This is not an activity -- it is more of a comment.
One of the biggest obstacles to popular education as it is typically practiced in the US labor movement, and one of the biggest distortions of the method, is the limitation of popular education one-off workshops or conferences, with no continuity. The most famous models of popular education -- from the Sea Islands of South Carolina to the base community organizations in Brazil -- would be inconceivable on such a foundation. Those projects lasted years, not hours.
Workshops and conferences have their place. A popular education method can be used in them and they can be part of a larger process by which workers develop their skills and organizing capacity, but it is important to underline the difference between what can be accomplished in the limited format of a typical workshop and what is possible when there is the chance to work with a group over time.
Sometimes, the US labor popular educator gets a chance to work with a group over time, moving through several spirals, sharing, analyzing, adding information, planning, acting, assessing, etc. In these cases, the educator may also play the role of supporting and facilitating the group's organizing process, helping activists work together in addition to teaching with them.
This is most likely to happen in the context of a union sponsored education program, or an independent community-based workers center. There are also a few examples of this kind of ongoing educational/activist commitment (Teamsters for a Democratic Union is perhaps the best example) but there is a real need for ongoing support and educational work with independent, rank-and-file reform efforts. It is a rich context for popular education, the challenge is finding ways to sustain the relationship.
Materials and Resources:
The key here is continuity. That usually means the basics: a regular place to meet, a time, a phone tree, flip charts, markers, a copy machine, whatever can be used. The educator is often in a position to provide a lot of this kind of material support to the process. Continuity can also raise the problem of funding. For a workshop or conference, the educator can ask for a contribution to cover expenses and pay for her work. But a rank-and-file group may not be able to afford a weekly conference...
Process:
Explain and motivate.
Clearly separate time and roles.
Focus on the process.
Summarize and check in.
Provide tools: go around, brainstorm, prioritization, checklists, check-in, worker-to-worker network.
Hold back, responsibly. Don't over facilitate -- let bad process stand if the alternative is micro-managing the process.
Assess and next steps.
Know your limitations and boundaries. I will keep those files on my desk for the next meeting, I will make copies of the contract, I will not manage the phone tree, I will not pay for copies, I will proofread letter... Have a clear sense of what you will and will not do, and be clear about that list and why you have it.
Watch for:
Substitutionism. Facilitating someone else's organizing process is a delicate art. It is a real test of your skills and commitment to democracy. The most important skill a popular educator has is political -- it is your commitment to democracy and rank-and-file power and your ability to translate those principles into practice. [[EXPLAIN]] Do not substitute your analysis of the situation or your answer to the problem for the analysis and answer of the participants. Do not let your access to resources and time for organizing make you into the leader. Do not promise things you can't do...
Assess the risks. Activists take risks. Their actions always come with the risk of retaliation. Educators who cross the line also enter into a zone that carries risks. I don't believe that this is an argument for not crossing the line -- quite the contrary, the risks are one sign of the potential power of your work -- but I do think educators, like other activists have a responsibility to be strategic and methodical. Just like the would be activist who gets fired on day one for insubordination, an educator can move too fast and get set up and knocked down before having the time to really get the work going. Risks are not just individual, either. What happens to one activist can have a huge impact on the group, so think about risk in terms of both the individual and the group.
[[Race. persistence in getting things done vs. race]]
Variations:
Have people take turns facilitating...
Examples:
This got me fired from the CWE. Home Attendants, interference in internal union affairs... "Popular Education is about problem-posing not problem-solving." former CWE TITLE Mae Ngai
"Goddamn it Horton, you tell us what to do!" The great popular educator Myles Horton once found himself threatened by union members infuriated by his unwillingness to tell them what they should do in a very difficult strike situation.
Add rearrange the furniture activity from UFT meeting?