Blog 1

I have been looking forward to this trip since I first heard about it in August. As my anticipation grows,the focus I had originally approached this trip with widens. I was drawn to this trip because ever since I was first introduced to Liberation Theology as an undergrad, it has resonated with me. I have been curious about the links between Liberation Theology and the work of Paulo Freire and others in participatory education. I have also been trying to draw links between Liberation Theology and Ruby Payne's work on poverty. My hope is that this opportunity provides a general framework for me to organize my thoughts, synthesize a vast amount of tangential knowledge and come up with the start of a PhD. proposal. I would like to talk with as many people as possible. I would like to try to speak as much Spanish as I can without the help of a translator but I know I will struggle enormously. I would like to see some schools at various levels and speak to teachers, especially teachers who had taught during the large literacy movements. I am curious to see the methods of instruction and the philosophy of education now. I would like to see how the country is handling environmental issues, as a producer based economy. Mostly, I just want to experience as much as Nicaragua as I can.
Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world and with each other. Paulo Freire