EDUCATION
The Herstory method provides a full-group approach that makes for compelling classroom presentations. Students at high school and university levels have enjoyed play-acting windows into their lives for one another while together they imagine how each window might lead first into a story and then into a book. While helping a “Stranger/Reader” to walk in another’s shoes, these workshops teach both narrative development and writing and listening skills, as week by week and chapter by chapter the students are guided into telling their stories in ways that improve mutual understanding.
Bilingual and all English or all Spanish versions of our signature series, Journeys to Justice, help students develop greater compassion and an interest in justice, as they experience the importance of writing as a means of passing on acquired wisdom and experience, and generating empathy and understanding that society so needs…across class, racial and ethnic lines. Honors students and remedial students are able to work side by side, as they study the structure of told stories, with each contributing to the others’ learning about what makes for powerful literature. The end result is not only a larger pool of voices and stories, but marked improvement in self esteem and literacy skills. Captain Helen Geslak, formerly of Riverhead Correctional facility, now at Yaphank, calls Herstory ‘the most effective program ever attempted in Riverhead.”
Herstory offers periodic Train-the-Trainer workshops—taught by founder and artistic director Erika Duncan—for teachers, healers, social workers and neighborhood organizers interested in bringing the Herstory method to their site.
Extending the “dare to care” into every stage of producing a written work, professors of literature work on level ground with those whose main education derives from the lives they have lived, each guiding the other in the task of making memories come to life.
To download a complete program brochure, click here
I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Herstory. I am a member of the Middle Country Public Library group and I also attend the day-long workshops… My own process with Herstory has been challenging and rewarding. I am reviewing my life experiences and learning to communicate about them in a way that may connect with other women. The facilitators are excellent. The quality of the instruction and guidance easily surpasses most Master’s-level classes I’ve taken. Herstory is wonderful and I am so glad it is a part of my life.
Lynn Doris, MBA, LCSW, CASAC |
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