I woke up Monday with a misconception. My Food Bank schedule
said “Popular Education Workshop” 8-4PM. The task ahead loomed dark and low.
Workshop: sitting
inside, listening eight hours, doodling…
Like I said, misconception.
Now, I can affirm ‘Popular Education’ is what I hope to
center my life around. I appreciate the power in community sharing, teaching,
and learning. Having group discussions, understanding and letting go of
personal judgments, active listening, and breaking down power dynamics in the
classroom are all the reasons I love to facilitate classes. I just never knew
there was a movement, a theory, a concept behind this method of education.
“Consciousness
raising, peer to peer, reclaiming power to define our own world…”
“Being agents of our
own reality, deciding our values, and breaking down the oppressive
relationships”
“To understand
logically is to understand deeply within”
The beautiful definitions of Popular Education. Each
participant is valued equally, knowledge is shared, there is trust within the
group.
We broke up into groups, moved around the room, interacted
with small groups, pairs, and the group as a whole. We were not separated by
age or rank, not by gender or those who we work closely with. Our voices had
equal weight.
Defining the basic concepts of Popular Education was my
favorite exercise. My small group received “Community Members as Experts.” I
love this foundational aspect of Popular Education. In order to teach the rest
of the participants we defined the phrase for ourselves, brainstormed
opportunities to put it into practice, and thought of any critical questions we
may have. The main task was presenting our findings in a creative way. We chose
haiku. I wrote about what it means to me:
Building Capacity
Trusting individuals
Inclusive Teaching
Personal courage
Bringing unique
perspectives
There are no experts.
Local experience
The strength of many
voices
Knowledge in failure
The workshop felt empowering, inspiring. The concepts that I
looked for in my education studies are out there, waiting to be implemented.
The problem has not been solved, however. We need time to
reflect on all that we have learned, and in that evaluation we may be able to
find ways to reach out to the community. Many members may struggle to
understand that they are not just a student, they can be a teacher.
How do we….
share
power?
create
space?
use
intuition and creativity?
perform
action and evaluate fully?
self
reflect?
and
show each others’ value and expertise?
These are questions I could use in a classroom setting, with
my coworkers during planning and brainstorming, and with my immediate community
in the house. The amazing part of Popular Education is the flexibility. The
forms can shift and change depending on the subjects.
“Popular Education is
about bringing humanity back into learning.”
