Helping Teachers Bring Haiti into the Classroom
Primary Source recently offered a unique workshop for teachers in the Boston area. The organization developed Haiti Beyond the Headlines to educate teachers about Haiti's cultural and historical traditions and to help educators use the past as a lens to understand contemporary issues. Additionally, many educators in Eastern Massachusetts have Haitian and Haitian-American students in their classrooms and are seeking Primary Source's help to better serve this population and effectively communicate with their students' families.
As is the case with many of Primary Source's programs for teachers, last week's Haiti workshop combined scholarly presentations with interactive sessions focused on classroom implementation. Charlot Lucien, a master Haitian storyteller and artist, gave an overview of Haiti's history and culture and provided educators with insight into issues, including language and literacy, that may affect Haitian and Haitian-American students and their parents.
Teachers also enjoyed a panel presentation and discussion on contemporary issues in Haiti, including language and identity, the media's portrayal of Haiti over the past year, Haitians in the Diaspora and in Massachusetts schools, the upcoming presidential election, and rebuilding education in Haiti. Panel participants included Alix Cantave (who had just returned from a visit to Haiti only hours before the panel discussion), Associate Director of the William Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture at UMass Boston; Manolia Charlotin, a Haitian-American editor and business manager at the Boston Haitian Reporter; and Patrick Sylvain, a Haitian-American writer and lecturer at Brown University's Center for Latin American Studies.
A hands-on teaching workshop, led by Primary Source staff members Ann Marie Gleeson and Susan Zeiger, focused on different ways to teach about the relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Teachers used literature and poetry to analyze General Trujillo's massacre of Haitians in the Dominican Republic in the 1930s. They also explored the use of film and song to analyze the treatment of Haitian laborers in the Dominican sugar cane fields today.
Participating teachers were particularly interested in advice from the presenting experts as to how to communicate effectively with parents of Haitian and Haitian-American students, given the complex landscape of language among recent generations of Haitians. Teachers also sought to better understand the current political situation in Haiti, including the implications of Duvalier's recent return, in order to accurately present this topic to students.
In addition to the recent workshop, Primary Source has made a free resource guide available online to anyone interested in teaching students about Haiti.
