Hope Tool # One

So here's the thing. I need to create a new hope kit to help me on my next leg of my journey. As many of you know, I am working to understand why we need to make hope visible in the lives of students in the classroom as part of my doctorate. Since I am in my first year of the doctorate program, I have not started my research per se. However, I have been doing lots of writing, conversing and story telling, which has led me to realize that I need new hope tools. 

The first hope tool that I am going to add to my hope kit* (I have made two in the last nine years) is the following question from Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed:

"What can we do now in order to be able to do tomorrow what we are unable to do today?"

* For more information on Hope Kits check out the  Nurturing Hopeful Souls resource available at www.ualberta.ca/hope under the 'Good Reads' Section.

Obama Peace Prize

I for one, am not surprised President Obama won the Nobel Peace prize. 

I say this because I remember how many refugee and immigrant students in a grade five class last spring named him as their hope symbol. When queried these students said it was because he gave them hope that people could work together to make a better world, that he would bring people together to make the world a more peaceful place. 

I believe his action has been to engage people in imagining what is possible. I have no doubt that his daily actions are already inspiring many to do what they can to build a more equitable, self-sustaining planet.  Further, the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize committee recognized that he is bringing hope to the world demonstrates that Obama is helping us to see another way to be with each other.

Building Community Capacity One Story at a Time

Last night as I shared the following story with my husband, I realized I should be telling you too. So here goes....

Since I am FINALLY ready to get back into the routine with the small but mighty group of Hope Kids that I worked with last year, I gave each of them a call last night. The first young lady shouted YIPEE when I told her I would be out Wednesday at lunch to start planning Hope-Focused Community Service projects with her and her group. I thought that was pretty cool.

However, it was during my conversation with the fourth Hope Kid that I nearly fell off my chair.

She calmly informed me that the girls had been meeting on our regular weekday since the beginning of the school year. When I asked what they have been doing, she said, "Well we've been brainstorming ideas for projects and how to get started." Her comment reminded me what they told me last year toward the end of our time together. That was that they were committed to our work together because they were in charge of the hope-focused projects ~ most importantly that their voice counted. Since one of the essential elements of the HOPE KIDS programs (Hope-focused Service-learning and Hope-Focused Community Service) is student voice, I was pretty pleased.

I am, as you can tell ecstatic, to know that so much more happens when we enable children and youth to be more in charge of their learning. I am learning so much from these amazing young ladies. I am sure I will have much more to share with you in the very near future.

In the meantime, I would like to thank the St. Albert Rotary Club, The St. Albert Gazette, St. Albert Family and Community Social Services, TD Trust and the Million Dollar Round Table for their past support in making this particular HOPE KIDS program a reality.

Humming Bird's Wings of Flight

Last night I experienced what I might call my first anxiety attack about my decision to return to school this fall to embark on obtaining another degree. 

Here's what I learned when I quieted myself enough to connect to what I am feeling as September looms:

 

As the panic dances on the tip of each nerve

I feel a zillion laser beams shooting outward to the very outer edge of my being.

Each as tight as a violin string vibrating like a humming bird's wings.

If one breaks the music will stop.

And so, I know, I must allow the silent tension to pull me forward ~ 

Hope and Being at Peace

I am thinking of late about different hope definitions in relation to my own actions, thoughts, feelings, and relationships. In particular, I am thinking about how hope guides my thoughts, actions, feelings, and relationships as I move forward in time. 

First, let me share with you the three hope definitions that I rely on.

Stephenson (1991) defines hope as “a process of anticipation that involves the interaction of thinking, acting, feeling, relating, and is directed toward a future fulfillment that is personally meaningful".

 Dufault and Martocchio (1985) describe hope as “a multidimensional dynamic life force characterized by a confident yet uncertain expectation of achieving a future good which, to the hoping person, is realistically possible and personally significant".

Jevne (1994) describes hope as enabling individuals to envision a future they are willing to participate. I like to add 'envision and work toward' a future in which they can participate with interest.

In each of these definitions there is a sense of moving toward a desired or good future as determined by the individual. In preparation for a paper that I am working on, I have been reading how different philosophers, beginning with Aristotle, describe this movement toward what is determined to be good. 

So this morning, I asked myself, 'How do I determine what is good for me?' Of course I believe how I determine what is good for me has been and is learned from my experiences along the way. So I expect that this whole posting might be different if I wrote it yesterday or tomorrow. Having said that, I came up with the following - "BEING AT PEACE" with who I am and becoming (Greene, 1995) is critical to my hope (and hopeful self). When I am not feeling at peace with what has happened in the past, present or what I envision might happen in the future as a result of my past or present, then I do not feel hopeful. Having just discovered this about myself, I believe that what happens then is that I search for thoughts, actions, and relationships that help me feel more at peace and as a result more hopeful.

Thinking about this as I post this blog, I would add that, Mahatma Ghandi's quote:

Whenever you are in doubt, apply the following test: recall the face of the poorest and weakest person you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to them.

is of late has been a huge determining factor in whether or not I feel at peace/hopeful.

HOPE KIDS NAIT Summer Camp

Here's what I've been up to since my last posting....

http://www.inews880.com/Channels/Reg/LocalNews/Story.aspx?ID=1115430

Hope Stories

Here's something you might like to see. Grade nine students at McCauley School have the texts of their digital stories published in the local paper. Check them out at:

edmontonexaminer.com/Community/Articles.aspx?id=3150&catname=hope+at+McCauley+school