Programs - 2007

Authors in the Classroom
Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy
Shared at the Social Responsibility SIG IRA, Toronto, 2007

See also: Literacy as a Path to Hope,
Alma Flor Ada's website, and
F. Isabel Campoy's website

The content of this workshop is further developed in the book: Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy. Authors in the Classroom. A Transformative Education Process. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2004. The book can be obtained from www.delsolbooks.com.

TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION

Transformative Education as defined here, seeks the emancipation of the individual as an instrument for social liberation and the attainment of equity, inclusion, justice, and peace. It promotes developing all aspects of intelligence and strengthening critical and reflective abilities through practices that are interactive, creative and joyful.

Transformative pedagogy supports the creation of loving and caring relationships and environments, and recognizes diversity as essential to life. It fosters respect for all forms of diversity (gender, sexual preferences, culture, ethnicity and beliefs). It recognizes the prevalence of biases and prejudice and the need to unlearn racist practices and assumptions in order to achieve a just society. In the authors’ interpretation of Transformative Education, a number of fields provide ideas for a comprehensive understanding of its fundamental strengths:

• CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY
  Human beings are beings of knowledge. To construct new knowledge is to foster the human essence.
• FEMINIST/WOMANIST THEORY
  Human beings are beings of love and caring. All human beings have the right to attain their fullest potential regardless of gender or any other differences.
• AESTHETHICS
  Human beings are intrinsically drawn to beauty and creativity.
• CRITICAL THEORY
  Human beings are the sole constructors of social reality and as such are responsible for improving it.
• MULTICULTURALISM
  The nature of Earth is diversity. Human beings are as diverse as the reality of this planet. They all deserve respect in their uniqueness.
• ANTI-BIAS EDUCATION
  Prejudice and bias have been prevalent throughout human history. Most cultures are ethnocentric and promote seeing others as less than themselves and/or dangerous. The majority of people don’t see their own biases. Biases are destructive, and when they become institutionalized they bring about injustice and even crime against other human beings.
• CRITICAL PEDAGOGY
  Most forms of public education, anywhere in the world, promote the domestication and colonization of the human mind in order to maintain the status quo.
• BILINGUAL EDUCATION
  Language is one of the strongest elements of self-definition as well as one of the most significant elements of a culture.

BENEFITS OF SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS

The self-publication of books, in the classroom or school, brings about multiple benefits. Self-published books will:

• Build bridges between home and school, by increasing mutual knowledge of each other, in the process of sharing life experiences and personal reflections.

For everyone involved:

• Invite self-reflection
• Lead to deeper understanding of everyday life.
• Bring out the artist, the creator hidden in each of us.
• Build self-esteem.
• Promote the validation of life experiences and our history.
• Facilitate understanding of others, bridging cultural differences.
• Empower us, as protagonists of our own books, to look at our lives from the perspective of a protagonist, not just a secondary character.
• Contribute to creating a print-rich environment in our schools and classrooms
  and in the homes of our students.
• Provide an opportunity for children and their parents to engage in meaningful, lasting experiences.
• Become valued treasures to keep as reminders of important moments of our lives, and to preserve those memories throughout time.
• Make beautiful and valuable presents.
• Motivate us to:
  Remember
  Reflect
  Dream
  Be authors, artists, creators
• Sponsor transformation in our lives, and the lives of others.

And, of course, these books will have a definite effect in enriching students’ vocabulary and improving students’ literacy and writing skills.

FRIENDS / AMIGOS / ZANMI
Mini- lesson Using the Creative Dialogue Process

Friends (in Spanish Amigos, in Haitian Creole Zanmi) by Alma Flor Ada describes the life of squares and rectangles, circles and triangles who live in the same town but keep very separate lives from each other. One day, two little circles went for a roll into town and met a small rectangle. Together they formed a wagon. Later with young squares they made a train and when little triangles joined them they could make a plane and fly. They learned that together in friendship they could do what they could not do separate.

CREATIVE DIALOGUE
These questions are samples that can prompt the dialogue for each phase. Of course, the beauty of the real dialogue is that it will incorporate real life situations and experiences of the children. The questions are only suggested as dialogue starters. They need not be asked separately, but in a normal conversation format. We separated them into phases to give an idea of the different purpose of each phase, particularly because the conversations in the class tend to remain at the Descriptive and Personal phases and not reach the very important Critical Reflective phase and the essential Creative Phase that leads to action.

Descriptive Phase

• Questions to ascertain the comprehension of the story and its concepts.
  • How many sides does a square have? Are all sides the same size?
  • How many sides does a rectangle have? A triangle? Do circles have sides?
  • What did the large figures say to the little ones? (Personal Interpretive Phase)
    
• Questions to invite sharing personal experiences, feelings and emotions.
  • How does it feel when other children want to play with you? When they don’t?
  • How does it feel when other people treat you badly? When you treat others badly?

Critical Multicultural Anti-Bias Phase

• Questions to promote critical reflection and anti-bias awareness.
  • Was the big squares’ reason to forbid the little ones to play with others valid? Why?
  • Do all people who have long hair (or live in the same street) think alike? Have the same taste? Can we tell the feelings of a person just by the way the person looks? By the person’s language? The person’s origin? What do you think of this?
  • Why do you think the shapes had such a wonderful time playing together?
  • What difficult things that can happen when people who are different play together?
  • What good things can happen? How can we promote the good things?

Transformative Creative Phase

• Questions to promote transformative attitudes.
  • What can we do when there are children who do not want to play with us?
  • What can you do if you see someone treating someone badly?
  • Is there someone you have not been friends with that you can invite to play with you? Someone you can learn to know better?

CONNECTIONS WITH THE HOME

Invite parents to share with their children their own experiences with friends, now and when they were children. What were their favorite games and activities? Ask them to discuss their concept of friendship. What do they value in their friends? Can these qualities be found only in people of the same age, the same sex, the same language, the same ethnicity?

FIRST CREATIVE ACTIVITY: Book "I Am"

1. CREATE YOUR OWN “I AM” BOOK

• Metaphoric “I Am” book
  Present yourself in terms of: colors, fragrances, feelings, food, music, song. As a part
  of nature: ocean, mountains, desert, fields, trees or flowers, animals, birds, fish.
  As a place or object in your house, an element of your life, a culture icon
• Relationship “I Am” book
  Present you as daughter/son; sister/brother; aunt/uncle, etc.
• Acrostic “I Am” book
  Use each letter of your name to guide the structure of the book
• Combination or Original structure “I Am” book
  Dare to be creative: the sky is the limit

2. CREATE A COLLECTIVE “I AM” POEM WITH THE CLASS

• Share your poem with the students and ask each one to give you one sentence.

3. ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO CREATE THEIR OWN INDIVIDUAL POEMS.

4. CREATE A CLASS BOOK

• Include your poem, the students’ collective poem and their individual poems.

5. SHARE THE CLASS BOOK WITH PARENTS

6. INVITE PARENTS TO CREATE THEIR OWN POEMS

7. CREATE A PARENTS COLLECTIVE BOOKS FOR THE CLASSROOM, SCHOOL AND PUBLIC
LIBRARIES.

Once you have mastered this process repeat with books of easy format, like the Acrostic.
You can create a classroom book with the names of all the students. Students in turn create an acrostic book with the names of each of the persons in their family.

SECOND CREATIVE ACTIVITY: Where I Come From

1. CREATE YOUR OWN WHERE I COME FROM BOOK
To write your own Where I Come From poem you can follow these steps, but do not feel limited by them. Feel free to begin each sentences with the words: “I come from” or “Where I’m from."

1. Imagine yourself at a specific age in childhood: 7, 8, 9, 12 years old.
2. List some of the most memorable items you see in your childhood home.
3. Step outside. List what you see around you: in the front yard, the backyard, the
   street, the neighborhood.
4. State the names of relatives or caretakers, those who link you to your past.
5. Write down frequently heard words, sayings or expressions. Which sentences that
   you heard over and over would distinguish your family from others?
6. Name food and dishes from family gatherings, daily meals or special treats.
7. Think of social, political, cultural or educational ideas that were reinforced around
   you as you were growing up. How do they reflect on who you are today?
8. Name the place where your childhood memories are kept: realistically (photo
   album, diaries, boxes) and metaphorically (branches of a tree, shady porch).
9. Think about the beginning and ending of your poem: where you are from, who
   you are, where you are going.

2. SHARE YOUR BOOK WITH THE STUDENTS’ PARENTS/CAREGIVERS AND INVITE THEM TO CREATE THEIRS.

3. GUIDE YOUR STUDENTS IN THE PROCESS OF CREATING THEIR BOOKS.

4. DO “AUTHORS VISITS” TO OTHER CLASSROOMS TO READ AND SHARE YOUR BOOKS.

THIRD CREATIVE ACTIVITY: A Person in My Life

It will be easy to have our students write a poem to an important person in their lives by simply following this process.

1. First create your own poem following the process, in order that you can model it with conviction and authenticity.
2. Invite the group to be silent, to have paper and pencil ready, and to be prepared to write following your prompts.
3. Invite the reflection of how much we owe the people around us, who have allowed us to survive, who support us, to celebrate who we are. Then ask them to think about one of the many people in their lives who are important to them. Emphasize that it could be anyone, a grandparent, a parent, a sibling, a relative, a neighbor, a teacher, a friend.
4. Read each of the prompts slowly. Give your own response to the prompt. Pause to give them time to write. Then repeat successively with every prompt.

You will find here the prompts, as well as my own response to them.

Be aware that this process can bring about emotions, be ready to accept them, validate them, be supportive of the person feeling the emotions, without interrupting the activity. Trust the process. It is very enriching.