 |
Carrying out the project
involves six general components:
1) Discussions with schools
in a particular region about the possibility of introducing PALETTE textbooks
and manuals in classes. In an ideal situation, this process would result in
far-reaching involvement and perhaps financial support. In a more likely scenario,
discussions would locate schools willing to use the books, at least on a trial
basis.
2) The collection, transcription,
and translation of the local tales and accounts acquired from the
traditional authorities and/or historians. These accounts may include local
history, legends, fables, proverbs, games, ceremonies, trading practices or
any other aspect of the traditional culture of the particular region.
3) The selection of texts and illustrations
in order to create a book of an appropriate length and complexity for the
designated elementary school age group. This process should be highly interactive,
involving students for feedback as well as a sufficient number of qualified
editors to ensure linguistic precision.
4) The creation of a web site
containing all the texts and illustrations in order to make them accessible
to all students. This process would ideally culminate in the creation of a
CD-ROM, funding permitting.
5) The printing of a text, and the
training of instructors to ensure a successful introduction of the
project and text in local schools and to increase academic interest and performance
in students.
6) The use of the web site in classes
to introduce students to computers as well as the use of the internet on a
wider scale as an effective means of cultural preservation.
Human
Resources and Their Roles
The
Director
The Director is responsible for the overall organization of the project and
all of its components. First and foremost, the Director must work closely
to ensure the effective and accurate research and transcription of traditional
texts. The Director must also be part of, or be involved with, the group responsible
for the selection, verification, and editing of texts. Ideally, the Director
would be a member of the local educational community, or at least have strong
links to it, in order to guarantee adequate instructor training for effectively
teaching the texts and their internet components. A background in education
becomes even more important in light of the vital role students play in the
creation of the final texts (see below for more information). Finally, it
is the Director who is responsible for promoting the texts in local schools
and governments. Without implementing the concrete use of the texts in the
classroom, the rest of the project cannot possibly achieve its ambitions to
improve academic performance.
The Coordinator
The Coordinator provides administrative and general support
for the Director. Coordinator is not a sole position, but one that should
be filled either by the Researcher or the Computer Technician. In fact, the
Coordinator’s other position will play an essential role in the Coordinator’s
principal task: to stay abreast of all aspects of the project. The Coordinator
can thus aid the Director with organization and also with tasks related to
translation, document formatting, editing, and the general development of
the project.
The Researcher
The Researcher is responsible for conducting all the research required in
the production of the documents. The specific task of the Researcher is to
seek sources of traditional knowledge in the region and to meet with these
people in order to record the stories and accounts which will form the basis
of the books. As a result, if one particular skill is necessary for the Researcher,
it is that he/she know the region and its people well.
The Computer Technician
Depending on the skill sets available, this role can theoretically be filled
by a combination of the director and or coordinator. But in cases where the
people filling these roles are inexperienced with computers, or particularly
web page design, or in cases where their time is already limited, a computer
expert is practical. The Computer Technician is responsible for two essential
tasks : First is the entering of the finalized texts and illustrations onto
the computer, formatting them and preparing them for final printing. The second
is the transferring of all the texts and illustrations onto a web page. For
this task it is ideal if the Computer Technician has some experience with
web pages so that the page will be interesting to students.
Illustrator
All of the texts should include illustrations which bring the texts to life
for young students, so it is essential to find someone capable of such illustrations.
Because the illustration process would ideally involve a dialogue between
students and the Illustrator to improve and validate the work, the Illustrator
should be easily accessible in the community.
Project Administrators
In cases where many schools or organizations are involved with the project,
there may be the need for a large group of Project Administrators to make
decisions regarding the content of each document and each completed book.
This group will take the direct transcriptions of oral accounts and formulate
them into a written document of appropriate style, length, difficulty etc.
When the project is on a more limited scale these tasks will likely fall to
the Director and Coordinator. In this case, they will be responsible for choosing
from the entire body of oral accounts, selecting which stories, games, and
other material to include in the books. Either way, those involved in this
process should probably be school directors or other people who are closely
linked to designing the school curriculum.
Editing Team
Because these texts are intended to teach young children, it is important
that the work be meticulously examined to ensure its accuracy both in style
and content. The Editing Team should be a group of qualified educators who
can proof-read the texts in order to a) verify their accuracy against the
original oral accounts, and b) carefully edit the text to ensure the grammatical
and stylistic perfection of the documents.
Translation Team
Because many of the regions where PALETTE may be used have traditional languages
which differ from the official language, it will be necessary to translate
the oral accounts into the language of education. This task can be carried
out by anyone with a good knowledge of both languages, such as the Director,
Coordinator, or other members of the project team.
School Administrators
Once the texts have been completed, printed, and placed on the internet, they
must then be successfully implemented in each school. While the project Director
will have primary responsibility for developing effective strategies designed
to introduce the texts into the curriculum, it will fall to the administrators
of each school to ensure that these guidelines are followed. Ideally, at least
some of these administrators, specifically school principals, will have been
involved as Project Administrators or Editors and thus will already be familiar
with the project and its goals.
Students
Because the texts created are meant to stimulate the interest and creativity
of the student, it is vital that student input play an important role in the
development of the texts. In order to see if students are interested in the
material and can extract the desired lessons, a group of students should be
exposed to the texts and illustrations in a classroom setting before publication.
Thus any necessary modifications can be made to improve the texts and/or illustrations.
Resource People
Finally, the project relies locating resource people in the region of study
to serve as a source of traditional knowledge and wisdom. These people need
not be true historians and, even if such people are available, they should
not be the only ones consulted. It is important to immerse oneself entirely
in the region during the research process and to speak with anyone who can
share the particular traditions they have lived. While most of these resource
people will be from older generations, younger people should not be overlooked
as valuable sources of stories or games which can provide insight into the
traditions of a region. Ultimately, the resource people can and should be
anybody and everybody; the quality of the information gathered will determine
the quality of the texts as teaching tools and repositories of local history.
Detailed Description of the Text Creation Process
1. Identification of local resource
people
This step must be completed as thoroughly as possible. It is important to
locate not people with a general knowledge of traditional culture, but those
people with the most accurate, interesting, and insightful information to
share. Thus the Researcher must penetrate the region, inquiring as widely
as possible to locate the best possible sources. Often the Researcher's first
interview with the population will indicate likely candidates. Even after
locating the people reputed to be the best sources of information, however,
the Researcher should hold an initial meeting to assess each person's particular
areas of expertise.
2. Recording the oral accounts
Once the particular resource people have been located, it is necessary to
arrange meetings for recording their oral accounts. During these meetings
the resource person will recount his or her particular stories, games etc.
Because resource people often have a significant number of accounts to share,
and thus it is vital that these accounts be carefully recorded in order to
ensure accuracy and to enable future reference. Recording can usually be done
with a Dictaphone, but, if the equipment is available, a video camera is preferable.
In the case of some ceremonies, games, and similar events, a full demonstration
will be preferable to a simple oral explanation. Such meetings should be planned
to coincide with a demonstration (i.e. a game), or with an event performed
in its natural course (i.e. a family ceremony). It is vastly preferable to
record demonstrations on video or at least with photographs in addition to
the audio recording. In these cases, the researcher will generally need to
be accompanied by a partner.
3. Transcription of the texts (in translation where
necessary)
Once the accounts have been recorded, they should be transcribed to facilitate
the editing process. This transcription can be done either by hand or by computer,
depending on their practicality in particular circumstances. When translation
into the language of education is required, that translation should occur
during transcription and should be literal. The translation can be completed
by anyone with a good knowledge of both languages
4. Transforming the oral accounts into literary documents
This very important step, which needs to be carried out by the Project Administrators,
entails editing the literally transcribed documents to achieve an appropriate
length, content, and complexity. This process represents the essential step
in the creation of the book itself and, after this stage, only a final edit
is necessary.
Because the book’s length is determined by administrators and thus has
limited space, this stage also involves the choice of stories. Research in
the region will have yielded more accounts than can be included in the book,
and the administrators must select the most interesting and educational accounts.
5. Creation of the illustrations or images for each
document
Once the texts have been written it is necessary to illustrate them. First,
the book’s general framework or style must be decided. Particular illustrations
for each document can then be discussed by the Director, Coordinator, and
Illustrator, if not others. In making design choices, it is helpful to consider
practical elements such as the fact that printing costs increase with more
color and greater color variation.
In some cases it might be preferable to use photographs in place of, or alongside,
the illustrations. On the other hand, illustrations may be the best means
of clarifying a text—illustrating the rules of a game, for example.
Media choices can be negotiated between the Director, Coordinator, and lIlustrator.
6. Production of the documents
on computer
In this step, the computer technician places the illustrations (which can
be scanned) and texts on the computer. Once entered, the documents should
be fully formatted to appear on the computer exactly as they should appear
in final print. This is also an opportunity to insert any stylistic features
that will make the book more appealing to students. Again, formatting should
take into account that too much stylistic complexity will increase printing
costs.
7. Document trials with students
At this stage, the quality of the texts as teaching tools should be assessed
to determine if further revision is necessary before publication. This can
be done in a variety of ways, but should essentially involve a trial class
lesson with group of students in the appropriate age group. The teacher (who
may be an actual teacher but should ideally be the Director or Coordinator)
should present the material to the students as if it were an actual class
lesson (Useful activities are presented in the accompanying document "Guidelines
for the Successful Use of the PALETTE Documents in the Classroom"). The
overall experience and specific student feedback should effectively indicate
the relative interest generated by the texts, their educational usefulness,
and their clarity.
It is also possible to take pictures during this process. They can even be used as photo illustrations in the books, where desirable.
8. Adjustments to the texts and
images based on student feedback
Depending on the amount success a document has had in generating interest
and excitement in students, certain adjustments may be necessary. This may
include:
· Rethinking illustrations which students did not readily associate
with the text
· Clarifying information in the text which was not clear
· Making changes to the style of the texts, without changing the content,
in order to increase their interest to children
· Replacing certain texts that failed to interest students. They can
be replaced by choosing a different account from the original oral accounts.
9. Textual review by the Project Administrators, and
ideally also the local resource people, to ensure accuracy in content
Project Administrators should meet to give final approval to the texts, images,
and formatting before printing. Original oral recordings should also be consulted
to ensure that the final texts correspond with the original accounts. Ideally
this would involve presenting the resource people with the final texts and
asking for their approval.
10. Finalization of the texts and images
This process can occur at the same time as the textual review, as it primarily
consists of a final textual edit to ensure the perfection of the language
used. When this step has been completed, the documents should be ready to
be taken to the printer.
11. Creation of the web page with completed texts and
illustrations
When the texts have been completed, the Computer Technician must post all
of the information on the Internet. In addition to being accessible and interesting
to young students, the format should also allow them to read the texts while
introducing them to basic Internet concepts. If the Computer Technician has
already begun work on the site’s structure and appearance, this stage
will simply involve copying the documents themselves. At this point, the Computer
Technician should have also secured web space on which to post the documents.
12. Printing of the finished book
Potential Variation to this Method
A second method for creating the texts has also been explored. Though retaining
many of the same essential elements, it involves a slight reordering of the
process.
In this method, the Coordinator first identifies the local
resource person and then arranges the meeting to include an elementary school
class of the appropriate grade level. The entire group will listen to the
oral account while the Coordinator records it.
Having thus heard the oral account themselves, the students
would return to their class with the Coordinator (and perhaps one or more
of the Project Administrators) to discuss the texts, perform the texts, etc.,
as if they had the texts in front of them. Based on this discussion with the
class, the Coordinator and any Project Administrators present will craft the
actual text in accordance with the oral account and the input of students.
This process retains the essential elements of the initial model but streamlines the process into a single sequence involving Resource People, the Coordinator, students, and Project Administrators all at once. While more difficult to coordinate, this method lends itself to a more interactive process of text creation that thoroughly considers student feedback.