Hello All. Last weekend was super busy and I didn't make my goal of posting, but I am excited to be here today and - as promised - I am writing about the two seminars I am teaching this term. I have decided to write about each of them one at a time, so today you get to read about First World, Third World, Our World (also known as "Our World" or "The Haiti Class").
At Clark Street Community School one of our "educational pillars" is Place-Based Education; this pedagogy allows us to use our community as a resource and a context for learning. Place-Based learning connects what students learn in the classroom to the world making what they learn more relevant and meaningful. Additionally, Place-Based learning allows students work to benefit a individual, organization, or business. When we started Clark Street Community School, we wanted to have opportunities for community members to come to the school to work with students. Teenagers are a widely underutilized resource in communities and have a lot of talents, skills and abilities to offer.
Last winter I was fortunate to cross paths with Tia Bunz, the Executive Director of the Found Blanc Foundation. The Fond Blanc Foundation supports an orphanage in Haiti. Currently, 54 young people live at the orphanage which also houses a school that is open to anyone. There is very little public education in Haiti and private schools are prohibitively expensive for many families. When we first met, Tia talked to me about her work and the work of the foundation. Tia's passion for Fond Blanc is contagious and I knew I wanted to work with her from the moment I met her. After several conversations, a round of seminar selection, and - for me - a summer of reading about Haiti, the First World, Third World, Our World seminar was born.
As I prepared for the seminar, I bounced back and forth between being really excited for this opportunity and wondering what the hell I thought I was doing. By the time I met with Tia mid-way through the summer, I had read and discarded 15 books, watched many disappointing documentaries, and was not feeling completely sure of my ability to take on this challenge with the expertise it deserves. At our meeting, I told Tia that I planned to go into this knowing that I don't know everything about Haiti, but that if I am successful, students leave the seminar with an understanding that there is much more grey than black and white when it comes to knowing Haiti and it's people; while the country faces many seemingly insurmountable challenges, it is also a place of strength, beauty, and hope. I want students to understand how "helping" others causes harm when we don't listen to the people we are trying to help. True giving honors the recipient and seeks empowerment not dependence. In the end, if they have a deeper understanding they also have more questions than answers. Tia kindly told me she thought this made me the perfect teacher for the topic - which was just the confidence boost I needed to start the year.
First World, Third World, Our World is divided into two parts: first, we are working to learn more about Haiti through through text, film, and discussion. We started by watching the documentary film, Haiti: A Road Trip. When teaching about a place very different than our own, I like to start with a film that provides students with some visual representations. This film is well made and balances the richness of the Haitian culture with the many challenges the country faces. For our reading, I choose the challenging but engaging text The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan M. Katz as our anchor for the seminar. Katz is an American AP reporter who was stationed in Haiti before the earthquake. He experienced the event and stayed for a year following the disaster to report on the recovery - which turned out in many ways to be an even bigger disaster than the earthquake. Once we complete the reading, we will more on to part two of the seminar where we will work with Tia on a service project to benefit Fond Blanc. Tia and Fond Blanc are very sensitive to sustainable giving that involves Haitians in decision-making. While we don't know what the service project will be yet, I am excited for my students to have the opportunity to connect with Fond Blanc and use their learning to support the students at the orphanage.
So far, I have been astounded and inspired by the level of participation and interest I have gotten from my students. When planning, I imagined that students wouldn't be super excited to learn about Haiti or they would think the book was too hard or too boring. I thought I would have to do a lot of convincing that this was worth their time; but wow was I wrong. I have been incredibly impressed by the discussions we have had and the interest students have in learning more about Haiti and working with Fond Blanc. A few days into the seminar, one of my co-workers who supports the class said about our students, "They are all paying attention... all of the time!" If you don't frequent many a high school classroom, I will be the first to tell you that students don't always pay attention and rarely are able to do so for an entire class period. One way or another, teenagers are always teaching me not to underestimate them...
This week we were fortunate to have a team from Fond Blanc visit our class: Swenson, Alison, Molly, and Tia brought photos and shared with us more about life at the orphanage and the joys and challenges of living in Haiti. One student said that while we have read a lot and seen things in the documentary, it is so meaningful to talk to people who are from or have lived in Haiti. I quite agree. I am looking to connect with more guest speakers or Haitian cultural events in the area - so if you know of anyone - please send them my way.
Also, if any of you readers out there are interested in reading along with us, you are always welcome to join our classroom community to discuss the text; students really like discussing with community members - just let me know if you are interested.
Stay tuned for more updates from First World, Third World, Our World as we get going on our service project! Thanks for reading :)
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