What does “holding space” mean for us at LEADPrep?
It means that as teachers or parents, or even as fellow students, we are willing to walk alongside someone. We don’t judge, or try to fix them.
We open our hearts, offer support, and care about the outcomes. Holding space is about being present to each other.
How do we do this?
LEADPrep gives students room to trust themselves.
We give the students room to find out for themselves possible directions, and how they want to get there. We hold space for their intuition and their innate sense of wisdom. And, we support them through the outcome.
LEADPrep gives students enough information to empower learning.
Teachers guide students by managing the complexity and duration of tasks. They provide students with the right amount of information to guide learning, without either frustration or boredom.
LEADPrep doesn’t take students’ power away.
We support students while they learn to set boundaries (not giving up power). We encourage students to advocate for themselves and others. We guide students to explore the limits of their own power and learn how to manage the power they have. Need to take a walk? Or chill in the Calm Cave? Ask and teachers are quick to support these empowering requests.
LEADPrep makes students feel safe enough to fail.
Learning is about making mistakes. We create a safe environment, without judgement, that allows students to try. We encourage children to use calm reflection to objectively review their successes and failures. Our design thinking process is modeled by teachers and allows students to try again.
LEADPrep makes space for complex emotions.
We hold a safe space for students to risk or face fear or anxiety and learn to manage these and other complex emotions. We hold space, but we do not solve the problems. We give the student the tools, the time, and the environment to learn about and from their own challenges.
