Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Recycling in Jinan China!!

6 months ago, I arrived in China with the blessed commission to do all within my abilities, and beyond, to begin the monumental task of Cultural and Ecological Regeneration in the small northern chip of Jinan. The great Puertorriqueño poet, Victor Hernandez Cruz, speaks to me these days, with a soft and gentle reminder that can only come from a comrade,

"..Camara
You gotta have your tips on fire..."


Sorting through our in-class-brought-from-home recylcables
You see it all begins by first scoping out the state of the union. Jinan is a place where first impressions deceive one into thinking that there is no RECYCLING program. In the best case scenario you have the classic recycling recipients that no one honors or else the century old ALL IN ONE dumpsters. Fresh on the block, and with only a humble NI HAO to get by with, I kept a close eye on the activity of these dumpsters. It didn't take long to stumble upon the army of individuals that dumpster dive within literally seconds of any recyclable material tossed carelessly into them. So, there was my solution for our home: We continued to separate our trash into organic, glass, metal and cardboard just as we always had, but set these outside of the trashcans as a gift to those who usually had to dive for them. Now, this behavior came at the price of many-a-onlookers disapproval. Their glare seem to question how come having come so close to the dumpster, I was not able to put it inside. I'm sure that more than one of them assumed that this was yet another strange and inappropriate behavior from the west. On one occasion I saw one of the caretakers, take what my family had carefully separated at home and toss it all into the trash. I waited for him to leave and did my share of dumpster diving and then kept careful watch of my re-recycled-non-trash, until spotting one of the official dumpster divers that in order to put food on the table were inadvertently doing you and I and this world so much good!

Our talk to the kids was a push for them to lead at home!!
My next trial was that of bringing a recycling culture to my gang of Kindergarteners. To my surprise, many of the momma's quickly joined in on the operation. Week by week, kids would randomly show up and show me the boxes or plastic bottles they had avoided throwing out. Another initial concern of mine, in terms of setting up a Holistic Kindergarten that aimed towards the regenerative expectations of the wonderful organization I represent, was avoiding the exorbitant purchasing of arts and crafts materials that go into Kindergarten programs worldwide. So our collection of recyclables was systematically turned into an 8-ft long cardboard Dragon (yet to be finished) that is dormant in the corner of our classroom, an entire entourage of Halloween decorations, as well as our very own special version of the ever so popular Caine's Cardboard Arcade, which we recently paid tribute to upon honoring Santa's Elves and his chilly but spirited workshop.

Little Kaby and Theo hauling the NOT TRASH!!
Nonetheless the recyclables were beginning to take over our classroom working space, with an insurmountable amount of tiny used and reused pieces of paper and cardboard. It was time to seek out my old dumpster diving messiahs!!

I hereby share with you pictures from our class yesterday where we took to sorting through the goods and made it presentable for our good friends who had WE JUST HIT THE JACKPOT grins when we asked if they could use what we had used for our first 6 months of pre-school.

I know this is only a small little effort in bringing upon regenerative living to Jinan, but it is one I am proud of...especially when I ponder deep in thought the ripple effect in the little hearts and minds of the kids I get to play with each day in Caillou Home.

Merry Christmas everyone!! I am certainly feeling the spirit despite being so far from those who celebrate the Christ mass
Our Caillou model, Alan, with a great backdrop!





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Monday, December 1, 2014

Designing and Building a Holistic Environment for Learning

Crucial to the Holistic model of learning is the design and building of a healthy environment for learning to take place. Way too often in traditional education, this is deemed a vagary or capriccio. In our one-lane-fast-track-get-the-most-for-your-penny ways there is no time for the preparation of the holy grounds on which learning will take place, let alone for the ritual and ceremony that must open the channels for the divine to speak down and into us and henceforth us in return. We live in times of "I have paid my monies. I have opened my mouth. Now feed me". It should be no surprise that the results are so short-rooted.

But what is meant by "Designing and Building a Holistic Environment for Learning."

Consider how much of the routines of modern life contain substantial meaning. How often are our actions something worth composing a story designed to preserve a path for our children and grandchildren to use as an example of sustainable culture? Professional instructors know well this death as articulated in the cries of boredom. Why are some learners plagued by boredom? What constitutes an exciting learning environment? How much does such entertainment cost? What are the correlations affecting motivation?

Motivation has long since been attributed to the ability to see or find relevance. If students are provided an environment that stimulates relevance and meaning, self discovery and curiosity become the fuel for study. However, many modern and wealthy educational models have short-cut the development of relevance with attractive gimmicks in the same way that advertisements may lure consumers to purchase. The environment and delivery of content has become increasingly technological, bright, fast, and selfish, providing instantaneous gratification like candy - a quick boost void of lasting nutrition.

Spotlight Plus is the second program opened in Jinan, China. It seeks to foster a vibrant learning environment. Non-surprisingly it is beginning to attract others to its' bustling hive. For the past 2 weeks, Summer Dong, 26, soon-to-be intern of the Originateve Internship for Mentors in Holistic Education, has opted to wake up early on her day off and join our class to co-exist in the learning/teaching environment that we, a group of 10 vibrant children of ages 5-8, one of 19, one of 27 and one of 33 (me:)), have been designing and building together. Here are some of her words on yesterday's stocking sewing class:

"Today I joined the PLUS class again. Henry moved me a lot when we quilting the Christmas stockings. The first time around, he spent one minute trying to pass the thread through the needle. Then he spent at least three minutes trying to make a knot. He tried many times but never gave up. I even can not believe that this six years old boy has so much patience and focus. When he sewed he followed the Christmas song and swinged his head. He seems to relish it. He used three threads to sew his stockings. The last time, he found the way to knot quickly. When he finished he watch his stockings very carefully. Obviously, he was very pride. He had a very meaningful class."

As a kindergarten teacher from China, Summer is writing in her second language. It should go without saying that the vocabulary she used to write this reflection on yesterday was full of rich and brave novelty (stocking, swing, needle, thread, quilt, knot, sew etc...) Once done this blog entry I will work on editing and correcting a few things about her use of English. Alas!! Learning and growth do not end in a cyclical Holistic Environment that seeks to seize every moment as a chance to learn by stimulating "relevance and meaning, self discovery and curiosity".