I LOVE IT, for all the good reasons there is !
By far, this week’s reading is the most joyful, less problematic of all other readings ! Regardless of its multiple layers, it seems to blend so well that all layers seems one ! This book tells stories, shows pictures, teaches and suggests a method of teaching at the same striking moment. As having gone through a process of writing a critical pedagogy lesson plan lately, I know how problematic it is to make a link between the problem and our education while using literature as a medium. This author seems to equate it in a way that it looks so effortless.
The idea behind the text, and the human element behind it, is what struck me the most. It advocates its causes in away that doesn’t feel like advocating ! It diverts our attention, or better said, takes out the film of familiarity in regard to certain humanistic problems, that those old sad experiences, regardless of its place of origin, feel not only so new but also persist with the same long-felt pain ! The simplicity of the language might have had a hand in that; as its simple, everyday sort of language, allows its readers not only to understand it but put him/her-self in a similar shoes and actually live it and all the pain, worry, sadness it brings about !
All in all, I really like this week’s piece and I’ll sum this post up with a statement quoted from Ziyad “Nowak, indeed, is more of an artist than an author.”
Nouf, I had the same feeling when I read the lesson plan. They are so creative and related to real life. They were created to engage the sudents with real life experiences which is to accomplish the significant leraning. I think there is also a connection between the lesson plans and the lesson after each disaster. The word lesson has two dimensions which look at the education of the next generations about coal mining as well as creating an awareness and activism against the dangerous mining process. Nowak’s intention of using the word “lesson” has two funtions for not only students but for everyone else around the world as he mentions in the first page of the book “across the globe, this morning and tomorrow.” His message trancends beyond space and time.
Nouf, like you and Hediye, the book reminds me of the lesson plans we are working on. Yet, Nowak depends on other sources to create his book including the lessons which makes us question his authorship (I raised this issue in my post). Thus, I totally agree on describing him as an artist.