ACORN

Teacher’s Center for Liberation Pedagogy

Brooklyn, New York. 2010

Based on Liberation Pedagogy, Yamasaki’s second mural at ACORN is best described by Ben Honoroff, an ACORN teacher/Assistant Principal Humanities:

“Because of the success of this first project, we decided to expand our efforts to the entire Humanities Department. Katie began this school year by conducting a series of workshops for teachers to create a mural in the Humanities Department office.

Katie asked teachers to visualize the Departmental essential question (What is liberation pedagogy and how do we make it a reality?”) and took the teachers through a similar process as she did with the students. Katie then asked teachers to think about their own courses, and she helped them visualize how the core components of their courses would shape a mural of their own. Teachers raved about Katie’s workshops, commenting that they now look at the courses that they teach in a new way, and that the process of mural creation forces them to think more deeply about the essential questions they want their students to tackle.

After several months, the “Liberation Pedagogy” mural was completed, bringing dropped jaws to visitors and thought provoking images to the teachers who plan lessons within its walls. As proof of Katie’s inspiration, nine teachers recently wrote mural proposals (from 2-5 pages in length) in which they explained how a mural would bring to life their course’s essential question, and how they would use a mural as a pedagogical tool.

Katie is already working to bring one of these proposals to life, and we are currently searching for funding to complete the remaining proposals. It is our goal to eventually bring Katie Yamasaki pedagogical murals to all 20 classrooms at ACHS.”