The Container Concept: Creating a Sense of Community in Our Communities Experiential Educators’ Conclave 2014

Agenda/Flow Introduction/Context Mission: What is a sense of community? Vision: Why create a sense of community? Strategies: Conditions for creating a sense of community Closing

INTRODUCTION/CONTEXT We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time -T.S. Eliot

Protocols Assume good intentions Salad in the teeth rule Make the experience work Right to Pass Others?

CONTAINER CONCEPT

Not all Containers are Alike

We Have Choices… We have Influence… What are the qualities of your container(s)? How have you & others felt/operated in healthy containers? Unhealthy containers?

Mission: What is a Sense of Community?

From Group to Community “In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy but by the time they reach community the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully.” M. Scott Peck M.D. The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace

Thomas Sergiovanni states that “the need for community is universal. A sense of belonging, of continuity, of being connected to others and to ideas and values that make our lives meaningful and significant -- these needs are shared by all of us.”

“The people in one’s life are like the pillars on one’s porch you see life through. And sometimes they hold you up. And sometimes they lean on you, and sometimes it’s just enough to know they’re standing by.” Anonymous

Community is consciousness of connection, combining and comprising: Courtesy, communication, collaboration, cooperation, consideration, caring, compassion, curiosity, commonalities, common goals, confidence, creativity, courage, challenge, camaraderie, and conceivably chocolate. CTC Group, 2004

"… a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members' needs will be met through their commitment to be together.” ~ McMillan & Chavis, 1986

Vision: Why Create a Sense of Community?

ACTIVE AT PEACE CARING COMPASSIONATE CONFIDENT CONTRIBUTOR CREATIVE CRITICAL THINKER EMPATHETIC EMPLOYED FORGIVING GENEROUS GET ALONG W/ OTHERS GOOD COMMUNICATOR GOOD PARENTS HAPPY HEALTHY HONEST INDEPENDENT INTEGRITY LITERATE LOYAL MOTIVATED PATIENT PERSEVERENCE POSITIVE ATTITUDE PROBLEM SOLVERS PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS RELIABLE RESILIENT RESOURCEFUL RESPECT RESPONSIBLE SELF DIRECTED SELF ESTEEM SELF RESPECT SELF SUFFICIENT SENSE OF HUMOR SUCCESSFUL WELL-INFORMED VISION

Creating a sense of community… SUPPORTS LEARNING Creating a sense of community… SUPPORTS LEARNING

Elements of Sense of Community Membership Influence Integration & Fulfillment of Needs Shared Emotional Connection McMillan & Chavez

Learning & emotions are intertwined

Fight, Flight, Freeze inhibits learning

Fear, embarrassment, frustration, boredom… …can trigger fight, flight, freeze

Fundamental Elements of Brain-based Teaching & Learning Caine, et. al. Brain/Mind Learning Principles in Action Relaxed Alertness: Creating the optimal emotional climate for learning Orchestrated Immersion in complex Experience: Creating optimal opportunities for learning Active Processing of Experience: Create optimal ways to consolidate learning

Creating a sense of community… PERSONAL/SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Through FOSTERING A SAFE ENVIRONMENT Creating a sense of community… PERSONAL/SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Through FOSTERING A SAFE ENVIRONMENT

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Retrieved from: Security Esteem Belonging

Supports Social Emotional Learning (SEL) See

Elements of Sense of Community Membership Influence Integration & Fulfillment of Needs Shared Emotional Connection McMillan & Chavez

Strategies: Conditions for Creating a Sense of Community

Conditions for Community to Develop Intentionality Safe and Trusting Environment Balancing “Me” and “We” Ownership Positivity Others?

INFLUENCE Safe & Trusting Environment Intentionality Balancing “me” & “we” Ownership SHARED EMOTIONAL CONNECTION INTEGRATION & FULFILLMENT OF NEEDS MEM BERS HIP Positivity

Intentionality is Key Presenting activities do not, in themselves, guarantee the attainment of lifelong learning and skills. The more intentional and systematic we can be, the more possible it is to achieve what we wish to achieve.

Invitational Education – a Container Framework Making time for relationships

Invitational Education

INVITATIONAL EDUCATION INTENTIONALLYUNINTENTIONALLY INVITINGINTENTIONALLY INVITING UNINTENTIONALLY INVITING DISINVITINGINTENTIONALLY DISINVITING UNINTENTIONALLY DISINVITING

Safe Environment Relational Trust

Physical/Emotional Safety Physical and verbal violence has to be addressed. Ground rules and social commitments help in establishing boundaries. Instances of harassment, hitting, etc. though, must also be dealt with quickly.

Relational Trust

“one’s willingness to be vulnerable to another based on the confidence that the other is benevolent, honest, open, reliable, and competent.” Tschannen-Moran, M. (2004). Trust Matters: Leadership for successful schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (p. 17) “one’s willingness to be vulnerable to another based on the confidence that the other is benevolent, honest, open, reliable, and competent.” Tschannen-Moran, M. (2004). Trust Matters: Leadership for successful schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (p. 17) “In the context of building a team, trust is the confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. In essence, teammates must get comfortable being vulnerable with one another.” Lencioni, P. (2002). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (p. 195) “In the context of building a team, trust is the confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. In essence, teammates must get comfortable being vulnerable with one another.” Lencioni, P. (2002). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (p. 195)

Empowerment “Me” Social Commitment “We”

Empowerment [is] a multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power in people for use in their own lives, their communities and in their society, by acting on issues they define as important. —Nanette Page & Cheryl Czuba

Empowerment is the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. Central to this process are actions which both build individual and collective assets, and improve the efficiency and fairness of the organizational and institutional context which govern the use of these assets. —The World Bank

Youth Empowerment is the outcome by which youth, as change agents, gain the skills to impact their own lives and lives of other individuals, organizations and communities. —Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES!)

SOCIAL COMMITMENT: “WE”

The central message of the consumer culture in which we live is: You’re the most important thing on earth. You’re the heaviest object in the universe and everything orbits around you. And we’ve enshrined this idea as ‘human nature.’ Not remembering that most people in most places have had other things very near the center of their identity – the tribe, the community, their relationship with the natural world, or the Divine – something that gave them more of a sense of identity not obsessively rooted in themselves Bill McKibbon (Interview aired on May 26, 2007)

GOAL SETTING

The 3 ‘R’s Routines What are some routines you have in your setting? Rituals What are some of your family, cultural, or personal rituals? What are some of your traditions? What is a rite of passage you have experienced? Responsibility What do you in your setting to engender responsibility toward self and others?

Reflections on the 10 Joy Gratitude Serenity Interest Hope Pride Amusement Inspiration Awe Love From: Fredrickson, B. (2009) Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive. New York, NY: Crown Archetype.

Positivity 1.Broadens our minds and our hearts 2.Transforms us for the better 3.Fuels Resilience 1.Asking questions and focusing outward (open to new ideas) 2.Connectivity and attunement of the team. More responsive to one another 3.Bouncing back from adversity rather than getting stuck in self-absorbed advocacy IndividualsGroups

Positivity Ratio The Tipping Point Flourishing = 3 to 1 “… only when positivity ratios are higher than 3 to 1 is positivity in sufficient supply to seed human flourishing.” (Fredrickson, 2009)

A Place for Negativity Specific negative emotions help us focus and take action (such as in resolving or transforming conflict). Global and unfocused negative emotions overwhelm and poison us. The difference between anger and contempt or guilt and shame

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “the other is good – he is joy, peace, love hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

I am because we are Yo soy porque nosotros somos 私たちがいるので、私は Ako mao tungod kay kita 我是因为我们 हम कर रहे हैं क्योंकि मैं कर रहा हूँ Mimi ni kwa sababu sisi ni

Laurie Frank GOAL Consulting To download this PowerPoint, please go to my website: