Tree of Life

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Raising_our_heads_above_the_clouds_The_u.pdf

2.7 MB

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(Think about how to adapt with participants with visual impairment, maybe the youth can draw the tree for them?)

Part One: Tree of Life - Build and acknowledge stories of our lives

Part Two: Forest of Life - Identifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities in our stories

Part Three: When Storms Come - Enable us to speak about ways we respond to challenges/hardships

Part Four: Celebration - Acknowledgement of the collective knowledge, skills, and abilities and intergenerational linkages

Part One: Tree of Life

Share about trees that are meaningful in our lives.

Each person begins to develop their own tree working in teams of two youth and one older adult?

Roots of the tree (our cultural and historical roots) - where we came from, our family history (origins, family name, ancestry, extended family), those who have taught us most in life. What gives us strength keeps us steady. What/who do we return to when we need strength?

The ground (current lives and interests) - Represents where we live and activities of our daily lives.

Trunk of the tree (skills and abilities) - Speak about and represent in drawing our skills, values, and qualities that are important to us.

Branches of the tree (hopes, dreams, and wishes) - Also link these hopes, dreams, and wishes to significant people in our lives. How we are able to hold on to our dreams and what sustains our hopes.

Leaves of the tree (people who are important to us) - These people may be alive or may have passed on. Why these people are important to us. Stories of significant people in our lives.

Fruits (gifts we have been given and would like to give) - Can be acts of kindness, care, love from others. Contributions we are currently making to the community or would like to make.

Part Two: The Forest of Life

Build a collective repository of all of our trees.

Share our stories of our trees with the group. As people speak we can collectively listen for their hopes and dreams, the history of their hopes and dreams, how we are able to hold on to them, who else in our lives would have known about these hopes and dreams.

Reflect on how the trees may have some things in common and some differences they have. What the different generations have in common, and ways to support each other as trees belonging to the same forest.

Part Three: When the Storms Come

Having established a secure place for us to stand, we can explore some of the difficulties we may be experiencing in our lives and the skills and knowledges that we demonstrate during these times. This supports us to speak about our challenges and make more visible the skills and knowledge we all bring.

Trees can face hazards and dangers - (discussion). Like trees we all face dangers and troubles (discussion).

What are the effects of these hazards?

Part Four: How we Respond to the Storms of Life

Now that the storms and the effects have been named, we can discuss how we might respond, the things we can do. How can we respond to storms that come into our lives? How can we respond? How can we protect ourselves?

Part Five: Create digital stories of our trees?

Part Six: Exhibition?

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