ChismógrafosApril 28th, 2009
Borrowing the popular practice of chismógrafos from Mexican youth culture, the Habla team created an arts activity that encouraged the teenage students to write stories about their own lives. These stories were “published” together in books that were the individual and the community’s creative product. Cyanotypes and PoetryMarch 6th, 2009
When Habla partner Break Arts from Chicago visited Habla recently, Amanda Lichtenstein and Leah Sobsey presented this practice at a workshop called “Speaking Through the Sun” for the local community. They then worked with our local partner schools to pilot this process with students in two small towns near Mérida. Photographing TextDecember 17th, 2008
Our approach to creating photographs based on literature has been influenced by numerous photographers including Mary Beth Meehan in Providence, Rhode Island, Joao Kulcsar in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Cynthia Weiss in Chicago, Illinois. You will often see a photography exhibit in the halls of our school displaying both our students’ photography and the inspired text. Read more about photographing text here: photographing-text.pdf Hypertexting LiteratureDecember 15th, 2008
Hypertexting asks the reader to imagine what the possibilities are within the words and between the lines of a work of literature. Students write stories from their lives connecting the text to their own world, or they imagine new possibilities within the text, inventing characters and dialogues. Read more about hypertexting literature here: hypertexting-literature.pdf The CordelDecember 15th, 2008
In Daniel Soares’s school in Inhumas, Brazil the teachers and students have a permanent cordel hanging in the hall. Daniel explains, “I teach three different classes, and anything they produce, instead of handing it in for a grade, they hang it on the cordel in the hallway of the school. It has become a ritual. It allows for conversation between classes.” To learn more about the cordel: the-cordel.pdf Read more about how our partner SmART Schools used the cordel in their arts education programs: smart-schools-cordel Physical SculpturesDecember 13th, 2008
Our work using physical sculptures has been influenced by numerous educators and performers including Augusto Boal from Brazil, Shakespeare and Co in the United States, and artist educator, Jan Mandell. We used physical sculptures as a staple of our work at the ArtsLiteracy Project at Brown University. Learn more about physical sculptures: physical-sculptures.pdf Mapping LiteratureDecember 13th, 2008
While in Chicago recently we had a chance to visit two or our partner organizations, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) and Project AIM at Columbia College. Working with several schools, and a cadre of teaching artists, these organizations were exploring the concept of mapping with students. We took this idea of mapping and began applying it to literature. In Santa Monica we worked with elementary school teachers and mapped the life of Frida Kahlo through symbols and images. Read more about Mapping Literature: mapping-literature.pdf 28 Word BiographiesDecember 12th, 2008
We developed this approach at our lab school in Mexico. Students interview each other and write biographies using only a few words. This activity connects the “word with the world” in Paulo Freire’s terms and helps to build a classroom community. Learn more about this Habla original activity: 28-word-biographies.pdf Tagging TextsDecember 11th, 2008
Doris Sommer looked at an unseeming building on a high school campus in Mexico City, “That looks like a canvas, let’s paint it.” Tagging texts is a way of re-creating classic works of literature by tagging essential lines on the walls of the school. Download the Tagging Texts Description: tagging-text.pdf |
