Lesson 1 of 2

​

WARMING UP ACTIVITY

CHECK-IN (10 minutes)

At the beginning of a work session, invite students to offer brief, individual responses about how they are feeling (physically/ emotionally). Begin by establishing expectations for the activity: Each person in the circle will have an opportunity to share some information about themselves at the beginning of our work. 

​

Give an open-ended prompt (e.g. “Today I am feeling…because…” or ”Today I am excited about because…”) and clear instructions on how much time students can take to verbally share their answer (unlimited to 15 s, potentially shown on a visible timer). Next, give a small amount of thinking time for students to consider their responses. Begin with a student who volunteers to go first. When the student is finished, they say ''Check-In'' to complete their turn. Encourage students to listen intently to their colleague's words. Allow students to check in using a physical gesture instead of words (e.g. thumbs up, thumbs side, thumbs down)

​

Very limited (or no) commentary is offered from the teacher or other students after each individual Check-In. The teacher may choose to offer a simple acknowledgment. For example, “Thank you” or “That is good to know. I will keep that in mind today.” 

Reflection:

• How is our group, generally, feeling today? What are we most excited about?

• What larger things around us are shaping how we feel?

• How might this information inform how we work together today?

​

ENGAGE 

COVER THE SPACE (15 minutes):

Invite students to silently move across the open space or classroom without talking or making contact with any of the other participants, not even eye contact. Ask them to notice their walking pace and to consider the pathways they are making.  During the silent walk ask them to – stretch their arms, then reach for the ceiling, then shake their hands, and then their legs. After that, ask them to continue walking silently and to pay attention to their shoes/snickers and to think about some details related to it – Where, When, Why did they choose it/What do they like  it/ If their shoes could talk, what would they say about places that they’ve visited. 

​

Give students at least two minutes to do that silently. Tell them that when you say STOP they will find the closest person and start a conversation with her/him by sharing their. Repeat it one more time (walk/ stop).

​

Then ask them to walk again and while walking to think about some of the situations from childhood when they:

1. Were not allowed to buy certain shoes or sneakers because they were not for girls - shape, color;

2. Didn’t want to wear certain clothes because they were not for  girls- color, shape;

3. Who told them what is for  girls and what is not (behavior, attitude, games);

4. How did they learn what is for girls and what is not.

After two minutes ask students to make a circle and to share their answers/ thoughts/stories. At this moment you can use a small ball and explain to students that by throwing it they invite each other to share stories. Students are free to ask that the ball is thrown to them. 

Reflection: 

What did you notice about yourself in this exercise? What did you notice about the group?

What did you notice in your body as you walked around space? 

What did you discover about yourself and others while you were thinking/sharing  childhood  memories?

Transition:  At this moment, tell the students what is an essential question of the workshop and that they are going to explore it through a chapter called The Family of Little Feet. In the next strategy, we will develop and dive deeper into the chapter.

​

ROLL ON THE WALL (20 MINUTES)

FIRST STEP: While students are still standing in a circle, ask them to re-read the chapter. Let every student read a few lines aloud. Looking at the person standing next to him/her they will give a sign to the next person to continue. Before they start reading, ask them to pay attention to  questions that you can write on the flipchart or whiteboard. 

​

Questions are:

1. What part of the chapter do you remember the most?

2. What part of the story was not clear?

3. What kind of details do you notice? What kind of details will/could drive the attention of audiences?

SECOND STEP: After reading and talking about the chapter based on the questions, divide students into small groups. Ask them to identify the main characters. Students can name GIRLS-all of them- as the main character, or they can name each character (Esperanza, Lucy, Rachel). Adjust your task to this.

​

Draw a large outline of Esperanza/or Lucy/ or Rachel/ or GIRLS (e.g. head/shoulders or human figure) on paper; leave plenty of space to write inside and outside the figure. Invite the group to name words, phrases, or messages that E/or L/ or R/ or G  receive externally, from the people on the street in this chapter. Write responses on the outside of the figure. When a message is offered, invite students to think about where it comes from. Connect messages to the messenger visually on the paper through color or line and encourage students to find multiple answers. Types of responses can also be grouped on the paper (for example: positive on one side of the figure, negative on the other) to provide further visual organization. 

​

Next, ask students how E/L/R/G might feel inside, based on the outside messages, and write those feelings on the inside of the figure with another color. Finally, ask students to connect specific "outside" messages to the inner feelings, and draw lines between those connections on the figure.

Reflection

• What messages impact characters the most? Why?

• What do they feel about that? How did their feelings change?

• Why do they say, “Today we are Cinderella”?

• Why did they give up on wearing high-heels?

During the reflection, write students' answers on a paper/ flipchart or a whiteboard. All their drawn and written work tape on the wall of the classroom together with the reflection answers.