Public Pedagogy
The following projects incrementally led to the creation of Unlocking Silent Histories
2010-2011
Dominican Republic
Mariposa DR Foundation and Ruth and Werner Plaut Kindergarten and Community Center.
In July 2010, supported by a grant from the Office of International and Transnational Affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Donna traveled to the Dominican Republic. The goal of this trip was to explore potential relationships between the University of Massachusetts, Boston and the Mariposa DR Foundation, a nonprofit organization in the Dominican Republic. What materialized instead were relationships with both theMariposa Foundation and the Ruth and Werner Plaut Kindergarten and Community Center in La Mina, Dominican Republic. It was through these community-based video projects that Donna gained a deeper understanding of a emergent and flexible pedagogy that integrally involved youth voice and community inquiry.The work in the Dominican Republic was truly a turning point that would spark the trajectory for what was eventually to become Unlocking Silent Histories.
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2011-2012
Dorchester, MA
Lilla G. Frederick School.
The Lilla G. Frederick School is a pilot middle school in Dorchester, MA. Donna collaborated with Teachers inthe school to develop a pilot after school program that allows youth to explore their interests. Including youth inthe decision curriculum planning from the beginning, this group collectively decided to focus on the perceptionsand realities of urban youth in the media. Specifically, these youth examined how urban various forms of mediaprojected and reinforced stereotypes about urban youth. They used VoiceThread to organize and analyzedifferent images on the internet, in the movies, and in the news. Next, they used creative narrative film or digitalstory telling techniques to create their own media to both highlight and counter these perceptions.
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2003-2004
Philadelphia, PA
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I completed her dissertation work in Philadelphia at a community center called Project HOME. The work in the center was a self-initiated digital divide engagement that shed light on how technology-mediated activities in a cross-community partnership empowered youth to have a voice in their learning organization. In this web design course, high boys from a suburban school taught middle school youth in this community centered. My analysis focused on how these different cultures intersected to bring about new forms of participation and emergent activity structures. The learners became a significantly integral part of co-creating the evolving learning structure. To the right are examples of what the youth decided to include on their websites.
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