After the Ecological Crash Course and before we started working on the theory assignment, we had the opportunity to meet again for an additional reflection and evaluation session. In this excerpt, we debriefed the climate strike we had participated in a week earlier.
The students were informed about the reasons for the recording. We sat in a circle so that everyone could have eye contact, conscious focus and a sense of community. Our new tutor Irina (to my left) was also present. We used the screen behind me before and after this debrief. I had not specifically asked for notes to be taken, which I only realised afterwards.
I opened the discussion by asking those who hadn't been at the protest to put the first questions to the students who had been there. Most of the exchange revolved around their impressions and observations and how their feelings had evolved before, during and after the protest. I only intervened with clarifications ("the students didn't just participate, they organised"), elicitive questions ("which chants stayed with you and why?") and additional information ("there are actions and protests coming up"), but otherwise the conversation flowed smoothly among the students. It was good to hear not only that they were having a good time, but also the deeper reflections that the experience had led them to.
After the singing and laughing, I encouraged those who hadn't yet spoken to share their opinions, and we finished the debrief after about 10 minutes in total. This conversation allowed for a smooth transition to the following activity: we watched three Just Transition videos, each with a different strategy (politics, resilience, speculation) corresponding to the stances the students could take for their final projects (Transition Accellerator, Radical Resilience, Future Fiction).
In retrospect, this session seems to have been an afterthought or addition rather than a core part of the course [see New Earth Syllabus]. While it helped to recapitulate themes that had been discussed previously, it did not introduce significantly new insights and learnings. It did, however, help the new practice tutor to familiarise herself with the students, what we had worked on so far and where she was going to start.