I want to start by saying that I am so glad that through our Critical Pedagogy class, we have had the opportunity to read Freire another time because my second reading has truly transformed the way that I think about pedagogy. We have had many opportunities to discuss Freire's work in our class and these discussions have pushed us to deeply internalize and analyze Freire's ideas.
I loved Donald Macedo's introduction to the 30th anniversary edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed because it adds a lot to what is already a fascinating book. Macedo's concept of "cultural schizophrenia" resonated with me and my experience that I have had at my particular school. I love the way that Macedo (2000) describes it as a balancing act, and as finding oneself caught between “two worlds, two cultures, and two
languages” (p. 11). This helped me reflect on the cultural schizophrenia that many (if not all) of my students must feel. Unfortunately there is a big gap between their home and school culture, and in more general terms, there exists a gap between the Hispanic/African-American culture and the dominant, Caucasian culture. When Macedo (2000) mentions the "borrowed and colonized cultural existence" that oppressed groups experience, I thought immediately about my students' existence at our school (p. 11). I hate to think of my school as a colonizing power, but if I am honestly reflecting on my school's presence, we are partly an institution that silences and colonizes our students. We impose an "English-only" education model that rejects many of my students' native languages/dialects, therefore rejecting a major part of their identity. I am constantly reflecting on how I can make my practice a practice of freedom, and how I can give my students opportunities to express themselves as they are and not as I want them to be.
I can say with confidence that Freire has inspired all of us to reflect deeply on the difference between the banking concept of education and problem-posing education. As I think about who I want to be as an educator as my time with TFA and GSU comes to an end, I know that one of my main goals is to be a problem-posing educator. My passion is to teach social justice and to somehow incorporate the Common Core standards in there (and not the other way around). As you all know, I have grappled a lot with the question "what actually matters?" throughout the last 2 years. I have struggled to welcome myself into my own classroom, and to be true to who I am while also making sure that I am doing my job. This year I have finally been able to bring more and more of myself in my classroom, whether that is through my relationships with students or my actual lessons. In Freire’s model of problem-posing education,
“the teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself
taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also
teach” (Freire, 1970, p. 80). This is what inspires me as an educator, and this is my goal for my classroom. I have centered my classroom this year on dialogue so that my students have multiple opportunities per day to make their voice be heard.
Freire centers Pedagogy of the Oppressed around this model of problem-posing education and dialogical action, and these two concepts inform my action research/TICC project. My students have selected a problem in their community and are problematizing it by planning a service-learning project to help solve this problem. My students are creatively thinking about ways to make their world a better place and they're getting more and more excited about the agency that they are finding themselves to have. When I think about my future as an educator, I know that whatever I do, I want to be working in a place that allows students to actively practice social justice. I am starting to feel more and more passionate about service-learning, and I would love one day to work at a school that is centered around service-learning. Teaching Common Core standards is not where my passion lies; rather, my passion lies in using dialogue to help my kids develop critical perspectives towards their own and the reality of others. In order for students to truly exhibit agency, they must be able to critically break down the constructs and systems that they are a part of. This will help them be leaders of sustainable change in their communities.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Growth in the new year
I can't believe January is already over! Christmas break was truly wonderful, and the few snow days were nice after all of the traffic craziness died down. I have definitely felt more rested this month, so that always helps me be a better teacher.
Something new and exciting this month was the start of the implementation of our Action Research projects. Although my project is still very much in the beginning phases, it's already been inspiring to hear my kids talk about the change that they want to make in their communities. My students have spent a lot of time picking out specific articles in the U.N. Rights of a Child that they care about the most. This week they are starting to meet in groups to begin the first stage of their service-learning projects: investigation. Although it can be a little daunting when I think about the unpredictability of the outcome of my Action Research project, it is also exciting to think about how much my kids are going to rock it. I have introduced my Action Research project through the start of a persuasive writing unit, and so far, this interconnectedness (Dr. Fisher word!) has been great. I feel empowered to teach my students about persuasive writing that matters -- instead of having them write to their parents to persuade them to do something or buy them something (I'm pretty sure I did something like this with my kids last year), it has been so much powerful to frame persuasive writing in a democratic way. The students are going to persuade others to care about the problem that they select for their project, and they are going to persuade others to help and make a difference in their community.
This month I have spent a lot of time reflecting on book clubs -- they have been up and running for many months now, but there a lot of things that I want to change and tweak to make sure that students are engaged and challenged. I have been talking a lot with Kelsey (and now Allaisia!) and we have shared some reader's response resources so that our students can be held accountable for their reading. Some groups have made a lot of progress and exciting things are going on in their clubs. For example, the girls in my highest reading group wrote a skit (they had props and everything) to represent their favorite part of the book. Luckily Dr. Fisher got to see it -- it was hilarious! Another group has been struggling with group dynamics and communication, while another group struggles conducting deep conversations about the text. So sometimes book clubs are a success and sometimes they're a hot mess. I am brainstorming with Dr. Fisher about how to make them better. I am going to switch up the groups, make the groups smaller (2 of the groups have 6 girls in each -- let's just say, DRAMA!), and establish a structure for reader's response.
Some other patterns that appeared in my connections are some mini successes in my math block and in my reading planning. As I have mentioned many times before, math has been especially stressful this year (in terms of the scheduling and the groups) and there have been several days this month where I finally felt like I was making some gains in my math block. My biggest strength is probably putting together engaging math centers that steer the students away from using pen and paper and instead, using manipulatives, practicing vocabulary with flash cards, playing games, etc. Actually, Taylor Ramsey, Erin Quackenbush, and my MTLD visited my classroom during math a few weeks ago and they were impressed with how engaged and excited my kids were about math centers (really, I think a lot of it was that they were excited to get some attention from visitors...haha). So it has been important for me to celebrate that success. Something else that I have been very intentional about this month is pacing my reading instruction by connecting Common Core standards to one or two of the reading strategies in Strategies that Work. This has helped my reading instruction feel more important and relevant, and I feel less worried about the actual standards. This freedom allows me to plan lessons that I love to lead and teach -- particularly social justice-related lessons :). I have also been working on incorporating the reading skill of the week (i.e. summarizing, questioning, making inferences) in book clubs so students practice the skill independently.
January has been a pretty good month! It's crazy to think where I was last year and where I am this year. I am in such a better place emotionally which has helped me in my teaching and my personal life. I am excited to grow even more and feel more confident about my teaching and life here in Georgia.
Something new and exciting this month was the start of the implementation of our Action Research projects. Although my project is still very much in the beginning phases, it's already been inspiring to hear my kids talk about the change that they want to make in their communities. My students have spent a lot of time picking out specific articles in the U.N. Rights of a Child that they care about the most. This week they are starting to meet in groups to begin the first stage of their service-learning projects: investigation. Although it can be a little daunting when I think about the unpredictability of the outcome of my Action Research project, it is also exciting to think about how much my kids are going to rock it. I have introduced my Action Research project through the start of a persuasive writing unit, and so far, this interconnectedness (Dr. Fisher word!) has been great. I feel empowered to teach my students about persuasive writing that matters -- instead of having them write to their parents to persuade them to do something or buy them something (I'm pretty sure I did something like this with my kids last year), it has been so much powerful to frame persuasive writing in a democratic way. The students are going to persuade others to care about the problem that they select for their project, and they are going to persuade others to help and make a difference in their community.
This month I have spent a lot of time reflecting on book clubs -- they have been up and running for many months now, but there a lot of things that I want to change and tweak to make sure that students are engaged and challenged. I have been talking a lot with Kelsey (and now Allaisia!) and we have shared some reader's response resources so that our students can be held accountable for their reading. Some groups have made a lot of progress and exciting things are going on in their clubs. For example, the girls in my highest reading group wrote a skit (they had props and everything) to represent their favorite part of the book. Luckily Dr. Fisher got to see it -- it was hilarious! Another group has been struggling with group dynamics and communication, while another group struggles conducting deep conversations about the text. So sometimes book clubs are a success and sometimes they're a hot mess. I am brainstorming with Dr. Fisher about how to make them better. I am going to switch up the groups, make the groups smaller (2 of the groups have 6 girls in each -- let's just say, DRAMA!), and establish a structure for reader's response.
Some other patterns that appeared in my connections are some mini successes in my math block and in my reading planning. As I have mentioned many times before, math has been especially stressful this year (in terms of the scheduling and the groups) and there have been several days this month where I finally felt like I was making some gains in my math block. My biggest strength is probably putting together engaging math centers that steer the students away from using pen and paper and instead, using manipulatives, practicing vocabulary with flash cards, playing games, etc. Actually, Taylor Ramsey, Erin Quackenbush, and my MTLD visited my classroom during math a few weeks ago and they were impressed with how engaged and excited my kids were about math centers (really, I think a lot of it was that they were excited to get some attention from visitors...haha). So it has been important for me to celebrate that success. Something else that I have been very intentional about this month is pacing my reading instruction by connecting Common Core standards to one or two of the reading strategies in Strategies that Work. This has helped my reading instruction feel more important and relevant, and I feel less worried about the actual standards. This freedom allows me to plan lessons that I love to lead and teach -- particularly social justice-related lessons :). I have also been working on incorporating the reading skill of the week (i.e. summarizing, questioning, making inferences) in book clubs so students practice the skill independently.
January has been a pretty good month! It's crazy to think where I was last year and where I am this year. I am in such a better place emotionally which has helped me in my teaching and my personal life. I am excited to grow even more and feel more confident about my teaching and life here in Georgia.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Critical Inquiry Framework
This book has given me the inspiration to organize my TICC/Action Research project around the U.N. Rights of the Child. When I read these case studies for the first time, I had never heard of the U.N. Rights of the Child. I had no idea that there was an international document stating all of the rights that children should have. It's also fascinating to me that the United States is one of the countries that has not decided to ratify it, two of the reasons being that the rights prohibit both the death penalty and life imprisonment for children. Some people speculate that political and religious conservatives have opposed the ratification of the rights, and therefore these rights don't legally pertain to the children who live in the United States. This is definitely a tragedy, and while Obama has promised to review our failure to ratify the Convention, I still think it's important that my students learn about their rights and the responsibilities that come along with it.
One of the case studies that inspired me was the Protection from Deportation and Family Separation project in which middle school students explored their rights as recent immigrants. Although many of my students were born in the United States, many of their parents and family members were not and are therefore do not have "legal" status. I know that the constant fear of deportation or legal trouble is a reality for many of my students and their families, so this case study was particularly inspiring. I love how Freire played a role in the teacher's planning of this project, and therefore the project was centered around critical pedagogy, "a humanizing teaching philosophy" (75). Although this case study was done with middle school students, I plan on using some of the ideas that this teacher utilized to engage her English Language Learners "to become critical researchers who look deeply and critically into their lives and surroundings" (75). So often students are fed lies by the curriculum and sadly, teachers and their realities, fears, and struggles are seldom welcomed into the classroom. I would love to give them the opportunity to critically look at their community and think about the ways in which they can advocate for child's rights.
It's Not Easy Being Flat: A 3rd-Grade Study of the Rights of Students with Disabilities was another case study that stuck out to me as inspiring and enlightening. I was especially intrigued because I teach third grade and I found it fascinating to read about how the students researched and learned about different disabilities. I loved how the teacher incorporated literature and book studies so that students could explore disabilities through reading. I am currently trying to look for books to help my students research the problems that they are trying to solve in their community but I have been struggling to find appropriate books that would be accessible to my students. However, this project inspires me to think outside the box and look into children's literature (possibly fiction) as another possibility. Although it is important that my students research nonfiction information in order to inform their investigation, using fiction might also inspire creativity in thinking about solutions to these problems.
Lastly, PeaceJam also provided a lot of insight for me as I have been planning my TICC/Action Research project. Although it is about high school student activists and their work for human rights, I have learned a lot from the PeaceJam organization. I have explored their website and have researched how they develop young leaders to be agents of change in their community. This case study was where I first thought about how to incorporate service learning into my project. "Service-learning typically is comprised of six components: investigation, planning, action, reflection, demonstration, and celebration" (129). When I started to ponder about how I could structure this TICC/Action Research for my students, I realized that the service-learning framework fit almost perfectly. While I have struggled trying to make it practical for elementary students (most service-learning projects are conducted by high school and college students), I have also been inspired by all of the research that I have done about different service-learning projects that have been led by students. Although the projects outlined in PeaceJam are much bigger than my students' future projects, the structure that the teachers and facilitators used have greatly helped me organize the way in which my students will plan and execute their community projects.
I have enjoyed this book immensely and it has opened my eyes to so many possibilities. I am so grateful for this introduction to the U.N. Rights of the Child. I can already see how much these rights have inspired my students to be agents of change in their community. They have been working for several weeks on selecting articles that speak to them and they will soon start working on a community project based on specific rights that children should have. While I have been listening to the ideas that my students have been throwing around, I have already been inspired by their insightful and creative thoughts. I think that the U.N. Rights of the Child is such a great framework and structure for allowing students to be agents of change in their community. They are so empowering and I am excited to see how these rights empower them to take responsibility to advocate for children's rights.
One of the case studies that inspired me was the Protection from Deportation and Family Separation project in which middle school students explored their rights as recent immigrants. Although many of my students were born in the United States, many of their parents and family members were not and are therefore do not have "legal" status. I know that the constant fear of deportation or legal trouble is a reality for many of my students and their families, so this case study was particularly inspiring. I love how Freire played a role in the teacher's planning of this project, and therefore the project was centered around critical pedagogy, "a humanizing teaching philosophy" (75). Although this case study was done with middle school students, I plan on using some of the ideas that this teacher utilized to engage her English Language Learners "to become critical researchers who look deeply and critically into their lives and surroundings" (75). So often students are fed lies by the curriculum and sadly, teachers and their realities, fears, and struggles are seldom welcomed into the classroom. I would love to give them the opportunity to critically look at their community and think about the ways in which they can advocate for child's rights.
It's Not Easy Being Flat: A 3rd-Grade Study of the Rights of Students with Disabilities was another case study that stuck out to me as inspiring and enlightening. I was especially intrigued because I teach third grade and I found it fascinating to read about how the students researched and learned about different disabilities. I loved how the teacher incorporated literature and book studies so that students could explore disabilities through reading. I am currently trying to look for books to help my students research the problems that they are trying to solve in their community but I have been struggling to find appropriate books that would be accessible to my students. However, this project inspires me to think outside the box and look into children's literature (possibly fiction) as another possibility. Although it is important that my students research nonfiction information in order to inform their investigation, using fiction might also inspire creativity in thinking about solutions to these problems.
Lastly, PeaceJam also provided a lot of insight for me as I have been planning my TICC/Action Research project. Although it is about high school student activists and their work for human rights, I have learned a lot from the PeaceJam organization. I have explored their website and have researched how they develop young leaders to be agents of change in their community. This case study was where I first thought about how to incorporate service learning into my project. "Service-learning typically is comprised of six components: investigation, planning, action, reflection, demonstration, and celebration" (129). When I started to ponder about how I could structure this TICC/Action Research for my students, I realized that the service-learning framework fit almost perfectly. While I have struggled trying to make it practical for elementary students (most service-learning projects are conducted by high school and college students), I have also been inspired by all of the research that I have done about different service-learning projects that have been led by students. Although the projects outlined in PeaceJam are much bigger than my students' future projects, the structure that the teachers and facilitators used have greatly helped me organize the way in which my students will plan and execute their community projects.
I have enjoyed this book immensely and it has opened my eyes to so many possibilities. I am so grateful for this introduction to the U.N. Rights of the Child. I can already see how much these rights have inspired my students to be agents of change in their community. They have been working for several weeks on selecting articles that speak to them and they will soon start working on a community project based on specific rights that children should have. While I have been listening to the ideas that my students have been throwing around, I have already been inspired by their insightful and creative thoughts. I think that the U.N. Rights of the Child is such a great framework and structure for allowing students to be agents of change in their community. They are so empowering and I am excited to see how these rights empower them to take responsibility to advocate for children's rights.
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