Our first class was a success!!

The first class was a complete success! = D
We started the class with a joke in order to wake up the students. Our good friend Clarisse arrived dressed as a well known professor of Photography that we recruited to instruct the photography portion of the class. She started the class explaining her worldwide travels as a photographera. If only you could have seen the faces of the students as she was talking.

Clarisse, our beloved ¨Professor of Photography¨, demanded the students to write a 40 page assignment about what photography means to them. We, who knew everything, left the room because we could not stop laughing at the frightened faces of the students.hahaha ... They were very confused as to what they had signed up for. Once the Professor saw us leave the room, she started laughing and gave away the whole game. Our goal was to start out with this joke in order to combat the traditional form of schooling. We then jumped in to what our goals for the next 2 months were and how we hope that this program is more of a mutual learning experience. We want to be more like mentors and facilitators than a traditional teacher who preaches information to a group of students.

We formed a circle with our chairs to start the conversation. We began with a little overview of the program and then went around and asked each student to introduce themelves. Each student was asked to say their name and what they were looking forward to from this course. It was also a time for Waleska to talk about her experience with photography and her current work at the local newspaper. Anna was able to explain a bit about her time here last year and why she chose to return to Pirambu. We had a great conversation about why she chose to return to Pirambu? Why would an American want to come to this neighborhood? It was really great to hear people talking about their neighborhood in a different way. Instead of pinpointing Pirambu for the violence, drugs,etc. we were able to talk in length about the amazing community of people, the history of the area, etc. Actually, we concluded that we are full of positive expectations for this project! It was great to see that all our ideas are coming to life.

beijos e abraços