Glorious Wound

Glorious Wound (2021) is a radio documentary made for Montez Press Radio as well as a publication. The documentary consists of interviews I conducted with NYC public K-12 teachers during 2021, reflecting on shifting conceptions of the classroom during the COVID era, the historical forces underlying the crises facing education, and visions for the future of education.

https://radio.montezpress.com/#/show/2257

As part of the interviews I asked the teachers to write “notes” to people outside the school system, notes like the ones students traditionally pass around to each other behind their teacher's back. The notes were copied into a publication entitled Glorious Wound, 2022

Glorious Wound takes its title from French communist pedagogue Célestin Freinet’s (1896-1966) description of a lung injury that led to his reimagining of pedagogy. On returning to teaching after being injured in World War I, Freinet, no longer able to project his voice to his pupils, decided to transform his pedagogical approach to emphasize the emancipatory potential of collective creativity. Removing the rows of chairs and desks, he installed a printing press in the center of his classroom, which became the focal point of his new teaching method. He facilitated his elementary school age students in exploring their communities – researching and documenting the lived experiences and materials conditions of community members, and committing the results to print. Through his simple spatial reconfiguration, Freinet reshaped the relationship between student and classroom, and between classroom and world.

Teachers featured:
Grace Chang
Steve Deihl
Ali Haridopolos
Jake Jacobs
Jia lee
Jenn Leyva
Kyla MacDonald
Marilena Marchetti
Dianne Pannullo