle with. I often end my reflections with new wonders. Often times glimmers of insight don't come to these wonders for a long time, but when they do, they seem to have extra meaning. Perhaps it is because I have something to attach them to.
Wendy's suggested title might become the title of a chapter in a book some day. Making discoveries will most likely be a sub-title. In the meantime, I will continue to ponder how making discoveries is the first step or at least one of the steps that enables us to disover the power of hope. So now I am left wondering about the title for this posting.....
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Making Discoveries
Yesterday I had the privilege to work alongside the grade five students in Kevin Jones' class. Students were sharing the contents of their hope kits with each other (we are in phase one: exploring hope and service of the Hope-Focused Service-Learning Program). After completing a hope thinking tool, the students were asked to reflect on three questions. One of the three questions asked the students what they learned about other people's hope as they shared their kits with another classmate.
Kevin reminded the students that to uncover their ideas about hope, they had to think like researchers, a term we use often in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. That was when he changed the word learn to discover. He changed the prompt from what did you "learn", what did you "discover" as you shared your hope kits with each other?
I was struck by the difference that word "discover" made for me as I listened in. I felt more drawn into the question, "What did you discover?" Somehow the question felt more meaningful - something I could be curious about.
Meaning and purpose has its place in a number of theoretical hope models. And when people ask me about my definition of hope, I share one I have adapted from Ronna Jevne (one of the co-founders of the Hope Foundation of Alberta). Hope is about envisioning and working toward a meaningful and desired future that we/I can participate in with interest and enthusiasm.
As I write this, I realize that "discovering" invites me into the process of what I am actually learning. I wonder what Kevin and his students will discover about their own and others' hope when they discuss the reflection questions today. I wonder also, how the question, "What did you discover?" influences students' engagement in their overall learning in other contexts.
Kevin reminded the students that to uncover their ideas about hope, they had to think like researchers, a term we use often in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. That was when he changed the word learn to discover. He changed the prompt from what did you "learn", what did you "discover" as you shared your hope kits with each other?
I was struck by the difference that word "discover" made for me as I listened in. I felt more drawn into the question, "What did you discover?" Somehow the question felt more meaningful - something I could be curious about.
Meaning and purpose has its place in a number of theoretical hope models. And when people ask me about my definition of hope, I share one I have adapted from Ronna Jevne (one of the co-founders of the Hope Foundation of Alberta). Hope is about envisioning and working toward a meaningful and desired future that we/I can participate in with interest and enthusiasm.
As I write this, I realize that "discovering" invites me into the process of what I am actually learning. I wonder what Kevin and his students will discover about their own and others' hope when they discuss the reflection questions today. I wonder also, how the question, "What did you discover?" influences students' engagement in their overall learning in other contexts.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The Benefits of Experience
"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." This phrase caught my attention this morning, because at the moment I am having a number of "experiences". It is not unusual for me to be having "experiences" at this time of the year. It is the time of the year when we are moving from phase one of the hope-focused service-learning projects where we have been exploring hope and service to thinking about how we can bring service to others in the community through the lens of hope.
Hope-Focused Service-Learning requires a different way of being in the classroom. Teachers and students are involved in "messy learning" that is difficult to measure and articulate, but amazing to see, feel and hear as a co-learner. Messy learning has its challenges. It is not a lock step approach. It takes courage and a lot of time to incorporate, both in the classroom and in the planning. The teacher has to reflect in and on alongside the students and then use the new knowing from the reflections to facilitate new learning opportunities. And this has to happen alongside all the other things that the teacher did before we embarked on the hope-focused service-learning project. Sometimes it feels like we take ten steps back for every step forward during these experiences. And then voila there it is an outcome that we did not expect. That is one thing I have learned from reflecting on past experiences.
I have also learned that we always seem to overcome the obstacles along the way and each time I interact with a group of students and teachers who are intentionally using hope practices and activities while engaged in community service, I add one more tool, one more idea, one more wonder to my hope tool kit. Without the obstacles along the way I would not have the "experience" to feed my passion and resilience to keep going forward so that more students have the opportunity to use hope to become engaged in lifelong and life-wide learning.
Hope-Focused Service-Learning requires a different way of being in the classroom. Teachers and students are involved in "messy learning" that is difficult to measure and articulate, but amazing to see, feel and hear as a co-learner. Messy learning has its challenges. It is not a lock step approach. It takes courage and a lot of time to incorporate, both in the classroom and in the planning. The teacher has to reflect in and on alongside the students and then use the new knowing from the reflections to facilitate new learning opportunities. And this has to happen alongside all the other things that the teacher did before we embarked on the hope-focused service-learning project. Sometimes it feels like we take ten steps back for every step forward during these experiences. And then voila there it is an outcome that we did not expect. That is one thing I have learned from reflecting on past experiences.
I have also learned that we always seem to overcome the obstacles along the way and each time I interact with a group of students and teachers who are intentionally using hope practices and activities while engaged in community service, I add one more tool, one more idea, one more wonder to my hope tool kit. Without the obstacles along the way I would not have the "experience" to feed my passion and resilience to keep going forward so that more students have the opportunity to use hope to become engaged in lifelong and life-wide learning.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Why Not?
Last night I learned about Edzimkulu, a Society for Children of Aids in South Africa.
I got this off their website:Edzimkulu is a Canadian charity, established in 2003 to provide support to children affected by AIDS in the Underberg region of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Our work is concentrated in the village of Ndawana, about 45 km. from the small town of Underberg.
Two words caught my attention toward the end of the news report. Those two words were, "WHY NOT?"
I listen for phrases like "WHY NOT?" because it, like many other words and phrases that have been identified over the last sixteen years at the Hope Foundation of Alberta are known as HOPE LANGUAGE. "WHY NOT?" was identified as a hopeful question at a Principals of Hope session. Administrators from a school district in central Alberta added why not to other words and phrases that make up language of possibility. I remember thinking at the time of the Principals of Hope session how young children learn not to ask why after a time. It would seem to me that WHY NOT? reminds us to activitate our childhood curiosities about what might be possible - to be surprised by outcomes we never dreamed possible - or wasted the time trying to fit themselves into in the first place. This is what is happening with the community of Ndawana in South Africa where Edzimkulu is concentrating its efforts at the moment.
Last week at the City Centre Schools Cluster group of teachers who are intentionally making hope visible and accessible for their students we talked about using language of possiblity in progress reports. I was especially intrigued by the idea of using the statement "I wonder..." in a report card comment.
I cannot wait to hear what teachers notice during the parent conferences as they discuss the report card comments that use hopeful language.
I got this off their website:Edzimkulu is a Canadian charity, established in 2003 to provide support to children affected by AIDS in the Underberg region of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Our work is concentrated in the village of Ndawana, about 45 km. from the small town of Underberg.
Two words caught my attention toward the end of the news report. Those two words were, "WHY NOT?"
I listen for phrases like "WHY NOT?" because it, like many other words and phrases that have been identified over the last sixteen years at the Hope Foundation of Alberta are known as HOPE LANGUAGE. "WHY NOT?" was identified as a hopeful question at a Principals of Hope session. Administrators from a school district in central Alberta added why not to other words and phrases that make up language of possibility. I remember thinking at the time of the Principals of Hope session how young children learn not to ask why after a time. It would seem to me that WHY NOT? reminds us to activitate our childhood curiosities about what might be possible - to be surprised by outcomes we never dreamed possible - or wasted the time trying to fit themselves into in the first place. This is what is happening with the community of Ndawana in South Africa where Edzimkulu is concentrating its efforts at the moment.
Last week at the City Centre Schools Cluster group of teachers who are intentionally making hope visible and accessible for their students we talked about using language of possiblity in progress reports. I was especially intrigued by the idea of using the statement "I wonder..." in a report card comment.
I cannot wait to hear what teachers notice during the parent conferences as they discuss the report card comments that use hopeful language.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Importance of Making Hope Visible
Brenda Martin, a Canadian, who is now on suicidal watch after her court date was missed once again in Mexico, reminds us how important hope is to our survival. Friends quoted on CBC radio today explain how Brenda has lost hope. Hopelessness can be manifest in suicide ideation (Beck, Kovacs, & Wiseissman, 1975). Brenda's story reminds us of the connection between hopelessness and suicide. What does this have to do with learning to hope you ask?
I believe Brenda's story reminds us that it is incumbant upon those of us who interact with children and youth to ensure we are uncovering and connecting to a child or youth's hope as well as feelings of despair. It is important that we create opportunities to make hope visible and accessible (for more information the 'Nurturing Hopeful Souls: Hopeful Practices and Activities for Children and Youth' will be available at the Hope Foundation of Alberta April 15, 2008).
Brenda Martin does not have control over her current situation which has brought on feelings of hopelessness and concerns for her safety. Hopefully things will take a turn for the better for her. I believe the media is using a hopeful strategy of informing the public of her situation as a way of making a difference for her. Finally, I believe her story reminds us of how important it is to find ways to connect to and uncover feelings of hope and hopelessness so that suicide is not the only option one sees in times of deep despair.
I believe Brenda's story reminds us that it is incumbant upon those of us who interact with children and youth to ensure we are uncovering and connecting to a child or youth's hope as well as feelings of despair. It is important that we create opportunities to make hope visible and accessible (for more information the 'Nurturing Hopeful Souls: Hopeful Practices and Activities for Children and Youth' will be available at the Hope Foundation of Alberta April 15, 2008).
Brenda Martin does not have control over her current situation which has brought on feelings of hopelessness and concerns for her safety. Hopefully things will take a turn for the better for her. I believe the media is using a hopeful strategy of informing the public of her situation as a way of making a difference for her. Finally, I believe her story reminds us of how important it is to find ways to connect to and uncover feelings of hope and hopelessness so that suicide is not the only option one sees in times of deep despair.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Reflection and Action
At the moment I am working with teachers and students who are connecting what they are learning about hope to their curriculum and service in the community. This program is called the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program. It is a program of the Hope Foundation where I am Director of Educational Services. As I put the finishing touches on the "Nurturing Hopeful Souls: Hopeful Practices and Activities for Children and Youth" resource and consider how we move from phase one of the H-F S-L program into phase two, I am ever conscious of how important it is to make room for reflection.
I am certainly not the first to consider the important role of reflection in the hoping process, but I do want to share how children and youth do like the opportunity to have quiet moments in their busy lives to reflect on hope. I was in a Junior High not too long ago. It was Friday and it was the end of the day. I asked the students to draw hope. We only had thirty minutes. Once the students settled into their desks and into the task it became very quiet - almost too quiet. Sure, at first there was the awkward giggle and talking, but soon after silence prevailed. After fifteen minutes I was torn. I was curious. When I asked the students what they noticed one of the male students replied with, "The time flew by. That is the quietest it has ever been in our class." I think I understood what he said.
These were students who were at different places in their learning and so much of their classtime, students are interacting with the teachers about their independent assignments. Since that time, those same students have made and shared hope power points. We have not yet, had time to share what they uncovered during their individual reflections, but I will once we meet mid week.
For now, let me say that I believe that we need to continue to find ways to reflect in our own lives and to make spaces and places for children and youth to reflect if we want to create hopeful learning communitites.
Hope is an outcome and a process. We have to teach and model hope as a process. Because as Vaclav Havel (1990) said, "Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out," we need to be part of the process to understand why things turn out as they do. Reflection is part of the process that helps to make that understanding possible.
I am certainly not the first to consider the important role of reflection in the hoping process, but I do want to share how children and youth do like the opportunity to have quiet moments in their busy lives to reflect on hope. I was in a Junior High not too long ago. It was Friday and it was the end of the day. I asked the students to draw hope. We only had thirty minutes. Once the students settled into their desks and into the task it became very quiet - almost too quiet. Sure, at first there was the awkward giggle and talking, but soon after silence prevailed. After fifteen minutes I was torn. I was curious. When I asked the students what they noticed one of the male students replied with, "The time flew by. That is the quietest it has ever been in our class." I think I understood what he said.
These were students who were at different places in their learning and so much of their classtime, students are interacting with the teachers about their independent assignments. Since that time, those same students have made and shared hope power points. We have not yet, had time to share what they uncovered during their individual reflections, but I will once we meet mid week.
For now, let me say that I believe that we need to continue to find ways to reflect in our own lives and to make spaces and places for children and youth to reflect if we want to create hopeful learning communitites.
Hope is an outcome and a process. We have to teach and model hope as a process. Because as Vaclav Havel (1990) said, "Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out," we need to be part of the process to understand why things turn out as they do. Reflection is part of the process that helps to make that understanding possible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)