[Ailist] working with children in schools

[Joyce Lemke]

Dear Virginia,
   
  Many of your concerns are justifiable.  However, in my experience with my Positive Change Core colleagues, it has been other than we might have expected. We have done about 10 Appreciative Inquiries, and we always include children and/or youth.  First, children and youth-we've worked with as young as third graders- respond rather magically to being listened to and questioned regarding substantive matters by adults. There also seems to be value in encouraging the formation of "improbable pairs", and for adults and children to join up.
  Next, the environment does matter, but we've found that when children/youth are part of the planning team, and one of them does part of the direction-giving, everyone responds respectfully.  We have also used large poster photographs of children/youth and "quotable quotes" on the walls, and on the large screens. 
  We also discovered that having the children/youth "vet" the interview questions and the schedules for the day or days.  Finally, in our experience there is remarkable power in the intergenerational exchange-everyone becomes a bit more open and sincere, hopeful about the other generation, and energized by the opportunity to interact and plan together!  Best wishes to you, the school, and the effort! 
   
  Joyce Lemke
  Postive Change Core

Virginia McKendry <vmckendry at rogers.com> wrote:
  Dear List,

I have been contracted to lead a school-wide summit with a K-8 school 
in Southern Ontario, this coming fall semester. The principal and 
superintendent are very excited about using AI as are many of the 
parents. The principal is committed to taking one or even two days to 
involve everyone in the school in this exciting undertaking. I'm not 
sure what specifically we will be inquiring into, but likely 
something like "incredible readers" or "a caring, friendly place to 
learn" or "the best school in the whole county", etc.

We are just in the planning stages, and by the end of this month I 
would like to be able to propose a couple of ways of doing a summit 
in such a way that all parts of the system contribute to the inquiry. 
This means engaging all of the students, including the youngest, many 
of whom, of course, do not yet read or write. Teachers, support 
staff, parents, some social entrepreneurs, and the school 
superintendent will also be involved.

Have any of the list members worked successfully with children this 
young, and with children of varying ages? How did you do it? Did you 
have the little kids interviewing big people? What if they are too 
shy, etc.? And what kinds of questions work best for these very young 
participants?Would it work better to have classes doing interviews 
before the summit? Or is it more fruitful to have students from one 
grade interviewing kids from another grade? If the child is not yet 
literate, does working with pictures work best, or does it help to 
have a scribe to support the interview?

Also, there are some concerns about how we are going to manage a 
successful AI summit with so many children participating. There is a 
worry that having all of the students in the gym together will result 
in nothing but mayhem, given that their teachers will not be in pure 
supervisory roles, but taking part in the AI process themselves. Kids 
in gyms tend to go a bit bonkers, at least this is the experience of 
some teachers I've talked to about what we are planning to do.

Again, has anyone on the list dealt with this issue? Any creative 
ways of "herding cats" so that everyone gets to participate without 
getting distracted by the presence of their buddies, and proximity to 
other kids from other grades?

I'll leave this to simmer with the group mind. Thank you very much in 
advance for any and all of your wisdom!

Best wishes,
Virginia


Virginia McKendry, PhD
Brantford, Ontario, Canada




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            Joyce Lemke
  
  911 25th Street  NW
  Canton, Ohio  44709
   
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