Today's Word of the Day is Overwhelmed.  I am learning as much as I can from the sessions, but today I felt like I was grasping and snatching little tidbits out of context and conversation as often as I could.  By the time we started the movement session in the afternoon, I really couldn't come up with a physical representation of "progress".  I could feel myself fading slowly and surely and felt SO sorry for my poor group afterwards, as I tried to speak in complete sentences and be present as well as contribute to our lessons for the unit.  Sorry gals!

I think, I KNOW that I am not the type of learner that can sit for very long periods of time, and absorb information.  It is very hard to be on the other side of the classroom, and I am so glad for this experience and exposure as I consider applying to PhD programs in the next 2 years..I don't know. It just felt like there was quite a bit of monologue today, and not as much dialogue with my peers.  I am very thankful to learn from the panels we have been provided with, but I yearn to spend time with you teachers and learn about how they meet their students needs, or dialogue with some of you to see how you plan on implementing the enormous amount of information and experiences we have shared this week.  I wish there was time to digest and reflect, before we have to marathon think-pair-share our thoughts into lesson plans.  I do not even feel that I have been able to fully process the very, very important experiences, opinions and insights of our panelists yesterday, and I am having to make room for more today's content.

I also felt that I was not a very good audience this morning, as I felt the discussion evolving into an in depth explanation of  Islam in Nigeria, and a little about theocracies, but not as much as I would have hoped about faith, spirituality and religion and it's place in revolution and peace.  It is ABSOLUTELY possible that it was discussed, and I was simply not able to process that information. I was hoping for a more global discussion.

I hope that there is more time to hear about how you are all are processing what you are experiencing and learning, as I am so interested and blown away by the conversations that I am having within my group. I am reading the blog, but it just aint the same...  And KUDOS to you brave souls that volunteered to participate in the Theater of the Oppressed.  I bow down to you...I think that I was too intimidated to TRULY participate. Way to take one for the team!

Peace and Revolution Cont.

I feel like I've learned so much in the past few days; more than I've learned in undergrad and graduate school combined.  The information that I've learned so far this week culminates a lot of the philosophies that are important to me as an educator.   As I've said before, I like to look and think about words.  I believe that a word or words can either uplift or destroy an individual or a group.  I now realize that when I talk about peace and revolution I should think about and choose my words wisely, so that I can have a positive impact on my students' lives and so that I can challenge their thinking.  The following are some quotes from some of the presenters/articles that I took away in the past two days.  I hope to keep these phrases in mind as I teach and learn from my students this coming school year.

"We as teachers can be that empowering force that gives students the tools to feel empowered" (Sue Gelbert Cannon-Think, Care Act)

"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart" (Anne Frank)

"what keeps me together is my faith"(Ayuen Ajok-Panel member)

"...break down the victim and perpetrator mentality..."(Jamal Alsarraj-panel member)

"Get children to thinking and asking 'why did this end up being'?" (Jamal Alsarraj-panel member)

 "...use a strength-based approach to teaching...see the resilience in people..." (Jessica E. Lee-panel member)
 "...they may be poor, but they have morals..." (Chelkh Anta Babou-UPenn professor)

"...words are living entities and should be treated with the same tenderness as human beings." (Theatre of the Oppressed reading)

"...the arts explain something about humanity...the student becomes a model for what that family can embody..." (Stanford Thompson-Play on Philly)

" A community without its records is a community under siege, defending itself, its identity and its version of history without a firm foundation of which to stand." (Jeannette Bastian)

Bernie:)

Teaching Students how to Google Search

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/

Lesson plans can be found in the above website for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.

Link to a song that fits perfectly with this morning's lecture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsWAXvfN3eY

Holly NEar is a folk singer I first heard in the 70s, she took a break when she turned 60 years old, and is now back to song writing and performing.  I don't know whether you need to be a folk music fan to enjoy this, but check it out.

I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

I ain't afraid of your churches
I ain't afraid of your temples
I ain't afraid of your praying
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

verse
Rise up to your higher power
Free up from fear, it will devour you
Watch out for the ego of the hour
The ones who say they know it
Are the ones who will impose it on you

I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

I ain't afraid of your churches
I ain't afraid of your temples
I ain't afraid of your praying
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

verse
Rise up, and see /find/ know/ hear a higher story
Free up from the gods of war and glory
Watch out for the threats of purgatory
The spirit of the wind won’t make a killing off of sin and satan

I ain't afraid of your Bible
I ain't afraid of your Torah
I ain't afraid of your Koran
Dont let the letter of the law
Obsure the spirit of the your love--it's killing us

I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

I ain't afraid of your churches
I ain't afraid of your temples
I ain't afraid of your praying
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God


Money
Culture
Choices
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God

Sunday
Spirit
Teachers
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God

Sabbath
Borders
Dances
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God double

Children
Music
Stories
I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God

Rise up to your higher power
Free up
Rise up to your higher power
Free up
Let's try to be highly evolved
I aint afraid 

Co-opting faith in the service of politicized religion

What?! Please read and comment.

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/07/photos-evangelical-curricula-louisiana-tax-dollars

Starting the school year right

The Danger of a Single Story - Chimamanda Adichie

"The single story creates stereotypes, 
and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, 
but that they are incomplete. 

They make one story become the only story.”

Though I have not had much full-time teaching experience, after community-building activities, one of the best and most powerful ways I have started off the semester included showing this < 20 minute TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie, on “The Danger of a Single Story.”

In light of our discussion with the wonderful panelists about immigrants and refugees, and  “Youth Perspectives on Peace & Revolution,” I thought about this TED Talk I showed my students and how it set the tone for the rest of the semester. Jamal advocated for educators to not present any individual or group as “static,” unchanging, or one-dimensional. As a daughter of first-generation immigrants from India, I have faced and been asked about numerous stereotypes given to Indians. We as educators also have to be careful and think critically about how we incorporate students’ experiences into the classroom, avoiding the situation where a student is called on to discuss “Indian culture, heritage and religion” merely because she is the only Indian in the classroom.

I provided my students with four reflection and discussion questions to go through during and after the talk:

1. Who is Chimamanda Adichie and what is her message?

2. What is the danger of a single story?

3. Can you give an example of an instance when you bought into the single story of a group of individuals? At what point did you realize that this story was incomplete?

4. Are you aware of a “single story” about an aspect of your identity? What is it and how does it make you feel?

  

Students were so willing to talk about stereotypes and labels that have been put on them and were able to empathize with the speaker. This set the philosophy and tone of our future class sessions and it helped them understand how I wanted them to examine the world and its people.

Good Morning All...Since I have been told I have a flair for the obvious, I'll not disappoint and state I am so impressed with the passion and dedication of all members involved with the institute.  It has been such a pleasure to be with you all.

Still perplexed about student names and the discussion about same.  I might just be honest and ask what they prefer and go from there and do what is best for them.  Names begin to define us so essentially I would work to pronounce their name.