"This video made me think a lot. Those kids love school and want the chance to learn. And me, I'm here f***ing up, not going to school a lot."
-- Jennifer, Age 16, Los Angeles, CA
This student had just watched my first educational travel video, Beyond the Block: The Dominican Republic, and had completed some activities and discussion around it. Jennifer was part of the first group of students I worked with in LA. She attended one of the lowest performing high schools in the district and was identified as at-risk of school dropout by her counselor--the exact type of student I was trying, am still trying, to reach.
Jennifer didn't start getting A's overnight, but she had a shift in perspective. And as a therapist, I know that shifts in perspective are key to initiating and sustaining positive change. I knew that connecting kids here in the US to other kids around the world would have a meaningful impact on how students here understood their relationship with education and with the world around them. Since working with Jennifer years ago, I've shared the stories of the kids in the DR with thousands of students here in the US. Now, I'm excited to share these materials with you online.
In person, I've only been able to share these materials as far as I could stretch myself here in California. Now that they're online, the stories of the kids in the DR have been able to travel even father...last month I heard from a teacher on the East Coast whose class is almost entirely made up of students with Dominican heritage. What a cool and important experience for them to be able to see stories from the DR represented in their curriculum!
If you are are a teacher, counselor, administrator, or curious adult, check out my free online course, Intro to Global Awareness by clicking here, no log-in required! Let me know what you think!
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