1.2.Terra Preta Workshop

My motivation is to

• spread knowledge about Terra Preta and enable people to apply it by themselves
• learn how to lead a workshop and how to pass on knowledge in an effective and playful way
• contribute to a bigger vision and start to build soil instead of degrade it
• contribute to reducing peoples carbon footprint on earth

My dream is to

• be full of un/learning about education and teaching
• be a facilitator to the group
• create powerful, playful learning material, where participants are invited to learn self-directed and share their thoughts
• use multiple methods for learning
• visualize the content
• use Dragon Dreaming as a design process
• have a balance in theory and practical work although the focus is more on the practical side, due to a workshops nature 

My overall goal for the workshop is that participants leave the workshop satisfied, rich in colourful experience with newly learned content and a feeling that they are connected to the group. In the end the participants should be familiar with all steps that are necessary to produce Terra Preta on their own and to spread the knowledge into the world.

What things need to be done that my dreams come true?

1. Create a program!
   
   
2. For the theoretical part:

• make sure that I understood the main content and connection points (repeat everything again) to be competent enough

• Create different learning materials:

• create Terra Preta Mindmaps and write an instruction for the process ArCEA (Active reading, Critique, Expand, Act) so that they can use it as a method to learn effectively and expand the Mindmaps according their thoughts
  → Learning goal: Mindmapping as a creative tool to gain understanding of a topic. At the same time participants are invited to connect their knowledge with their own thoughts which supports a  stronger learning process! The topics of Mindmaps are: History, Today, Production, Assessment of potential. Please see the Mindmaps on the Slideshow below

• draw a poster of Terra Preta production and context & write an explanation
  →Learning goal: By reading a small text and seeing a connected picture, the participants are invited to present their text and picture to the group in their own words.

• print handouts with core information about Terra Preta and the recipe about how to collect indigenous microorganisms (IMO)

"Make everything happen" was my plan for the workshop! I created learning material, organized the necessary organic material and communicated with the participants. To get everything done, I wrote a to-do-list which I worked-off following specific due dates.

Here is a short impression of how the workshop days went:

On a nice Friday summer afternoon, Declan expected everybody at the herbal hut, where Annette (the cook) already conjured up fabulous smelling food. When the first two participants arrived, Declan immediately started to talk about the permaculture area and the use of Terra Preta. Little by little the other participants arrived and joined the round. A little later Annette announced the meal and everybody got to table. After dinner Annette lightened some candles for us and we gathered around a big table, where Declan started to talk about Terra Preta and its ingredients. Soon a discussion arose and the mood got a little serious. In the end we decided to directly start the next day with the Terra Preta production.

The working mood on the next morning was catching and all material was prepared and on-site. With a lot of enthusiasm Declan explained step by step what to do and the group started to produce the substrate. Then the music turned on and it was time for a short dancing session to compress the Terra Preta pile! How fun!

After a long working-day everybody was tired and went to bed early.

On the last day of the workshop, Declan showed his permacultural house with a Terra Preta compost toilette. The curiosity of the participants was really high and with a lot of inspiration we entered the last stages of our workshop.

I handed out some informative Mindmaps, texts and showed a Terra Preta Poster and the participants were motivated to learn facts about Terra Preta in general. The gong for lunch sounded and everybody enjoyed the last fabulous meal. With a full belly we did a feedback circle. With much inspiration the participants went home to practice Terra Preta production in their own garden and to spread the knowledge around Germany.

Reflect on the Workshop

As I was only co-facilitating the workshop, I was asked to organize everything but the content. Nevertheless I took the opportunity to practice how to create learning material and to pass on content effectively. Although there was not enough space to implement all my ideas, it was a good learning opportunity for me because I started to think about how to create good learning material.

Balance between theory and practical work:

The main emphasis was on the practical part. This part went very smooth and was a lot of fun. Nevertheless the theoretical content part of the workshop was quite disorganized, not structured and a little bit chaotic. The group had to get used to that, but was quite satisfied in the end. All in all the balance between theory and practical work was appropriate.