EDUC262

Carly tutors a student at the Alpha Boys School orphanage in Kingston.

EDUC 262/263: Jamaica Service-Learning LC

Required coursework for participants in the Augustana Jamaica Program, the 3-credit EDUC 262 and the 1-credit EDUC 263 were taught for the first time in the winter term of 2012-2013.

As a winter term course taught on campus, the 3-credit EDUC 262 divided naturally into a “pre-Christmas” portion (which was titled “Context”) and a “post-Christmas” portion (titled “Reflection”) . The 1-credit EDUC 263 (a teaching internship) occurred during our 10-day trip to the island that occurred over the Christmas break. We described this as the “Immersion” component of the course.

The Context portion of the course enabled us to prepare the students for the trip by introducing them to aspects of Jamaican culture (music, film, literature) and the socio-political situation on the island (via books and newspaper articles). Thus, students were not completely ignorant of what they were getting themselves into when they entered the Immersion component. The trip involved travel throughout the island, and culminated with 3 full days of teaching at Alpha Academy (an all girls high school serving inner city Kingston students) and the Alpha Boys School (a boarding school and orphanage). When we returned to campus, we spent the remaining 5 weeks of the winter term processing our trip and wrestling with questions of how we might apply lessons learned from our time in Jamaica to our own lives moving forward.

Artifacts reflecting the work performed and thoughts provoked through these courses are shared at right. The Augie Globalog is the record of participant reflections while they were on the island. Shortly after returning, all students were required to write reports to Alpha personnel about the work they accomplished in the schools. One such report produced by the “math team” at Alpha Academy is shared here. All students were required to “tie everything together” via two summative assignments. The video documentary enabled students to express their reflections on the Jamaican experience with images and music. The music component of the documentary assignment was important as Jamaican music served as a central “text” for our course throughout the term. Reviewers will note that music incorporated into this example communicates the creators’ message at least as much as their text and images. The Final Paper in the course prompted students to synthesize their experiences and academic insights via a formal academic paper. The sample paper provided here provides a good indication of the academic rigor of the course and the level of thought that was expected of the students. Note that this student chose to focus a good portion of her paper on the ideas of Paulo Freire, a scholar widely regarded as the eminent “third world” philosopher of education. Freire’s classic Pedagogy of the Oppressed was required reading for all students in the course. It is a very dense and challenging text: indeed, I had major doubts that undergraduates would be able to digest it when I first listed it in the syllabus (I first encountered this text as a masters student and then again as a PhD student...it was challenging for my peers and I when we encountered it). I was thrilled (and, yes, surprised) at the richness of the classroom discussions surrounding this book, though. I suspect that our students’ immersion in a third world setting helped them develop an appropriate context for understanding Freire’s arguments. Again, the sample student here (as well as many others) chose to continue their engagement with Freire via their finals papers.