FRAGMENTS OF A LESSON PLAN

Belenky is a young psychologist, an ""atheoretical, aprogrammatic good-guy"" who started in the Boston public schools in the Louise Day Hicks era as a volunteer consultant before he got thrown out (""BELENKY -- PLEASE KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN THE SCHOOLS. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT""). He went on to organize a preschool play area which evolved to something with a much fancier name, Psycho-Educational Action Research, which was actually just a drop-in center for problem-solving discussions with kids of all ages and their mothers. And a summer camp. The ""lesson plan"" consists of papers, newspaper headlines, the above anonymous smear, reports, discussions, poems or a movie review the kids wrote, a group therapy session, what have you -- actually an open-learning experience in which all those involved of all ages rap, interreact, relate. Here and there this atheoretical guy delivers a firmer idea -- say on handling problem kids: no hassling, just absolute understanding and acceptance. The book has the nice and easy quality of some of the younger teachers around (Herndon, etc.) and it should serve other teachers, social workers, guidance people, etc., etc. as a free-form model for help and participation in underprivileged urban areas.