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.
Friday, October 31, 2008
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.
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