Rolling Earth, movement education

A collection of participatory activities I have used in teaching, both at Meiji University and in my English for Activists courses for Labor Now. All activities were created by Matt Noyes, unless otherwise indicated. All content is under a Creative Commons attribution, share-alike, non-commercial license (see footer). To see activities listed by:
Activity Type (Acting, Drawing, Reading, Singing, Speaking/Listening, Surrealism, Video/Smartphone, Writing)
Alforja Categories (Icebreakers, General Analytical, Abstract Thinking, Communication, Organization, Structural Analysis, Economic Analysis, Political Analysis, Ideological Analysis)

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Matt Noyes is Internet Coordinator for the Association for Union Democracy, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is also an Assistant Professor at Meiji University and teaches "English for Activists" courses for Labor Now, in Tokyo, Japan.

REDO THIS AS AN EDUCATOR's JOURNEY

Teaching work history:

Matt started teaching in 1989, at a community school run by the National Network of Neighborhood Women, then moved on to Adult Education at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York.

By Matt Noyes. Adapted from "See, Hear, Feel" in Educating for Change

Objectives:
To generate a concrete definition of union democracy that is meaningful to people; to get past easy, abstract generalizations about democracy that block the definition of real, achievable, measurable goals; to hear from each individual and also create a group definition of union democracy; to flush out any "hotspots" -- points of intense interest, disagreement or controversy.

Summary:

This step can be tricky for popular educators. It is easy to slip back into the old "banking" model of education: and play the role of the expert whose job it is to give people information or ideas, treating your fellow participants like so many empty vessels waiting to be filled.

Providing new information (or helping people find it themselves) and helping them learn how to use it is essential in any educational process. Obtaining and learning to use information is a central part of building power. Sharing information and helping others learn is essential for democracy.

Another term for popular education is problem-posing education. We are getting people together to identify, analyze and figure out how to solve problems.

Popular education has been described as a "pedagogy of the question." (Bruss, Neal, Macedo, Donaldo P. Toward a Pedagogy of the Question: Conversations with Paulo Freire. Journal of Education, v167 n2 p7-21 1985) That's especially true of the starting point.

Et toi? Quand est-ce que tu pars? Elle est ou, ta place? (from Ressources Humaines, Laurent Cantet)
What about you? When are you leaving? Where's your place?

Tu, con que intencion y como pretendes utilizar las tecnicas? (Alforja, Tomo 2, "Advertencia!")
And you, what are your intentions, how do you plan to use these techniques?

Where and how does popular education for union democracy begin?