Cooper Center for Environmental LearningSunship III Program

Sharing Circles after the Commencement

Have your sharing circles meet about one week after returning from the Commencement Exercises at the Sunship III Training Center. This first meeting you should review some of the ground rules and even have a talking stick available for the group. During this first meeting you can get a sense of who will and will want to continue working on the Quest. Even those who do not actively participate can continue to meet with the sharing circle because they may provide valuable suggestions or at some point may even change their minds about participation. Here are some suggested questions for this first meeting.

General Setup:

  • Have all members of the Sharing Circle sit in a circle, with no one excluded or behind anyone else. Also, everyone, including the facilitator, sits at the same height, since everyone is “on the same level” in a Sharing Circle.
  • Use the talking stick! Be sure that anyone who wants to share is heard.
  • There are no right or wrong perceptions!
  • There are no right or wrong choices! This is why the participants are here, to figure these out for themselves.
  • Emphasize that we all have these choices to make, and the answer for us isn’t always clear.
  • Refer to contributors whenever possible (“When Wayne said ______, it got me thinking about my habit of ______.”
  • Do not include yourself with the talking stick for practical reasons, BUT talk as little as possible. Your job is to make the conversation flow and to manage behavior. It’s not really your conversation. It’s the participants’ time to share.
  • Do not make it a review or a question and answer period. This time is about thoughts, feelings, and choices. It’s not about the facts of the activities.
  • Enjoy this time of getting to know what the kids are thinking.

Some finessing points:

  • Don’t answer questions kids pose directly, i.e., try to pass the question on to the group or reflect it back to the one who asked.
  • Sit in the middle of the bench if you’re facilitating – makes it much easier to see everyone.
  • It’s ok to ask multiple questions at once about thoughts/feelings – but it must be on the same topic.
  • If you’ve tried a topic and it’s not going anywhere, change topics. YOU DON’T HAVE TO HIT ALL THE BUTTONS EACH TIME!
  • Maintain pleasant/neutral expression and tone – hide irritation if facilitating.
  • (Your) comments should be no longer than 3 sentences long.
  • Watch where you start the talking stick – “plant” the stick so an insightful comment will come close to the starting point, if you start the stick opposite you, you’ll be heard in the middle instead of the end.
  • Keep Sharing Circle time to about 30 minutes at the most.

First Sharing Circle (after Cooper)Questions:

  • “The three days of the Sunship III Commencement Exercises was quite an experience. What surprised you the most about what happened?”
  • “Does anything feel or seem different now that you are back in your usual setting?”
  • “Are there things you are doing differently now than before you went on this experience?”
  • (Use the Ledger to help guide the students)
  • “Can anyone explain what we need to do with the objects in the bags in order to complete the Quest?”
  • “We also have to interview three people to complete the Quest. Let’s take some time to review the people in one of the groups – either using energy and materials wisely, demonstrating care of natural places or things, developing a deeper relationship with the earth. (Review one of the sections, who the people are, where they are, how the students might get to the places, and the kinds of questions they might ask the person).”
  • “The next time we get together, I would like each of you to have chosen one person in this category, or one of the other categories, that you would like to visit. Remember, you can do this alone or with another person. Also be thinking of some questions you would like to ask this person you have chosen. I am going to give your group a chance to meet on their own before I meet with you again. The idea is for the sharing circle to help support you in your efforts. Let’s go around one last time and find out what each person would like to work on first -- it can be one of your natural objects or one of the interviews…”

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