This project-based activity will use recycled materials to create an item of self-expression based on the Cartonera, a self-publishing movement which resulted from a social and political movement in Argentina which began in 2003 and created an artistic response to enhance literacy and sustainability while making literature more accessible to everyone. Session attendees will consider the everyday realities of global sustainability and literacy as we explore the Cartonera, then design a unit for social studies, literature, or science which mirrors the efforts in many countries to bring self-expression to the masses in a sustainable and achievable way. Participants will write and bind a short poem, story, or non-fiction piece to take as an example for their classes. Sample units for student product creation might include: missing scenes for a chapter from Estha’s point of view on the caste system in God of Small Things, a first-person journal entry from someone who experienced China’s Cultural Revolution, or a primer on electrical circuits or sound waves designed especially for elementary students. Attendees will take home shared lesson plans as well as assessment rubrics.
