This post is by Rich
The 2018 ABL-DJHS Writing for Peace Student Workshop was originally scheduled for Thursday, 9th August, but concerns about violence forced it to be rescheduled to Saturday, 11 August. There were 102 students pre-registered for the Thursday event, who expected to miss a day of school to attend. When it was re-scheduled for Saturday, I was concerned that far fewer students would come, on their day off.
I was wrong. Ninety-four students from eight different schools from around Mumbai came, on a Saturday, all in school uniform! Registration was scheduled to begin at 9am. I arrived at 8:15 to find about 30 students outside, waiting to enter. One teacher who brought a small group told me that they were worried about being late due to Mumbai traffic, so they left home at 6:45am, to make sure they were on time.
The Teacher Workshop was a day earlier, on Friday 10th August, and for the Student Workshop, we essentially ran the exact same event, with small tweaks here and there to accommodate the age group (Grades 6-10). Lee, the master of organization, had set up 11 groups, with students mixed up by school, so students sat at tables of 8-9 with students from other schools. Each group had 2 writing leaders, who were older (Grade 9-10) DJHS students, trained by Lee to help the group. The Writing Leader model was developed at ABL in Lawrence in the summer workshops there, where Lee has served as a director over the years.
The event began at 9:15, and Lee's two brilliant 10th grade students, Berhanuddin and Madeeha, led the room thorough a series of Peace Games, designed to help students think about privilege and their values. At 9:45, Lee and I introduced the day, and explained what the ABL Peace Literacy Network is all about. At 10, I led the room in a short writing exercise (I love, I wish, I dream) and invited students to share at their tables. At 10:30, Alan took over the mic and led students through the Writing about Peace protocol developed by Lee. Another sharing session followed.
Next, Lee led a Two Sentence Story exercise. The morning ended with Alan leading the room in a singing of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
At 11:35, students signed up for their afternoon workshops, choosing two of the four: Social Justice Theater with Julia, Imagining Peace Through Music with Alan, Peace through Art with Ingrid, and Identity Writing with me. After lunch, we all taught two workshops back-to-back, from 12:45-3pm.
At 3:10, we gathered back in the assembly hall. Writing Leaders were directed to help participants identify one piece of writing to include in the anthology, and one piece of writing to share with the whole group. We then called up each group in turn, asking each student to share one piece. A wide variety of student writing was shared, including writing from the morning prompts, as well as all four afternoon workshops. The Two-Line stories proved especially witty, but all the writing was great.
At 4:30, Alan's music groups took the stage to sing their re-written versions of John Lennon's song "Imagine," with lyrics they wrote.
At 5pm, we distributed t-shirts and certificates, and had the final big group photo.
We four presenters from the US were given more wonderful gifts - all week really, people have been giving us gifts. It's a little embarrassing, actually. Teachers and students alike are incredibly grateful, thoughtful and polite. Many asked when we are returning. My repeated message is that DJHS does not need us to continue the work. Plans are already underway for Family Literacy Nights twice a year. The teachers of the school have the capacity to do ABL-style workshops for students and teachers themselves. They have more power than they imagine.
One student was especially touching He remembered our 2015 visit well, and had kept his notebook with signatures from all of the presenters. He told me, step by step, the workshop I had presented back then, and how it impacted him. He was in the fourth grade then, and is a seventh grader now.
I was especially impressed with the burgeoning leadership of the young people during today's event. I believe that Berhanuddin and Maheeda are capable of hosting a Family Literacy Night and doing workshops for other students right now. The other Writing Leaders are hard-working and thoughtful writers. I challenged the students to think of themselves as leaders of India right now. They are not preparing to be leaders someday - they can lead today.
And so my time in South Asia has come to an end. I write this post at 7pm local time in Mumbai. In a few hours I leave for the airport, to catch a 4:30am flight to Dubai, then on to the US. I suspect that my next post will be written from my home in Andover, MA. It will take some time to process all that has happened in the last few weeks.
My colleagues are remaining for a bit. Ingrid plans to spend the next two days exploring Mumbai before flying home on Monday evening. Alan is scheduled to fly home Monday evening but hopes to extend his stay by a day or so. On Monday he will return to DJHS, and to the DJ Girl's School, to teach and share some more. Julia will co-teach with math teachers at DJHS on Monday and Tuesday, then fly to Barotta, a 2-hour flight from here, to do a three-day workshop on Shakespeare, as part of a group she connected with as a Fulbright Scholar a few years back.
It's time for me to pack up the many gifts, and prepare for the trip home, my heart and mind full.
Thanks for reading,
Rich
The 2018 ABL-DJHS Writing for Peace Student Workshop was originally scheduled for Thursday, 9th August, but concerns about violence forced it to be rescheduled to Saturday, 11 August. There were 102 students pre-registered for the Thursday event, who expected to miss a day of school to attend. When it was re-scheduled for Saturday, I was concerned that far fewer students would come, on their day off.
I was wrong. Ninety-four students from eight different schools from around Mumbai came, on a Saturday, all in school uniform! Registration was scheduled to begin at 9am. I arrived at 8:15 to find about 30 students outside, waiting to enter. One teacher who brought a small group told me that they were worried about being late due to Mumbai traffic, so they left home at 6:45am, to make sure they were on time.
The Teacher Workshop was a day earlier, on Friday 10th August, and for the Student Workshop, we essentially ran the exact same event, with small tweaks here and there to accommodate the age group (Grades 6-10). Lee, the master of organization, had set up 11 groups, with students mixed up by school, so students sat at tables of 8-9 with students from other schools. Each group had 2 writing leaders, who were older (Grade 9-10) DJHS students, trained by Lee to help the group. The Writing Leader model was developed at ABL in Lawrence in the summer workshops there, where Lee has served as a director over the years.
The event began at 9:15, and Lee's two brilliant 10th grade students, Berhanuddin and Madeeha, led the room thorough a series of Peace Games, designed to help students think about privilege and their values. At 9:45, Lee and I introduced the day, and explained what the ABL Peace Literacy Network is all about. At 10, I led the room in a short writing exercise (I love, I wish, I dream) and invited students to share at their tables. At 10:30, Alan took over the mic and led students through the Writing about Peace protocol developed by Lee. Another sharing session followed.
Next, Lee led a Two Sentence Story exercise. The morning ended with Alan leading the room in a singing of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
At 11:35, students signed up for their afternoon workshops, choosing two of the four: Social Justice Theater with Julia, Imagining Peace Through Music with Alan, Peace through Art with Ingrid, and Identity Writing with me. After lunch, we all taught two workshops back-to-back, from 12:45-3pm.
At 3:10, we gathered back in the assembly hall. Writing Leaders were directed to help participants identify one piece of writing to include in the anthology, and one piece of writing to share with the whole group. We then called up each group in turn, asking each student to share one piece. A wide variety of student writing was shared, including writing from the morning prompts, as well as all four afternoon workshops. The Two-Line stories proved especially witty, but all the writing was great.
At 4:30, Alan's music groups took the stage to sing their re-written versions of John Lennon's song "Imagine," with lyrics they wrote.
At 5pm, we distributed t-shirts and certificates, and had the final big group photo.
We four presenters from the US were given more wonderful gifts - all week really, people have been giving us gifts. It's a little embarrassing, actually. Teachers and students alike are incredibly grateful, thoughtful and polite. Many asked when we are returning. My repeated message is that DJHS does not need us to continue the work. Plans are already underway for Family Literacy Nights twice a year. The teachers of the school have the capacity to do ABL-style workshops for students and teachers themselves. They have more power than they imagine.
One student was especially touching He remembered our 2015 visit well, and had kept his notebook with signatures from all of the presenters. He told me, step by step, the workshop I had presented back then, and how it impacted him. He was in the fourth grade then, and is a seventh grader now.
I was especially impressed with the burgeoning leadership of the young people during today's event. I believe that Berhanuddin and Maheeda are capable of hosting a Family Literacy Night and doing workshops for other students right now. The other Writing Leaders are hard-working and thoughtful writers. I challenged the students to think of themselves as leaders of India right now. They are not preparing to be leaders someday - they can lead today.
And so my time in South Asia has come to an end. I write this post at 7pm local time in Mumbai. In a few hours I leave for the airport, to catch a 4:30am flight to Dubai, then on to the US. I suspect that my next post will be written from my home in Andover, MA. It will take some time to process all that has happened in the last few weeks.
My colleagues are remaining for a bit. Ingrid plans to spend the next two days exploring Mumbai before flying home on Monday evening. Alan is scheduled to fly home Monday evening but hopes to extend his stay by a day or so. On Monday he will return to DJHS, and to the DJ Girl's School, to teach and share some more. Julia will co-teach with math teachers at DJHS on Monday and Tuesday, then fly to Barotta, a 2-hour flight from here, to do a three-day workshop on Shakespeare, as part of a group she connected with as a Fulbright Scholar a few years back.
It's time for me to pack up the many gifts, and prepare for the trip home, my heart and mind full.
Thanks for reading,
Rich
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