Summary Report 2007 - Mama Mary Sunbeam's Visit

To be able to really listen, one should abandon or put aside all prejudices... When you are in a receptive state of mind, things can be easily understood... But unfortunately, most of us listen through a screen of resistance.  We are screened with prejudices, whether religious or spiritual, psychological or scientific; or with daily worries, desires, and fears.  And with these fears for a screen, we listen.  Therefore we listen really to our own noise, our own sound, not to what is being said.  (Jiddhu Krishnamurti, The First and Last Freedom)

Mama Mary Sunbeam visited South Lakes High School on Monday, June 4, 2007.  We were thrilled to welcome her back to our school.  Mama Mary helped us to overcome “our own internal noise” for a few hours, to put aside our worries, to focus on the positive, and to step outside ourselves to appreciate the solid progress we have made together throughout the year.  In the long term, our goal has been to “hook” our struggling students and redirect them to active learning, ultimately making them more likely to participate and be more successful in summer school or next year.  Another goal has been to build bridges between my students, who often feel culturally marginalized, and more mainstream students.  My students always treasure the time they spend with Mama Mary, and if it convinces a few more of them to stick with their education and graduate in spite of the many obstacles they face, her visits have certainly been worthwhile.

The benefits of Mama Mary’s presentation are at least threefold.  These benefits relate to English skills practice, increased cultural awareness and bridge building, and greater self-esteem for many of my struggling English language learners, especially when they were brought together with a mainstream art class to share the experience on equal ground. 

First of all, my ESOL students benefited greatly in terms of language practice.  The presentations were a sustained exercise in active listening.  My students all wrote questions in advance of Mama Mary’s visit and also short reflections afterward to reflect on the time they spent with her.  Some of their comments are excerpted below.  For one group, we were able to first present the program in a bilingual setting (English-Spanish translation) facilitated by more proficient Spanish-speaking students.  This first group later heard many of the same stories or songs in English only.  They were better able to understand the stories with this extra support. In my ESOL classes, our social studies/cultural focus recently has been on American Indians, storytelling, Sacagawea and the Lewis and Clark expedition, and contemporary American Indian life (especially the movie Smoke Signals).  During Mama Mary’s visit, my students also sang, drummed, danced and repeated songs or chants chorally.  This engaged many of their senses and a variety of learning styles.  Students also saw four of their teachers and their principal take part in the drumming ceremony, allowing us to appreciate this great communal experience together.

Secondly, it was great to focus on key ideas such as our common humanity (i.e., “we are one human race; we all have a belly button and a mother; all religions have the same objective to promote love and compassion for one another”).  Mama Mary explored broad cultural issues such as genocide, poverty, war, and gender issues, and touched on high school-specific issues such as the maltreatment of nerds, bullying, and teen pregnancy as well.  Mary tried to dispel stereotypes about American Indians (e.g., “Are you a real American Indian?), but also drew connections between her own experience in as an “outsider” within the larger American culture and that of immigrants as cultural outsiders.  She also related to the American students by challenging assumptions about all individuals and groups in high school.  Mama Mary’s overriding message, also a mission for our school, is to respect one another.

Mama Mary’s final theme related to building self-confidence and pride among all of the participants in the room.  Most people left with a smile on their face and a positive attitude as evidenced by some of the comments below:

I liked everything, especially when we sang and played the big drum, and when Mama Mary told the stories…I also learned some words in her language.  (Lorena, El Salvador)

 I liked everything about Mama Mary.  She was so funny.  I love you, Mama Mary…I also learned one word in her language (Cherokee).  The word is “wado” and that means “thank you.”  (Reham, Sudan)

A mí me gustó toda la presentación de Mama Mary, cómo tocar el tambor, escuchar las historias, cantar y cómo ella se viste.  Aprendí lo que es muy bonita, su tradición.  Aprendí a decir hola = “osiyo.”  Nos enseñó a cantar en su idioma.  Todo estuvo bonito. = I liked the whole presentation by Mama Mary, how to play the drum, listen to her stories, to sing and how she dresses.  I learned about what is so beautiful, her tradition.  I learned to say hi = “osiyo.”  She taught us how to sing in her language.  Everything was wonderful.  (Alexia, El Salvador)