Pre-Texts is a protocol that develops critical thinking and reading through art (visual art, performance art, literary art, etc.). It is based on complex literary texts, and the teachers at “Iuliu Hațieganu” Secondary School chose Hermann Hesse’s “Narcissus and Goldmund” as support material for this first training session.
Following our initiative to bring Pre-Texts Program to Cluj and the training session in the program – which took place in December –, the first school from the Art’n’Play network already initiated the knowledge transfer to their own teachers.
The 5 teachers at “Iuliu Hațieganu” Secondary School who completed the Pre-Texts training module held by us and facilitated by Doris Summer from Harvard University at the end of last year organized a session for the other teachers in order to pass on the knowledge they gained.
By actively engaging the pupils, Pre-Texts Program proposes a new way of holding classes for children, that encourages the development of those skills which are not part of the educational curriculum, but are extremely important, such as creativity or socio-emotional development. It intends to be an essential step towards a change that would bring well-being to pupils and teachers, and a better collaboration between them.
Pre-Texts Program was introduced in Cluj following our work visit to Boston in 2019, organized with the support of the US Embassy.