This blog post is the first of three (3) entries that record what happened at our retreat. After reading each entry we hope get feedback from Bayan and friends of the program to help us strengthen our program.
The purpose of our mini-retreat was to begin a deeper conversation about Bayan principles and values. While we have worked under some general guidelines (instituted by faculty), we believe it’s time to be a bit more deliberate and intentional about our purpose - and to figure out the principles that distinguishes us from the other campus programs and from the other multicultural learning communities. Just as important, we wanted to extend this discussion to include student voices.
We began by going around the circle, introducing ourselves and sharing our favorite versions of halo halo, a Filipino shave-ice dessert that include many tropical ingredients. A big chunk of us were against having sweet beans in their halo halo (imagine an ice-cream sundae with sweet kidney or garbanzo beans!). A vocal group wanted their halo halo to include plenty of leche flan. Discussion got heated in ways that only convos about foods can get! Ultimately, we all agreed that we need to feature halo-halo at one of our events.
The first “suite” of the retreat had us envision the kind of classroom and program we desired. To open discussion, we screened a GIF that depicts a “dehumanized classroom” setting, with students’ creativity and intelligence violently destroyed by the education system, represented by saws, hammers, and mechanization. We briefly chatted in groups about how classrooms, certainly not all of them, have been spaces where we’ve the kind of dehumanization that treated us like objects.
Then we shifted from a considering a “dehumanized classroom” to imagining a rehumanized one. Using an activity lifted from improv, we did a “Yes/And” small group exercise to surface ideas about what a “dehumanized classroom” would look and feel like. As folks shared in small groups, we used sticky notes to capture what came up and posted them on the wall, clustering the themes that emerged. Several themes emerged, overlapping topics that feed into and draw from each other in ways that this list can’t fully capture.
Connection/Community
A significant portion of responses had to do with feeling a sense of “kapwa”, a core Filipino values that has to do with a sense of “shared identity”, the communal sense of inner self that Leny Strobel describes as “I am part of you and you are part of me” (reference). Folks said that this feeling of community they experienced in BAYAN manifested in the was we “saw” and “recognized” each other in and out of classroom time that transcended what we typically experience in other class ro school settings.
That sense of “kapwa” also manifested in the idea that a rehumanized class should co-created, everyone teaching and learning from each other rather than having one-direction communication where teachers lecture what they know and students passively take up what teachers say. Rather, a rehumanized class creates conditions where teaching and learning is reciprocal, disrupting the “top down” kind of ethos that dehumanizes students - and teachers. Thus, a rehumanized class would values collaboration: lots of group and partner work, and plenty of opportunities for teachers and students to confer with each other. Both these senses of “connection/community” require purposeful intention.
Affective Domain:
By affective domain, we meant the kind of learning that has to do with feelings and emotions. A rehumanized class would value and nurture habits of heart and mind that have to do with motivation and commitment. Activities would promote experiencing and sharing encouragement, dealing with and solving challenges and problems, and leaning out of our “comfort zones”. As well, many folks spoke about how a rehumanized educational setting would value mistakes and confusion as part of the learning process, not something to be feared, which is something we all felt was the “norm” in our educational experiences. Several folks spoke about how their BAYAN challenged our beliefs being bewildered or “messing up” in schools, stating that dehumanized classes must nurture our ability to welcome productive confusion and embrace mistakes as part of learning. One students added that rehumanizing a class means building commitment is so high that no one settles for ;ess of themselves or each other.
Authentic Learning
In terms of learning in a rehumanized classroom, one theme that emerged resembles the UMOJA practice of “manifesting” Manifesting is the practice that seeks to “make sure that all of what we do in our programs is applied, connected, and relevant to the students' lives, and that the learning manifests inside the identity-spirit and mind-of the students”. In other words, a dehumanized classes encourages all to learn and practice skill relevant to our lives and futures. One person called this an “actual education” and another chimed in saying that our tasks aren’t about “doing homework” but about making a difference. Moreover, students believed that choice and agency in what and how they are taught are an important element of a rehumanized class.
Secondly, we noted lived experiences and personal development must be a part of a dehumanized learning environment. Lessons and units would intentionally include opportunities for students (and teachers!) to develop and articulate their values, beliefs, and multiple identities. Valuing “lived experiences” means what we learn in class must travel outside the class; what we do should be relevant to us, should matter in the real world. So dehumanized learning requires that folks in the program take on leadership roles within BAYAN, on the SWC campus, and the community at large.
Fun, Food, Laughter
Folks noted that when we bring our whole selves to the classroom, the learning becomes enjoyable and joyful. To be sure, we know we will face difficulties and encounter problems to solve, but if we neglect to honor pleasure,we leave out an important part of who we are. And for all productive difficulties that come with learning, we have to feed ourselves with laughter - and (coming full circle to halo-halo) food!
From “Rehumanizing” to “Decolonization”
We recognized that this “rehumanization” project was super important, something many of us so rarely experience that our time in BAYAN was especially remarkable because of the humanzing potential of our program. But is there a Filipino/a strain or angle on rehumanizing the classroom or humanzing BAYAN? That’s the next questions we addressed at the retreat: “Decolonizing our Education”, which is the focus of the next blog entry.
We’d like to get your feedback. Even if you didn’t participate in the mini-retreat, we want your thoughts and feeling. Help us broaden and deepen our efforts. Do you have any ideas about dehumanization in the classroom? What would “rehumanized” education look like? What do you think or feel about what we came up with so far? reflections to have about BAYAN and our “rehumanziation” project? Oh, and let us know your halo halo preferences, too!
Comment below. If you are a BAYAN alum, indicate the years you participated. If you are Bayan friend, say so, too, indicating your connection. We welcome your contributions!
Note: Salamat & shout out to S'18 Bayan Scholar Jerrelle for his able assistance revising this post.
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