The semester always wraps up in a whirlwind of baking for class parties (I created a monster by introducing Brazilian English language students to American cookies!), finding creative ways to review before exams, and then hours and hours of correcting tests and compositions. Over the past three weeks, I've been looking longingly at my art table and at the Learning Creative Learning class assignments, waiting for a window of time to throw myself into what I love. But it hasn't come. It seems I'm always surrounded by unfinished work.
And yet with all there is to do, I found myself taking on one more project. The U.S. Embassy has been encouraging our school, along with all the other Binational Centers and American Spaces in Brazil, to take part in an international campaign called 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. It starts on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and runs until December 10th, Human Rights Day. It was started in 1991 by the first Women's Global Leadership Institute, held by the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University. Since its beginning, it has made an international impact, bringing violence against women to the forefront of many discussions about human rights.
The second semester schedule is tight, and leaves little room for extra activities. And because the topic is rather heavy to drop on students in a brief discussion, I kept putting the issue off. But then an idea hit me a week ago while I was taking a break for açaí and browsing one of my Pinterest boards. It was the end of the day on Friday, but the idea came to me with such a burst of passion, that I was determined to make it happen, even though time was short.
I dashed over to the administrators, and shared the idea of a collaborative art project--to make a large set of wings (symbolizing freedom, empowerment, peace, etc.) for people to take pictures in front of. Students could be invited to write something on feathers, and, when put together to form wings, the piece would make a powerful statement involving the whole school. After some quick brainstorming and tweaking of the idea with the school, I went home and started painting and cutting out paper feathers like a wild woman, with the company of the new folk album of Kaiti Jones, (a mighty woman who taught me many new ways to love my neighbors in Boston).
By Tuesday, I had enough feathers to share with all age-appropriate classes of both campuses. The other teachers embraced the idea, and soon feathers and far-reaching conversations were flying about the school.
The theme of this year's #16Days campaign is "From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World, Make Education Safe for All!"
In recent years, I've learned a lot about the cycles of poverty and injustice that force young girls out of school and put them in dangerous, and often devastating situations. I've been supporting International Justice Mission, for a while now (will post about the Dressember campaign next week!). They combat injustice on many fronts. In 2014, I took a free online course through Stanford University called International Women's Health and Human Rights. It opened my eyes even wider to atrocities in this world, yet connected me to an international community where I saw meaningful and impactful actions being taken. I highly recommend this course--it is offered frequently, and is life-changing. I've also been greatly influenced by the book Half the Sky (and other writings) by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (check out her gripping TED Talk!)
In presenting this topic to my classes (which happen to range from intermediate to advanced levels of teens and adults), depending on the group's maturity, I chose from among three videos. (One is more general, another is heavier and focuses on injustice caused by cycles of poverty, and the third, which I only showed to one class, is more intense, yet doesn't necessarily require that we get too deep into upsetting topics.)
Other teachers chose from among the videos as well, or guided students into the topic in their own way. Some used pre-written expressions on feathers that I had provided. Other classes, including my own, connected the topic to a grammar review.
Using a video as context, I elicited some sentences using structures the students had recently learned. I invited them to use similar forms in writing on their feather, but told them that they were welcome to write anything on their heart that related to the issue of violence against women and equality in education.
I'll share some of the grammar structures here, and will post some of my general favorites on my Instagram (@Danitissima) each day during the campaign.
Overall, even in the brief time we had, some great discussions happened in my classes, as well as in others. Young people were quick to connect some aspects of the topic to their own stories, and, to some, writing or drawing their thoughts on feathers was empowering and cathartic.
Not everyone approached the topic with great enthusiasm, of course. Some groups of young men just didn't see violence against women or inequality in education as a big enough problem that should be addressed in this way. In two particular classes, some young guys, who had an excellent level of spoken English, dominated the discussion with gender stereotypes and victim-blaming speech, making some of the women feel uncomfortable. This was incredibly frustrating to me. In some groups, I purposefully avoided certain topics that would lead us into controversy--not to say that there isn't a place for debate and discussion, but given the limited time frame that we had, as well as the objective of this project, I just didn't feel it was the place. But I couldn't avoid it altogether, and I know some other classes were pulled along by that current, too.
Though some reactions were disappointing, overall, I believe this project brought about important conversations. That's the thing about topics like this--one discussion isn't enough. But it's a starting point. I'm thankful to some of my peers--both near and far--for pointing this out to me. Even after some frustrating conversations, one group of girls passionately threw themselves into practicing the right intonation for language of negotiation, knowing they'll have many opportunities to use it. Another group of women, while some guys were hemming and hawing and dancing around the issue of assault and harassment a few meters away, quietly sat writing some stunningly potent words on their feathers. Clearly, the conversation is not over. There is still much work to be done.
I was really hoping to have these wings already up on the wall by the end of Friday's conversation class, and have a lovely photo to include in this post but, for a number of reasons, it just didn't happen. The work, for now, remains unfinished. But many hands and hearts came together to tell their stories on painted paper feathers this week. For some of us, it's another step in the journey. For others, it's only the beginning. For all of us, I hope that we can, with humility, compassion, and self-examination, see the unfinished work that lies before us, and take several steps closer to making justice a reality for all.
And yet with all there is to do, I found myself taking on one more project. The U.S. Embassy has been encouraging our school, along with all the other Binational Centers and American Spaces in Brazil, to take part in an international campaign called 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. It starts on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and runs until December 10th, Human Rights Day. It was started in 1991 by the first Women's Global Leadership Institute, held by the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University. Since its beginning, it has made an international impact, bringing violence against women to the forefront of many discussions about human rights.
The second semester schedule is tight, and leaves little room for extra activities. And because the topic is rather heavy to drop on students in a brief discussion, I kept putting the issue off. But then an idea hit me a week ago while I was taking a break for açaí and browsing one of my Pinterest boards. It was the end of the day on Friday, but the idea came to me with such a burst of passion, that I was determined to make it happen, even though time was short.
I dashed over to the administrators, and shared the idea of a collaborative art project--to make a large set of wings (symbolizing freedom, empowerment, peace, etc.) for people to take pictures in front of. Students could be invited to write something on feathers, and, when put together to form wings, the piece would make a powerful statement involving the whole school. After some quick brainstorming and tweaking of the idea with the school, I went home and started painting and cutting out paper feathers like a wild woman, with the company of the new folk album of Kaiti Jones, (a mighty woman who taught me many new ways to love my neighbors in Boston).
By Tuesday, I had enough feathers to share with all age-appropriate classes of both campuses. The other teachers embraced the idea, and soon feathers and far-reaching conversations were flying about the school.
The theme of this year's #16Days campaign is "From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World, Make Education Safe for All!"
In recent years, I've learned a lot about the cycles of poverty and injustice that force young girls out of school and put them in dangerous, and often devastating situations. I've been supporting International Justice Mission, for a while now (will post about the Dressember campaign next week!). They combat injustice on many fronts. In 2014, I took a free online course through Stanford University called International Women's Health and Human Rights. It opened my eyes even wider to atrocities in this world, yet connected me to an international community where I saw meaningful and impactful actions being taken. I highly recommend this course--it is offered frequently, and is life-changing. I've also been greatly influenced by the book Half the Sky (and other writings) by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (check out her gripping TED Talk!)
In presenting this topic to my classes (which happen to range from intermediate to advanced levels of teens and adults), depending on the group's maturity, I chose from among three videos. (One is more general, another is heavier and focuses on injustice caused by cycles of poverty, and the third, which I only showed to one class, is more intense, yet doesn't necessarily require that we get too deep into upsetting topics.)
Other teachers chose from among the videos as well, or guided students into the topic in their own way. Some used pre-written expressions on feathers that I had provided. Other classes, including my own, connected the topic to a grammar review.
Using a video as context, I elicited some sentences using structures the students had recently learned. I invited them to use similar forms in writing on their feather, but told them that they were welcome to write anything on their heart that related to the issue of violence against women and equality in education.
I'll share some of the grammar structures here, and will post some of my general favorites on my Instagram (@Danitissima) each day during the campaign.
 |
| negative questions |
 |
| verb + gerund (-ing) |
 |
| "manage to-" vs. "succeed in -ing" |
 |
| unreal conditionals |
Overall, even in the brief time we had, some great discussions happened in my classes, as well as in others. Young people were quick to connect some aspects of the topic to their own stories, and, to some, writing or drawing their thoughts on feathers was empowering and cathartic.
Not everyone approached the topic with great enthusiasm, of course. Some groups of young men just didn't see violence against women or inequality in education as a big enough problem that should be addressed in this way. In two particular classes, some young guys, who had an excellent level of spoken English, dominated the discussion with gender stereotypes and victim-blaming speech, making some of the women feel uncomfortable. This was incredibly frustrating to me. In some groups, I purposefully avoided certain topics that would lead us into controversy--not to say that there isn't a place for debate and discussion, but given the limited time frame that we had, as well as the objective of this project, I just didn't feel it was the place. But I couldn't avoid it altogether, and I know some other classes were pulled along by that current, too.
Though some reactions were disappointing, overall, I believe this project brought about important conversations. That's the thing about topics like this--one discussion isn't enough. But it's a starting point. I'm thankful to some of my peers--both near and far--for pointing this out to me. Even after some frustrating conversations, one group of girls passionately threw themselves into practicing the right intonation for language of negotiation, knowing they'll have many opportunities to use it. Another group of women, while some guys were hemming and hawing and dancing around the issue of assault and harassment a few meters away, quietly sat writing some stunningly potent words on their feathers. Clearly, the conversation is not over. There is still much work to be done.
I was really hoping to have these wings already up on the wall by the end of Friday's conversation class, and have a lovely photo to include in this post but, for a number of reasons, it just didn't happen. The work, for now, remains unfinished. But many hands and hearts came together to tell their stories on painted paper feathers this week. For some of us, it's another step in the journey. For others, it's only the beginning. For all of us, I hope that we can, with humility, compassion, and self-examination, see the unfinished work that lies before us, and take several steps closer to making justice a reality for all.
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