Humane Edge August 2007

In This Issue:

• WHAT DO HUMANE EDUCATORS DO?
• LEARNING & LAUGHTER IN LATVIA
• DOWNLOAD FREE ACTIVITIES FROM RESIDENCY!
• BROADENING THE CIRCLE OF NONVIOLENCE
• FEATURED STUDENT: ROBERTO GIANNICOLA
  

WHAT DO HUMANE EDUCATORS DO?

By Mary Pat Champeau, M.Ed. Coordinator, Cambridge College Faculty

 
Whenever a potential student asks me the question, “What can I DO with this degree?” I find our conversation usually leads me to ask a question in return: “What would you LIKE to do with this degree?” Or, more to the point, “What would you LOVE to do with this degree?” The reason I ask is that the field of humane education is still being determined, it is without parameters or limits right now. In order for this young movement to grow and take root, it needs passionate people from all walks of life who bring what they love to the work of creating a more humane world through education in all forms. For example, when a student who loves to write is drawn to the M.Ed or HECP, we hope he will use the information he learns to further a humane ethic through his career as a writer — and the same goes for teachers, artists, scientists, architects, filmmakers, business people, community organizers, and anyone else who believes in the great power of education to shift consciousness and move us all toward a more just, non-violent, and sustainable future. View our sample list of how our students and graduates are manifesting humane education in their own ways.

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LEARNING & LAUGHTER IN LATVIA

by Mark J. Heimann and Dace Zoltner, IHE Students

Our trip to the Skujene Elementary School began with Dace meeting Mark at the airport in Riga, the capital of Latvia. After saying our hellos, we hopped onto the bus to reach our predetermined meeting point at the Stockmann Center. We ended up waiting two hours wondering why our group hadn’t shown up. Finally we decided to investigate. Since Dace could speak Latvian and was able to make her way around the city, she left Mark holding the bags and went to the nearest Internet café to see if there was any last minute message. Sure enough, a message had been sent stating that our meeting point had been changed and to call once we had the message. We finally hooked up with our coordinator and the rest of our group, hopped a bus and were on our way!

Before camp began we had done little pre-planning, though we all came with ideas and goals of what we wanted to teach. So, once at the school, we planned the groundwork for the upcoming two weeks. As a group we decided that each day would have its own theme: getting to know you; energy; earth, air and water; biodiversity; healthy lifestyle habits and food; human rights; animal protection; consumerism and recycling; and finally, activism.

Since the ages of the children ranged from 8 to 19, we divide the children by age groups. We planned our lessons so that we went into depth with one topic based on the day’s theme. For example on the day we covered animal rights, our topics were animals as food and clothing, animals as entertainment, and animal experimentation.

Since the five of us came from different countries and had varying levels of Latvian language, those with lesser language skills were paired with those who were fluent. As a group we worked well together. We pulled from each other’s strengths and personal interests. Best of all, we were mentors to each other and were open to learning from each other as well!

Planning the lessons took place after dinner. It was not unusual for us to be up until 1:00 AM. During our planning process, we did our best to gauge our lessons to the different age groups.

Our main goal was to instill a culture of unity amongst the students. A typical day would begin at 9:00 AM, with a few energizing games and a brief overview of the day’s theme. Classes began at 9:30 AM and would run for about 40 – 50 minutes. After the second class the students had a lunch break. During this longer break it was usual for Mark to start up a friendly game of soccer with the older boys. After lunch we had one more class period, followed by a group debrief and one more game. Each day we ended with our camp song “This Little Light of Mine.”

After students went home for the day, we had lunch and discussed how our day went, offering suggestions for dealing with problems and issues. Each afternoon we had a chance to take a short excursion into the Latvian countryside.

We were pleasantly surprised by how much of Latvia we got to see. There seems to be a lake every 5K, and we swam in quite a few! We also spent an afternoon seaside on the Baltic. We also visited caves, castles, state parks, cities, an old Russian bunker, rivers....Mark’s favorite trip was when a ranger gave us a private tour of a forest, followed by blueberry picking, forest miniature golf, boot tossing, and a wet sauna!  What a treat!

Both Dace and Mark were impressed with the dedication of our colleagues. The five of us from different countries -- Romania, Lithuania, Scotland, and the U.S. -- also varied in age, from 23 – 46. With such a grand diversity amongst ourselves, we each added a unique perspective that made the camp experience a huge success for the students. We genuinely cared about the students and kept their needs above all else. Dace said, “Teaching is truly a two way street. I learned just as much from the kids as they learned from me.”

Mark said, “I discovered a lot about my self as a person and teacher as well as how to best communicate when words are not available. I learned to adapt programs to different ages.” We both used activities created by IHE, as well as others that we created ourselves and plan to use again in the future.

Mark had an amazing experience on our last day He said, “On the last day we did Activism, and kids wrote letters about any topic. My group chose to write a letter to the Latvian president about child labor (a topic I had taught). I was astounded at the level of comprehension from a one hour program I had done days earlier. When the letter was translated into English for me, I almost cried!”

The final day of the camp was bittersweet to us. We bonded with many of the children – so sweet and loving. We have quite a few Latvian pen pals now! The experience of teaching humane education in Latvia is one that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

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DOWNLOAD FREE ACTIVITIES FROM STUDENT RESIDENCY!

Fifteen students from all over the U.S. and from Canada and Kenya met at IHE's headquarters to learn, connect and share during Residency week. While there, students developed some excellent activities, which are available for you to download and use! Here are a few samples:

Everything is Beautiful
Students use 4 of their senses to explore the beautiful in nature.
Recommended for grades K-2
Time: 15-30 minutes

Human Rights for All?
This activity familiarizes students with the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and inspires them to think about the freedoms they enjoy that others cannot.
Recommended for grades 9 and up
Time: 30-45 minutes

It Ads Up
This activity explores: How do ads influence us? What strategies do ad designers use to target different groups of people? How can we recognize those strategies and our own triggers?
Recommended for grades 8 and up
Time: 30-45 minutes

Lend a Hand
It comes naturally to most of us to help out when needed. This icebreaker sparks discussion about the importance of helping others, and how easy it can be to make helping part of our every day lives.
Recommended for grades 2 and up.
Time: 5-10 minutes

What Do We Need?
What do humans need to be happy and fulfilled? What are our highest needs? What happens when our needs don’t get met? This activity uses Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a springboard for exploring needs.
Recommended for grades 9 and up.
Time: 45-60 minutes 

Word Power
Words have enormous power and often assign value. This activity explores sample words in context and what kinds of value those words imply.
Recommended for grades 4 and up.
Time: 15-30 minutes

 
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BROADENING THE CIRCLE OF NONVIOLENCE

 by Dani Dennenberg, Cambridge College Faculty & HECP Director 

After two hours on the bay area public transit, I was eager to arrive at the Educators for Non-Violence (ENV) Conference. As I hauled my suitcase full of presentation props through the UC Berkeley campus, I came across a student who happened to be heading toward the conference facility. She graciously helped me find my way, and as we meandered through campus, we had a nice conversation about her academic direction. Although she said she planned on attending medical school, there was some reservation behind her response, almost as though she wasn’t sure why she was truly pursuing this path. It made me wonder: How often do educators encourage young people to pursue paths that light them up and bring them personal fulfillment? How often are young people mentored to seek paths that are sustainable and draw connections among the spectrum of humane issues? I was looking forward to the conference, so that I could connect with others passionate about helping students learn to succeed in the world through peace.

The conference hall was filled with organizations who address issues ranging from bullying, to nonviolent communication methods, to promoting peace curriculum development for middle and high schools.

One of the most powerful experiences for me was viewing a film called Hope, which, “based on the ideas of Native American storyteller, Willy Whitefeather, illustrates the cause and effect of life out of balance, and suggests a new path to harmony.” The combination of music, sound and images offered in a seven-minute story format was powerful. The silent nature of this film gave me an opportunity to interpret the content for myself, one of the most important elements of our humane education framework.

When it was time to give my own presentation, one of the first questions that I asked my audience was how many of them had ever heard of Humane Education before. When one young woman’s hand shot up, it turned out to be one of our M.Ed. students! I smiled and shared that, although I was disheartened to hear that so many peace educators had never heard of our field, I was also filled with hope in creating a more just, sustainable world.

That hope continued to bloom throughout my presentation, as participants eagerly learned more about the connections between their own peace work and humane education. One of the most poignant moments came during an activity called “True Price” where participants had an opportunity to analyze the impact of every day items, such as a cup of coffee, a pair of shoes, a bottle of shampoo, etc. Some of these educators were learning for the first time about the institutionalized violence inherent in many of our everyday choices. The dialogue around this activity and other topics we discussed was rich and steeped in critical thought. The feedback from participants was very positive, which left me confident that these teachers will be taking back new humane education insights and activities to share in their own classrooms and organizations, and thus broadening the circle of what nonviolence means.

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FEATURED STUDENT: ROBERTO GIANNICOLA

From oblivious consumer to HECP (near) graduate and founder of Provokare Presentations, this month's featured student is Roberto Giannicola. (Next month we'll be featuring more about Roberto's Provokare work.) Read his story.

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