Girl Scouts, for example, explicitly advocates the idea that adults are
"Guides," taking a facilitative rather than instructional/directive role as
to programs. As girls progress from Daisies to Brownies to Juniors,
Cadettes, Seniors, it is expected that responsibility for program decisions,
leading troop meetings, planning camping trips, etc. will gradually be
transferred from adults to girls.
I've given a few talks and written a couple of papers that examine at the
discourse of youth organizations and attempted to locate moments of
interaction where this type of transfer is facilitated, or where in these
settings adults through their discourse establish a position for youth as
more active agents in program planning. (One is available at the WWW site for
the Vygotsky conference from 1994 in Moscow.) I think it's crucial to
document the kinds of "orchestrations" that take place in these settings,
particularly if we are to make classrooms more dialogic as well.
Bill Penuel
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PreventionInventions
PO Box 40692
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 297-5923