Community & Service:
Putting Core Values into Practice in Southeast Asia Paul Druzinsky Teacher Enrichment Fund
If you know me...
you know that this is not “me”.
In fact, this is all more my speed...
Also Me: ●
7th Grade English & history teacher ○
English: Texts--including Of Mice and Men, The House on Mango Street, and A Raisin in the Sun--look at issues of social disparity (between the sexes, and across class and race lines)
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U.S. History: Use a civil rights lens to explore the period of the “discovery” of America through Reconstruction, following the Civil War; in each unit, we acknowledge the way the prevailing narrative has been written by privileged white men and give voice to those who have gone unheard (Native Americans, enslaved Africans/Black Americans, women, etc.)
Also Me: ●
Service Learning Coordinator ○
Over the past two years, I’ve worked at enabling our students to learn as much as they do; each grade now has the chance to meet with and better understand the organizations their efforts benefit and, in turn, they more firmly grasp the causes they’re tackling
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The other goal is to create a sense of connectedness and cohesion across the middle school service experience: ■ ■ ■ ■
Students start “small” as fifth grade buddies, learning about leadership through one-on-one relationships as they teach first graders about Jewish ethics and values In sixth grade, they expand their understanding of community to look at ways to serve New York City and many of its diverse populations In the year of their b’nai mitzvah, 7th graders examine the theoretical underpinnings of tzedakah and giving, and then research and support a number of causes through the Philanthropic Initiative As eighth graders, students take a step back to consider what it means to be “young philanthropists” (along with a host of other labels), and then look forward to develop a working definition of “global citizenship” through self-directed service work both here and on the Israel
And that’s what got me to this grant... Even though we changed the program from “Community Service” to “Service Learning”, we keep community and its many meanings at the heart of the work we do. (We’re a community school, after all.) Here was the idea: to put myself through the curriculum I designed for our middle schoolers. We push our eighth graders to think globally and think about sustainability, so that’s where I started. While we focused on food and resource scarcity in the past, and supported organizations that help people in developing nations help themselves, I wanted to explore how education serves as a catalyst for developing communities. As a teacher, this felt tangible and like a way that I could try to make a discernible difference. And for our kids, this started to feel like the most relatable way to get at this idea of self-sufficiency.
Why Southeast Asia? I considered a few locations, but I was most attracted to understanding how Southeast Asian countries. particularly Vietnam and Cambodia, have moved/are moving on from recent conflict and atrocities and using education to rebuild their communities. And as a consummate Westerner, there was something appealing about throwing myself into the most “foreign� experience possible.
Getting There So I had the eighth grade part of the idea checked off, but what about the rest of the curriculum? I challenged myself to form relationships with people and foundations here in New York that could both provide a foundation for my trip and work in Vietnam and Cambodia, but also become potential partners for future projects when I came home. I not only got a great primer on what to expect and a crash course on the history from those who immigrated following the VIetnam War, but I formed unexpected friendships, too.
“Until the lion has his own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story.” I also decided one week of the trip would be spent in a Cambodian school. But in thinking about effective stewardship, I didn’t want to come in as the “white privileged teacher” who took over the classroom. Rather, my goal was to find a place that would let me be an observer and learn from the teachers and kids. It happened that a RSS family had volunteered with the Ponheary Ly Foundation in Cambodia, so it was a perfect fit.
The Plan In the spirit of community, I first wanted to immerse myself in the culture and history as much as possible. And that’s where’s Vietnam came in: ● ● ●
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon): South Vietnam Hoi An: Central Vietnam Hanoi: North Vietnam
Saigon
Saigon Part of being in Vietnam meant reckoning with America’s role in the Vietnam War:
Thang Long School Even though Vietnam was the “touristy� part of the trip, I wanted to engage with with locals and the education-community connection as much as I could.
Tiffany Part of understanding our role in the Vietnam War, and its lingering effects, came about in a dinner with Tiffany, a cousin of a New York contact who was spending the summer in Saigon reconnecting with family she hadn’t seen since immigrating to Los Angeles in 1975.
Hoi An Spending time in Central Vietnam was a great way to understanding the rural side of life in region. I was able to find a range of experiences that let me spend time with locals and more “authentically� immerse myself in the culture.
Hoi An
Hanoi
Siem Reap
Siem Riep: Working with the
Ponheary Ly Foundation PLF promotes and works toward increasing access to formal schooling, improving school retention, and strengthening the quality of educational experience for children and youth in northern Cambodia. The organization was formed in response to a local, national, and international recognition of the low literacy rates in Cambodia and the wide gender disparity in those rates, coupled with a growing awareness of marginal school attendance in rural villages and the existence of poorly resourced government schools across the nation.
Teaching in Cambodia
Teaching in Cambodia
Teaching in Cambodia Some initial observations: ●
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The kids understood the value of their education, and were genuinely proud of themselves and their accomplishments Families are making major sacrifices to support their kids’ futures--as well as the futures of their communities There’s a burgeoning value placed on education--and those who have “made” it are passionate about the strong investment education can make across generations Some of the problem areas: Inconsistent buy-in from families; focus on rote memorization; teachers lack resources, as well as chances to reflect and lesson plan
The Samroth Village Project
Phnom Penh: The Community Connection I threw myself into the teaching in Siem Reap, but it wasn’t until I traveled to Phnom Penh that I understood the roots of the infrastructural problems I saw--and the ways in which education could play a role in healing the country.
Phnom Penh: The Community Connection
Closer to Home: Community Building My experiences this summer informed my approach to this year’s service learning program: ● ●
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Sense of gratitude for privileges we have Stress the identity-community connection, as well as cultivate the desire to give back and actively participate in that community Reinforce central role schools play in developing community
Closer to Home: Community Building A lot of this work is starting with the 8th grade, in a few ways: ● ● ●
This Fall: Philanthropy 2.0 This Spring: Student-driven charitable project In Israel: Hands-on education-based community development experience
“Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity. …When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.” -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Other Lessons Learned
Okay, bye. Thanks!