Snowballs and Transitions to Higher Education

The academic core of the Bayan Community is a pair of linked classes: English Composition and Personal Development. Most of us have a good idea about English classes. We write. We read. We write and read - a lot, practicing the analytical and critical skills students need to succeed in college and beyond. But what about Personal Development? What is "PD"? What do students do in a PD  class? 

This semester’s Personal Development class is PD 114, “Transitions in Higher Education,” a course that provides a step-by-step approach to preparing for the culture and rules of higher education as well as acquiring and practicing the “soft-skills” required to the move from community college setting to a four year institution. This also include in the process of selecting and applying for college and securing funds to pay for it all. 

The very first activity of the semester students did is emblematic of the work students do in PD. Professor Crystal Alberto, Bayan’s coordinator and counselor, canvassed from students the obstacles, barriers, and issues they anticipate facing when they get to the college of their choice. She used one of the students’ favorite routines, the “snowball fight,” to brainstorm different items. Students jot down answers to a series of questions onto a sheet of scratch paper, crumple up those sheets, and toss them in the air to simulate a snowball fight. Students pick up the "snowballs", unwrap them, and share written responses with the entire class. A discussion follows to debrief and unpack ideas. Here's a link to guidelines for the activity. 

Because of the Filipino focus in the Bayan Learning Community, Professor Alberto used questions that compelled students to look for a "Filipino" angle regarding transferring. To be sure, many of the items on the list Bayan Scholars generated apply to all transfer students. And still, noting the particular "flavor" of their obstacles helped students see that their cultural and ethnic identities are constitutive, at least part, of what they may experience. That identity piece is definitely a worthy angle of investigation. 

Exploring Precious Knowledge

Early November, we watched the film  Precious Knowledge, an educational documentary filmed in 2011 by Dos Vatos Productions. The documentary focuses on the ban of the Mexican-American Studies (MAS) Program in Tucson, Arizona. This film includes stories of the students who were a part of MAS. Filmmakers spent an entire year in the classroom and community filming this innovative social-justice curriculum, documenting the transformative impact on students who become engaged, informed, and active in their school and communities.

Precious Knowledge gives viewers an inside look in the classroom of two Raza studies program teachers, Curtis Acosta who teaches literature, and Jose Gonzalez who teaches American Government. Acosta and Gonzalez taught students about their history and culture, and challenging them to reflect, realize and reconcile with their status in US society.