Yolanda Nuño nos cuenta cómo desarrolló su sesión de trabajo dentro del curso “Respect for animals in the classroom” que se ha estado desarrollando estos días en Teruel. Os dejamos a continuación su relato.
In the third session, I tried to cover the aspects that seemed important to me regarding the transmission of respect for animals (both in and out of the classroom) that, due to time constraints, couldn't be addressed in a full afternoon. Therefore, I began by explaining what intersectionality is and that the perspective must necessarily start from this concept (a global view of the different forms of discrimination and privilege based on the social categories that shape us as individuals).
Through an open-ended question (What would you do to cultivate respect…?), I tried to highlight that there are basically two approaches: through activities or through processes. While we will generally encounter diverse opinions, it is more likely that there will be greater resistance or that certain values will not be deeply understood if we only use isolated activities (here I discussed cognitive dissonance and included a short video from "The Teacher").
The objective (which transcends respect for animals) can be none other than the training of students or people who are critical and active with respect to their environment, capable of analyzing and making decisions in a responsible manner, contributing to the construction of a society free of violence and as harmonious as possible.
Así, enlacé con otras formas de entender el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje (innovación metodológica). Me centré en la metodología Design for Change aprovechando que el Los Angeles Special Education Center of Badajoz, con su proyecto “No al maltrato animal” ganó la convocatoria del 2016 en España. Tras explicar en qué consistía Design for Change (proyecté vídeo sobre su creadora y el caso de un cole de la India, ya que nace en ese país) y los pasos necesarios para desarrollarlo, practicamos el primero de ellos (SIENTE).
Design for Change is a way to empower students, designed for 8- to 15-year-olds who will develop an action project in one week, but it is easily adaptable to other timeframes, ages, and contexts. Through this methodology, we make students aware that they can take actions that change their environment. The phases involved are: identifying what we want to change (something specific, and the more defined, the better), developing strategies, implementing those strategies through concrete actions, dissemination, and evaluation and progress.
In this regard, I briefly mentioned the experience of Cuarto Hocico, since César Bona has done nothing but seek change in his students' environment by making them the protagonists through a methodology that places them at the center, not the teacher. He took the classroom to their homes, the classroom to the Town Hall, the classroom to the rest of the world through various initiatives and social media.
Let's get started:
• In groups, using colored markers and sticky notes, each member answers this question in writing: What catches your attention most regarding animal abuse or animal rights in your immediate environment? What issues cause you the most concern, affect you, or spark your interest? We are referring to facts that you observe, read about, or experience in your own life (not opinions or thoughts).
•After a few minutes (5-10 minutes), each person leaves and after reading their sticky notes aloud, places them in a disordered way on a part of the kraft paper that has previously been stuck on the wall as a large mural.
•Once everyone has read and posted their ideas, all the groups come together to organize these sticky notes into a larger cloud, initiating a discussion and consensus-building session. This cloud must then be summarized on a single sheet of paper, containing a subject and predicate, containing all the included sticky notes (for example, "many dogs and cats are abandoned"). 15 minutes.
•It's time to decide which area of interest to focus on. One way to choose (the simplest) is for each person to come forward and mark with a cross the two ideas they find most pressing or most eager to act upon. The two clouds with the best results are then voted on again in a second round. This way, we'll identify the key points from which to develop actions that will change the situation.
We left off at the step prior to the vote, which we will do in another session.