Useful Media

[notaslave]

PopEd Theory

Popular Education is a group facilitation technique to raise consciousness and become aware of how an individual's personal experiences are connected to larger societal problems. The theory was expressed by Paulo Freire in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire worked to empower peasants in Brazil through literacy. Since that time it has been used for a great many purposes in both the North and South.

The book AH-HAH!: A New Approach to Popular Education, describes the approach:

Freire distinguishes his approach to education from the traditional "banking" approach where participants are treated as empty vessels that must be filled with information. The underlying implication of the traditional approach is that students are "uneducated" and in need of knowledge that can come only from teachers or experts. This need creates a dependency and reinforces a sense of powerlessness. People learn to distrust themselves, their knowledge and intuitions and this can lead to confusion. They often feel there is something wrong but they are not sure what. Freire's method encourages participants to see themselves as a fount of information and knowledge about the real world. When they are encouraged to work with knowledge they have from their own experience they can develop strategies together to change their immediate situations.

Educating for Change follows this process for doing popular education:

* Start by drawing out participants' experience
* Look for shared patterns of experience and knowledge
* Add new information and ideas
* Practice skills and plan for Action
* Take action

The Popular Education Research Group describes popular education as a cycle of stages:

* Beginning with people's own experiences;
* Moving from experience to analysis;
* Moving from Analysis to encouraging collective action to change oppressive systems;
* Reflection and evaluation of its own process.

And furthermore, it is a type of education which:

* takes place within a democratic framework;
* is based on what learners are concerned about;
* poses questions and problems;
* examines unequal power relations in society;
* encourages everyone to learn and everyone to teach;
* involves high levels of participation;
* includes people's emotions, actions, intellects and creativity;
* uses varied activities.

In this model everyone teaches and everyone learns in a collective process of creating new knowledge.

http://poped.org/theory.html

[notaslave]

The importance of metaphors ...

Good writing uses metaphor. Metaphor "transfers" or "carries across" ideas. Metaphor is used when we notice how something resembles another. If we notice and make a comparison we are using metaphor. If we use them well, our writing will carry more meaning and emotion."

Three Kinds of Metaphor

Metaphor: Some people are mountains, unreachable and serene. We compare humans to mountains directly.

Simile: Some others are like mountains, strong and silent watchers. In simile, the comparison uses the words "like" or "as." Simile is a special kind of metaphor.

Personification: The mountains look down and pity the poor people below. In this example, the "mountains" have taken on human qualities. This is personification.

source .. http://palc.sd40.bc.ca/palc/ac-archive/01-01/acapril5-01.htm

If we are creating leaflets etc., we should use the same tools.

Okay lets find the tools.

Street Theatre .... http://www.clownarmy.org/ for ideas of street theatre.

Please other people add your tools here.

[notaslave]

can i embed video? soon find out if not the link is
A Perfect Circle - Counting Bodies - YouTube

[notaslave]

PARABLE by LEO TOLSTOY

I see mankind as a herd of cattle inside a fenced enclosure. Outside the fence are green pastures and plenty for the cattle to eat, while inside the fence there is not quite grass enough for the cattle. Consequently, the cattle are tramping underfoot what little grass there is and goring each other to death in their struggle for existence.

I saw the owner of the herd come to them, and when he saw their pitiful condition he was filled with compassion for them and thought of all he could do to improve their condition.

So he called his friends together and asked them to assist him in cutting grass from outside the fence and throwing it over the fence to the cattle. And that they called Charity.

Then, because the the calves were dying off and not growing up into serviceable cattle, he arranged that they should each have a pint of milk every morning for breakfast.

Because they were dying off in the cold nights, he put up beautiful well-drained and well-ventilated cowsheds for the cattle.

Because they were goring each other in the struggle for existence, he put corks on the horns of the cattle, so that the wounds they gave each other might not be so serious. Then he reserved a part of the enclosure for the old bulls and the old cows over 70 years of age.

In fact, he did everything he could think of to improve the condition of the cattle, and when I asked him why he did not do the one obvious thing, break down the fence, and let the cattle out, he answered: "If I let the cattle out, I should no longer be able to milk them"