Week 1
For my second summer season, I’m partnering with El Puente and making a workshop sequence centered round what it means to historize communities. My first interplay with El Puente was with Assenhat, Deputy Director of Packages, by a Zoom name. Her welcoming demeanor and pleasure for my undertaking made me really feel welcomed earlier than formally beginning, arriving on the academy was no completely different. Once I received off the M prepare at Hewes Avenue, I used to be welcomed by the whispers of birds and salutations from building staff. Strolling up Hooper Avenue tucked between brownstones and a church, El Puente Academy welcomes you with a nebula of colours bouncing from every stage as you step by its doorways. The academics and directors at El Puente have been extraordinarily welcoming and have facilitated a easy transition into the area.
In my first week with El Puente, I labored to create a curriculum centered on breaking down key themes of liberation, de-colonialism, city improvement, and intersectionality as for a lot of it was their first time studying about these initiatives. This workshop sequence goals to supply a brand new educational setting for college students to interact in open and intersectional studying. The sequence is sectioned into three weeks as a result of some individuals are keen on displaying their work as a cohort on the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Given the tight schedule, I’ve divided the weeks by part: de-colonialism, group, and liberation.
In preparation for the workshops, I met up with the Vice-Principal, Chriss, in addition to the outreach coordinator, Jeremy, to make sure this sequence engaged with matters pertinent to college students’ lives. On my first day at El Puente Academy, I had an amazing dialog with Carlos, a historical past instructor, the place we went over the curriculum for ninth graders. As social justice is a pillar of the college’s founding, Carlos shared with me how ninth graders are studying in regards to the civil rights motion together with crucial race principle. Being on the college and observing how academics deal with tough conversations with college students, I recognize how they strategy these conditions with care and social consciousness.
I’ve labored to take care of this care and consciousness all through the workshops. Being within the college has allowed me to see firsthand the modifications in social improvement for prime schoolers post-COVID. At occasions, college students don’t really feel motivated to attend class, come to high school, or set academic targets. But within the classroom, I discover the joy of scholars to be taught and take cost of their very own communities’ histories. I really feel extraordinarily grateful and honored for the scholars who’ve taken half within the sequence so far and hope to welcome extra college students. As a sequence based on group care, and inventive and educational expression, I’ve expanded my work with El Puente and have labored with newly arrived migrant households. This upcoming week, we will probably be protecting what it means to create and preserve a group regardless of city improvement. I plan to point out some examples of manifestos to college students and invite them to create their very own.
Key phrases of this week: holistic, mutual assist, and resilience.
