Last Sunday Marked Mid-year Point for the 7th/8th Grade Our Whole Lives Class!

Becky, Mara, and Peter... These three phenomenal, caring, passionate, knowledgeable, fun people have been doing the ultra marathon of Spiritual Exploration volunteering this year and it is so behind-the-scenes I want to lift them up for you all to cherish! They are the 7th/8th grade Our Whole Lives sexuality education facilitators. This Sunday they passed the half-way point--session #13 out of 25 total!!! Nearly every Sunday they are in the Bell Tower room 10:30-noon. There they co-facilitate 1.5 hour informative OWL sessions for the twelve 7th and 8th graders. In addition to the facilitating, there's the preparation and co-planning time. Some congregations have had to turn to paying their middle school OWL facilitators, as it is so hard to find volunteers willing to do this big a lift. It's really phenomenal and we should all give them high fives wherever we see them around town. They do it because they love it, but appreciation is always nice. High fives due also to the youth and parents who've prioritized this learning in their lives!

Wondering what some of the learning happening in 7th/8th Our Whole Lives is? Here are recaps from the past two Sundays:

From Jan. 6th, Becky Webber writes:

Hello 7th&8th Grade OWL families,

This past Sunday, the group discussed Healthy (and Unhealthy) Relationships. We began by emphasizing the fact that everyone is at a different point regarding romantic relationships (already dating/having romantic feelings, not yet ready to think about having a romantic relationship, or not interested in romantic relationships at all), but that all relationships in their lives, including with friends and family, consist of many of the same components and can be healthy or unhealthy.

Youth identified their own "Deal Makers and Deal Breakers' (things that they absolutely want in a relationship and things that they absolutely will not accept in a relationship). We talked about some signs that an aspect of a relationship is healthy or unhealthy, noting some red flags that indicate a relationship might be unhealthy, and gave them some tools to evaluate their existing and future relationships.

We also discussed power and equality in relationships--the idea that in any relationship, there may be one person with more power because they are older, have more experience, have more popularity/status, are larger/stronger, etc. (Some relationships, like parent/child, teacher/student, or worker/supervisor, are inherently unequal.) 

Discussing their friendships and and romantic relationships, we noted that relationships with serious power imbalances are often unequal, and thus unhealthy. We reminded them that awareness of these power imbalances, whether you are the "low-power" or "high-power" individual in the relationship, is important, as it can help you to avoid pressuring or being pressured and make the relationship healthier.

This coming Sunday, we'll be discussing Relationship Skills....

~ 7th & 8th Grade OWL Team

From Jan. 13th, Mara Iverson writes:

Today in 7th & 8th grade OWL we practiced communication skills because using our words and listening to others is the foundation for healthy, functional relationships. We learned about characteristics of active listening and practiced identifying good listening behaviors. We explored passive, assertive, and aggressive communication methods and determined that generally assertive communication is the most effective, but there may be appropriate times for aggressive or passive communication. Finally, we thought about times we have done things we didn't really want to because we were worried about a consequence of refusing. We discussed that sometimes we may have to consider what we really want and need and ask for it directly or tell someone no directly. And we practiced refusal skills.
Here are some videos with summaries of active listening, communication styles, and refusal skills.

Active Listening:
https://youtu.be/cSohjlYQI2A

Assertive Communication:
https://youtu.be/3sUwtwzLnS8

Refusal Skills:
https://youtu.be/NwdXFPsl500

We will NOT have OWL next week. We return Sunday, January 27. Happy upcoming Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

7th & 8th Grade OWL Team