Hey All,
As a reminder, Mazuri and I are working with Upward Bound youth cultivating their public speaking skills through the use of the personal narrative, music, art, and all things creative. Originally we had planned on teaching 5 classes that was to start the first week of classes at Mills (Jan 21st), and continue for the first five Friday's. However, we received one of the highest compliments we could, I think. We were asked by the students to continue the workshop for as long as we could! So now, our workshop is slated to end the second or third week of April.

A typical day in our workshop would be that we begin with snacks, and a brief check-in. From there we go into writing exercises that sometimes include talking about music, the latest videos, and what's happening in our home life. This has been an eye opening experience for me. I have learned to expand, visually, my personal definition of what a diverse group of students look like. I also understand more clearly the stresses of getting good grades means for Asian students.

For the first five or six classes, the main topic of discussion was grades, GPA, and parents perceptions of the students. Where these topics seem somewhat taboo in american culture, at least for strangers to come together and openly discuss, it seemed second nature to room full of Asian students. This was really eyeopening for me. That the students seemed to be only being able to get to know each other through establishing GPA's was fascinating.   Though grades are not one of the first conversations we open up with now, they still check in from time to time, and when someone is not doing so well they support each other with kind words.

Right now, we are planning our final class. And by "we," I mean the students. They are planning a final performance. They get to decide who they want to attend and what they wan to do. They seem to be having fun with it. They have created a lot of poems, art, and speeches to perform. Well that's it, I think.

 Love to hear your comments

LaTasha!