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Sojourner House . Winston Anderson KayLee Hamlin Zeina Naoum John Scuola. The Sojourner House. Founded in 1981 by Nancy Watson Dean and Virginia Fairchild
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Sojourner House Winston Anderson KayLee Hamlin ZeinaNaoum John Scuola
The Sojourner House • Founded in 1981 by Nancy Watson Dean and Virginia Fairchild • Mission: “Sojourner House provides shelter, structure, strength, and inspiration to individuals and families in need, so they are prepared to lead responsible and meaningful lives” • House had on average 12 women there • Women’s stories: • Many women are dealing with some sort of chemical dependency issue, mental health issues, criminal justice involvement or are victims of domestic violence
Our Responsibilities • Visit the house every other Friday • Prepare lesson plans for each class • Mediate discussions • Engage women to offer opinions • Help prepare dinner • Talked to the women • Played with the children
Workshop 1: Stress Management • General Overview • Definitions, effects • Activity: • Facial massage • Listened to music (Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Enya) • 60 beats per minute is perfect for stress management • What is stress? Can someone share with us how they manage it? • Reflection- Went pretty well, helped us get to know the women
Workshop 2: Yoga • General Overview: • Transition from stress management • Women not engaged • Poses: Chair, Warrior, Tree • Reflection: Us vs. Them, not taken very seriously
Workshop 3: Moral Reasoning • General Overview: • Definition of morals, given hypothetical situations and made up their own, debate at end of class • Situations: • Driving in the rain • Bank and the bank teller • Women’s reactions • Reflection: BEST CLASS • A lot of participation • Learned a lot about women, shared personal experiences (stabbing experience, Grandfather in Jamaica, roommate and anorexia)
Workshop 4: Computers • General Overview: • Groups • Basic skills • Excel • PowerPoint • Reflection: Women asked for this class. Many of them did not even know how to turn on a computer or access the internet. They really learned a lot.
Workshop 5: • General Overview • Jeopardy • Bracelet making • Reflection: • Small class • Difficult because some of women were new • Showed how much we really did teach the women • Sad it was the last class
What we learned… • How to work together to prepare lessons despite our own opinions • Mold our classes to the needs of the women • Not to judge people by their situation • Look past our own perceptions
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation” -Robert F. Kennedy