"The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them." (Friere)
The reasons for emphasizing critical and transformative pedagogies are shown in these quotes. Schooling that 'trains' individuals does not create actively involved individuals. It creates machines. It creates a complacent 99% who do not question social structure. Time and time again we see major problems that humanity faces, and time and time again we look to those in power to do something to fix these problems. We grow frustrated when our leaders seem unable to enact change. Yet do we do anything ourselves? Usually not; we have been 'trained' to accept society for what it is. If we don't adopt new approaches to education, how can we ultimately solve our problems?
To do this, teachers also need to be skilled at asking “authentic questions,” or questions that don’t necessarily have predetermined answers that fall into the binary of right/wrong. Teachers need to take time to research and understand these current topics, know and develop meaningful relationships in the community, and turn them into cognitively appropriate questions for students to explore and investigate." (Love)
As with any pedagogical approach, the teacher is only as strong as his or her own comfort level on a subject. Thus teachers must constantly strive to continue learning themselves. In the case of transformative pedagogies, this means teachers must keep up to date with current events, community news, as well as new information relevant to their specific field of expertise. Many teachers, as active and involved people, do this on a personal level. But how often do teachers bring this new knowledge into the classroom. Specifically, how often do teachers facilitate community connections? Many teachers know it is important for people to connect to their communities, but when it comes to teaching, the classroom is separated from the outside world. Truly good teachers should attempt to teach outside this educational bubble that seems to exist.
"The same students who routinely skip class or avoid going to school reengage when they can work in a community garden, take part in painting a mural, act in a tableau, and especially when a teacher treats them as worthwhile human beings who have a voice and deserve validation." (Love)
I think it's important to realize how much alternative approaches to teaching can engage students who are bucking the system. If a student is bored by worksheets and reading, traditional pedagogy takes a behaviorist approach and attempts to punish the student for not working. But this does not treat the underlying problem of the student being bored by this type of work. We cannot choose what excites us and what doesn't, and while life is not always about enjoyment, a student who is bored by the traditional approach to education will find it difficult to even find a purpose to applying his or herself to school. There is only so much teachers can attempt to force this student to reengage before we have to admit that our methods may be at fault.
I think it is very important to answer the question "so what?" in a classroom, especially a social studies classroom. And the teacher doesn't even have to be the person telling the students why learning something is important- maybe the students can brainstorm why learning something is important, too. And if a student can contribute to their community or be a productive member of their school or even their classroom, it will help them be more engaged. Teenagers can sense if we are passionate about something and even if we do not have all the answers, we must be knowledgeable and be interested in the world around us and model our enthusiasm for learning. Also- behaviorism can be used for good sometimes, but it can definitly be used negatively- so we must be cautious!
ReplyDeleteSome topics lend themselves to connections to the community better than others. A case in point is genetics as I mentioned in Week 9. Students seem to enjoy this more than some other biology topics. Why? Because it literally explains why each of us looks the way we do, and it connects to the students' own families. But ultimately, if we what to make all of our curriculum meaningful, we need to be asking, "So what?" for every topic. If students do not see a connection to the world around them, then they see no purpose to the material. And ultimately, they're right: if it doesn't connect to their lives even remotely, does it really matter?
ReplyDeleteI am going to try and do this in a lesson about Chinese practice of foot binding. I want to relate it to women today and the high heels, and the other beauty rituals that women go through to fit a standard of beauty in America. I think making the connection from America today and China before the 1940s will help students not to be ethnocentric and think- thats so stupid and WE would never do something like that! Cultural connections must be made and relevancy must be used in every lesson.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, this class has opened my eyes to the cultural influences all around us. Too many of us are blind to culture and privilege. I know I was. But understanding content requires understanding where it came from in terms of culture. Why has our education system become so flawed? Because we've become disconnected from that cultural component and taught the dominant cultural approach as the "truth."
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