Open-Minded Level - Social Emotional Learning
At this level, the class is 30 weeks long and meets once a week for an hour on Thursdays at 7:00 pm.
The first four weeks will engage students in exploring their identities in the context of diversity. Students will explore identity as sameness (cultural and personal identities), identity as diversity (dual identities, shifting identities), reclaiming and forming identities, and challenging identities.
The second ten week core of the course will not only explore linked oppressions in our society, but also encourage participants towards personal growth in values that counteract the marginalization of others. Classes will focus on empathy, courage, abundance, joy, and other qualities that ask participants to recognize how these standards can be tools for justice. Additionally, the course includes more concrete tools, such as suggestions on how to be a good ally and tips on the language of conflict resolution. True stories of courage, sacrifice and collaboration, role-plays, games, and a program-long justice project will feed youth’s rising realization that as humans living in community, we are all called to love justice—not just with our words, but also with our deeds.
The final 16-week core of the course will focus on building bridges by understanding the many religions in our world. This part of our social-emotional learning is meant to deepen students' understanding of the dynamic, fascinating, and varied world in which they live. We will begin with an exploration of the importance of religious tolerance as we seek to broaden student knowledge of humanity. From indigenous religions to Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Humanism, Quakers, Atheism and more, we will explore them all.