Watching implies seeing, but if you mind something, you do more than just see it. You pay attention. You listen. You ponder what it means. You take responsibility. You mind the children. You mind your parents. The dictionary says you “regard as important and worthy of attention.” That’s exactly what Friend had in mind at “Dancing with the Divine.”

I’ve been practicing yoga at Shakti Yoga Shop for nearly two years. It is an Anusara shop, and John Friend is the founder of this particular branch of yoga. His visit to Iowa was a chance to learn from the guru. I went with a certain cynicism. My expectations were low, but he was amazing, and far exceeded those expectations.

Friend has a quirky sense of humor, and a depth of knowledge about a broad range of astrophysics to zoology. One of the funniest bits was when he gave us a physical demonstration of how humans are the only critters with shoulder muscles. The message was clear. We’ve got them so we need to develop them. He talked quite a bit about what we do with our bodies has a nearly immediate effect on evolution. Our genes remember our behavior.

On that Saturday afternoon, Friend talked about the increasing weight of the self-help book section addressing mindfulness. It’s a good thing, but these books usually focus on minding what you are doing or what’s happening. If you’re minding the gap, you’re paying attention to what’s not happening. On the resting. On the being, not just the doing.

Friday morning when I called my mentor, I was in a dither. The condition of the house was interfering with my serenity in a big way. She told me “go outside. Not to do something, not to make a list of what you need to do, just to be.”

I sat down in my hammock, with my phone still to my ear, and immediately felt the weight lift. Pat said she felt tears come to her eyes, hearing the relief in my voice. I minded the gap. First I had to create it. Then I paid attention to it. I lay down and looked up at the bright blue gap between the Locust and Pin Oak trees above me. And I minded it.

Afterwards I was able to return to the busy-ness of the day, to put things away, organize the house. And I was able to find some more gaps and mind them too.

But it’s not just about doing projects that help communities. For service learning to be valuable to young people as well as to the people they work with, we have to involve them in every step of every project—investigation, planning, action, reflection, demonstration and celebration.

After Global Youth Service Day last spring, Jessica Krough, Melissa Simmermaker of the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service, and I talked about innovative ways to reflect on the state-wide day of service. We decided to experiment with Internet based radio to bring kids together from different GYSD projects around the state. About eight kids joined me on my show, “We’re Entrepreneurs—we can help.” Three of my Earth Heroes, and two students from the Hoover High School STARS program came to the studio. Two students from Lamoni Middle School and their facilitator joined us by Skype.

The Earth Heroes talked about the ongoing project they’re doing for Global Youth Service Day. Jessica visited the garden, and helped them read the Governor’s Proclamation. They were still clearing the garden, building their dragon, and planting vegetables.

As Kyla, Terrance, I work with the Earth Heroes at the Des Moines Botanical Center, we talk about

• What happened?
• So what?—How did you feel? What did you learn?
• Now what?—What’s next? How can you use this experience in the future?

Here is some of their wisdom—

• “When I’m special, I work really hard.”
• “I didn’t know broccoli grew on a plant.”
• “Digging is fun!”

The Earth Heroes walk down the hill from Boys and Girls Club at Carver Community School to the Botanical Center, and we form a circle. The kids know the FIRST thing we do is the “Name Wave.” The kids lead the Wave, starting with everyone yelling out their name as loud as they can. Then come “compliments and appreciations,” a chance for everyone to say thank you, and talk about what we like.

It’s September, and the 2nd through 5th graders are harvesting squash, pumpkins, watermelon, beans, tomatoes, okra, onions, potatoes, peppers and sunflower seeds to take home. Any gardener knows fall is time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, what got done, and what didn’t. What was lost? Where did the summer go?

So, they’re taking photos in the gardens, and next week we’ll create a map of each of the 20 ten-foot X 10-foot raised beds, making notes about what grew, crops that worked well together, and what the Heroes learned from experiments with okra, mulching, and fall planting.

Service learning is a powerful way for young people to find relevance in education, dream about the future, and change the world.

Different kinds of birth control have different levels of effectiveness, with even the best being 99%. That looks pretty good, until you realize that even if I do everything right, and plan to have NO children, the odds are I’ll have two babies. I will tell you that, even at 60, these numbers are daunting.

On top of the math, nature has programmed teens to really, really want to have sex. It’s our nature to procreate while we are young. In fact, passing on our genes is our only biological purpose. Just 100 years ago, we could only expect to live 40 years. Lots of babies, and mothers, died in childbirth. No wonder teenagers have sex and babies.

Another issue for me was growing up in a family that didn’t talk about periods, much less s-e-x. I didn’t date in high school, or college really, though I did learn about sex, experientially. Though I prefer hands-on learning, it’s not the best way to learn this particular subject. I do remember a lecture in my sophomore religion class, so we must have had a unit on sex. Sister Mary Alphonse said if you masturbate, you are almost certainly a Lesbian. Though I didn’t know what a Lesbian was, I was sure I didn’t want to be one. I was terrified!

Then, college, the peace movement and “women’s liberation” changed my life. I started working with kids, and suddenly they were asking me questions and confiding in me about sex. So, I learned. I hosted women’s workshops in my tiny house in Cedar Rapids. I taught a very open catechism class for eighth graders. I listened as kids came out to me, and I told them they were ok, and that I still loved them. Even so, I didn’t really understand.

When I came to Des Moines, I began partnering with the adolescent pregnancy prevention coalition. And I began to talk about sex. I began to talk about my own experiences, and eventually I confronted the more painful ones. I talked to kids about their sexuality, and more often I listened. In the process, I became an approachable adult.

Now I’m back in the business of teen sexuality education and pregnancy prevention. I’m working with EyesOpenIowa to develop a peer review process for sex educators. Over the next few months, I’ll share resources for approachable adults. I hope you’ll let me know what you think, and pass the helpful ones on to others. Join me in peeling back our sexy onions.

• the number of beads on a Japa Mala, the beads used to count mantra repetitions during meditation
• the 108 suitors of Penelope, Odysseus’ wife; check out “The Penelopiad,” Margaret Atwood’s take on a wifely perspective of the Odyssey
• The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters.

…which brings us back to saluting the sun. Winter solstice is less than 2 weeks behind us. It is my favorite day of the year: it marks the day when daylight begins to lengthen. I can only imagine our earliest forbears watching the dwindling light and heat, fearing it was the end of the world, developing ceremonies and bargains to make the sun return for a year.

We continue many of those traditions around the holidays. Lighting candles, bringing in greenery, putting up Christmas lights. On this first day — 1/1/11, I hope for a lighter year, for peaceful, brighter days. I hope for clarity on the problems facing our planet. Perhaps by saluting the sun, still the source of life, we can perhaps begin to mend the earth.

On this post you’ll find the Evaluation Tools for Chrysalis After-School Programs for Spring 2010

• Spring Survey–Due May 31
• CAS Parent Survey–Due June 10, 2010. Please have at least ten parents complete the survey online. You can also download the Parent Survey, have parents return it to you and input their answers on the online survey yourself.
• CAS Data Collection Template, Middle School–Due June 10, 2010
• CAS Year-End Facilitator Survey–Due June 10, 2010–You’ll need to locate your Program Improvement Plan Form to complete this survey. All middle school groups must complete one of these forms per group–

1. Brody Middle School
2. Carlisle Middle School
3. Children and Families Urban Ministries
4. GEEZ Louise!
5. Goodrell Middle School
6. Harding Middle School
7. Hiatt Middle School
8. Holy Family School
9. Hoyt Middle School
10. McCombs Middle School
11. Merrill Middle School
12. Moulton Whyld Girls
13. Southeast Polk Junior High School
14. Woodside Middle School
15. Young Women’s Resource Center

Evaluation Tools for Elementary School Groups–

CAS Data Collection Template Elementary 09 to complete before June 10, 2010.

CAS Year-End Elementary School Group Facilitators Survey to complete before June 10, 2010.

I hope this will make it easy for you all to provide honest feedback about the program. Please leave your comments as well as completing surveys and spreadsheets. I appreciate all of your hard work.

Procedure–

Set up boundaries such as two ropes with a wide space between (this is the river); the space varies with the size of the group. Make sure the space is wider than the group would be in a straight line.

Have the participants line up on the outside of one  rope, and tell them that they have spent the day in a chocolate factory, eating as much chocolate as they want but now they can’t wait to get home and have some healthy food. However, the chocolate vats have sprung a leak and they are now looking at a giant chocolate river they must cross before they get home.

They must get the entire team across the chocolate river, but it is too hot to swim across, and too deep to walk across. (Obviously, they cannot walk around the river, since it does not end just because the ropes do).

The only way to get across is by using the large, fluffy marshmallows that you provide (use felt, carpet or cardboard squares, as long as they’re not too big. Give the participants about one square per person.

Unfortunately, the current in the river is so strong that it actually sweeps the marshmallows away if no one is touching them (with a hand, foot, or other safe appendage) If the marshmallows are left without human contact, take them away immediately.

It will take a good 45 minutes for the group members to solve the initiative, and you will probably need another set of eyes to make sure that all the marshmallows are being anchored.

Possible processing questions include:

• How did your group work together?
• How did you feel when you lost your marshmallow?
• How did you feel when you got across the Chocolate River?
• How is school/group/life like the river?
• What if only a few of you made it across the river?
• What did you need to do as you crossed the river?
• How well did you do it?
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of different individuals in the group?
• What tools do the marshmallows represent to you?

• Do you have a group of youth that might be interested in creating social change, but isn’t sure? Check out Ashoka’s Youth Venture as a first step and contact Community! Youth Concepts to schedule a 45 minute Dream It. Do It. workshop. This sounds like a great step for groups that are thinking of coming to the Iowa Outdoor Youth Summit!
• The Iowa Outdoor Youth Summit was held at Springbrook Conservation Center on April 10 and 11. Groups from across Iowa put together both local and state plans for addressing “Nature Deficit Disorder.”
• We used the Outdoor Bill of Rights Survey to plan the Summit; you can take it here, and see the results here.
• The Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service is Lead Agency for Global Youth Service Day April 23-25, 2010. GYSD has a lot of resources for planning a project--an interactive project guide, grant opportunities, and a brainstorming tool.
• The National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) has standards for quality practice for service learning. The NYLC sponsors an annual conference; this year “Inspire. Imagine. Innovate.” will be held in San Jose, California March 24-27. Several Chrysalis After-School groups have attended in 2008 and 2009.

Well, that’s a start. It doesn’t take much surfing to find lots of inspiration and help for  getting involved in service learning; check it out!

CAS Spring Evaluation–

Please watch this space for the data collection tools for spring. Everything is due by June 10, 2010.

CAS Data Collection Template Middle School 09–Please complete before June 10, 2010. You might want to take a look at it now so you know what you need to collect.

CAS Parent Survey–Since moms and dads know their daughters better than anyone (or at least we hope they do), we are asking them for their impressions of how Chrysalis After-School affects their daughters. We ask that each CAS group to have at least ten parents complete the survey online. You can also download the Parent Survey, have parents return it to you and input it yourself. We’ve gotten some very helpful and positive feedback from parents, and it’s a great help for telling the Chrysalis After-School story.

CAS Spring Event Planning–

On the CAS Fall Girls’ Survey, more than 120 girls said they would like to help plan the HerStory and Girl Power events. Terry Hernandez and the Chrysalis Foundation have asked us to combine the events this year and take charge of them. Now is the time to begin planning and it will take all of us to pull it off. The first planning deadline is February 1, 2010. Please download the CAS Spring Event Planning Process and use it to collect your group’s input for the event. Please take the opportunity to use one of the planning processes from the Quality Counts training and/or the Good for Girls Program Guide. Please return the completed form to me by February 1, 2010. The purposes of the event are to:

• Celebrate and share successes of girls, groups and women
• Recognize girls who are making successful transitions to middle school, junior high or high school
• Share and learn about each other, women’s history, program ideas and successes, each other and the big picture of Chrysalis After-School

Evaluation Tools for Middle School Groups–

You can download an electronic version of the Youth Program Quality Assessment Program Improvement Plan Form here. Please email or mail it to Martha by January 15, 2010. My address is Next Step, 3615 Adams Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50310.

Please complete the CAS Mid-Year Facilitator Survey here. This survey provides data on the amount of time you’re spending with the girls and perhaps most importantly, anecdotal data that I can use to better tell the Chrysalis After-School story. That’s one of MY goals for 2010!

Here is the Fall Survey for the middle school girls. Please have your group complete the survey between September 28 and October 31, 2009. If you have girls join the group during the year, it would be great if you have them complete the survey soon after they join. The Spring Survey will be available in mid-April, and you’ll have a month during which to complete it. You can review the Girls’ Fall Survey Results here.

Here is the CAS Data Collection Template Middle School 09 to complete before June 10, 2010. You might want to take a look at it now so you know what you need to collect.

Evaluation Tools for Elementary School Groups–

CAS Data Collection Template Elementary 09 to complete before June 10, 2010.

CAS Year-End Elementary School Group Facilitators Survey to complete before June 10, 2010.

I hope this will make it easy for you all to provide honest feedback about the program. Please leave your comments as well as completing surveys and spreadsheets. I appreciate all of your hard work.

Mind maps and similar concepts have been used for centuries for learning, brainstorming, enhancing memory, and problem solving by educators, engineers, psychologists…But Tony Buzan made them popular. They are used more in Europe than in the US, but I recommend them especially to kinesthetic and visual thinkers.

Mind mapping has many applications for personal and business use. Because ideas are added into the map radially around a central idea or theme without the implicit prioritization that comes from outlining–summarizing, revising and clarifying thoughts and ideas come naturally to the mind mapper.

Mind maps have been useful to me in a number of ways–

• working with groups to generate ideas
• taking notes during classes and workshops
• brainstorming and prioritizing to do lists
• planning workshops

The workshops I facilitate on mind mapping and other keys to creativity, are geared to your unique group, and provide background and rationale, group and individual practice time, ideas for tapping into your creativity and FUN!

–Martha McCormick

• Resilience
• Economic Empowerment
• Leadership

Girls, facilitators and parents are seeing positive changes in confidence, communication skills, school attendance and work, and in their leadership qualities, skills and behavior. These outcomes are the result of serious work at the front lines–facilitators have attended training, put it into practice and set goals for continuous improvement. They have involved the girls in planning and leading the groups and the girls have stepped up, led discussions, games and committees, and written applications for funding.

The Chrysalis Foundation Board, under the leadership of Terry Hernandez and the Education Committee, have examined the findings from previous years, made adjustments and committed 2/3 of their grant dollars to the program for each of the next three years.

If you would like to read the entire report, please download it here–

• Chrysalis After-School Headlines 2009
• Chrysalis After-School Executive Summary 2009
• CAS Report to the Community 2009