Friday, May 30, 2008

May 29 Blog

The readings for this week provided a wealth of information, ranging from the historical development of literacy to Paulo Freire's “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” These readings demonstrate the complexity and multiple aspects of reading and writing. For instance, Freire was able to implement a highly successful literacy program that challenged the political status quo. Freire's approach encourages the pupil to constantly examine their place in society. Central to this educational pedagogy was the need for critical reflection. One may be able to read, but reading without critical commentary or understanding accomplishes nothing. It is only by dissecting the reading, i.e. How it relates to society or how it reflects on the author or the reader, that one will gain authentic literacy. This is a crucial concept as literacy is just about the ABC'S, but the continuing development of the individual to his full potential. Friere's emphasis on critical reflection can be found in the theories that emerged to contest the dominant view of literacy as a series of scientifically managed steps. The beliefs of Parker and Dewey certainly encouraged the development of critical thinkers. These theories of critical literacy recognized the need to utilize the wide array of literacy resources, including students themselves, to actively engage students. Only students who are involved on a personal level will take the next step towards critical reflection and thinking. Therefore, the issue is not how to teach literacy but how to gain the student's attention towards reading and writing. Should teachers merely wait for the student to request help, as advocated by Dewey? Should teachers impose a curriculum designed to spark this involvement, or should the teacher work with the students to find topics and texts that will truly engage the entire class? Much has been made of the many methods and theories to developing literacy in the classroom. We have seen the application of scientific management principles to the instruction of reading and writing, as well as countering proposals supporting the development of critical literacy. Regardless of one's personal feelings on the subject, it is clear that there is no one-way to teach reading and writing. Some kids will undoubtedly benefit from the basal readers, while other children will flourish in a classroom that adopts a whole language approach. The reality is that teachers cannot expect to impose a top-down system of literacy; since every child learns differently, it is incumbent upon teachers to adapt their classrooms and instructional styles to met these individual needs. This does not mean that every child should have its own teacher for reading and writing, rather, teachers need to be cognizant of these unique needs and maintain flexibility to incorporate the variety of literacy theories. There are any number of literacy resources available to the teacher, be it the students themselves, state textbooks, or even members of the outside community. Thus, the teacher needs to discover what resources and theories will best stimulate students to actively engage and critically discuss literacy.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Often students, of any age, fall into a state of self-deprecation. Regardless of the source—friends, teachers, family members—a consistent oppressive force will eventually break down even the most impenetrable of guards. As teachers, we should not exercise unnecessary power over students because of our knowledge, skill, age, or authority. Instead, we should use these tools to inspire. These skills should be used to help students recognize and build upon their own abilities. How then, can teachers establish a non-intimidating classroom environment? What strategies can teachers implement to enable student independence, motivation, and self-confidence?

Creating authentic literacy that is relevant to students and teacher lives. Vasquez’s classroom puts theory into practice and fosters a collaborative learning environment that is conducive to student exploration, self-motivation, and socialization. By focusing on relevant issues, and creating an ‘audit’ and paper-trail of central discussions, students can build upon prior knowledge and reflect on previous lessons. Literacy practices should reflect social issues that are relevant to student lives. With mandated curriculum and high-stakes state exams, what ways can teachers connect mandated units with student lives and issues in the community?

The push for standardized basal readers, and mandatory curriculum dominated over 90% of literacy practices throughout the 1900’s. This system was a balance between publishing market incentives and scientific management ideology. In a democratic society, capitalist agendas should not be dominating the education institution. Private policy in publicly funded schools demoralizes and dehumanizes the nature of democratic education, and deprofessionalizes the teaching profession by assuming the teacher cannot successfully implement his/her own curriculum. Does the push for privatized education mean a decrease in public education or public funding? Basal readers may no longer exist, in the traditional sense, but privatized curricula are constantly pushing their way into the classroom. What long term socioeconomic and cultural effects may exist because of this privatized push?

This week’s readings were very thought-provoking for me. The case-study in Larson and Marsh made me so excited to start teaching! I think people do not give children enough credit, because their ability for compassion and concern for other people never ceases to amaze me. When I first started reading about critical literacy, I didn’t know how it would really apply to early childhood, but what Vasquez was able to do with a pre-school class was amazing. It just goes to show you how much kids can learn and how willing they are to get involved if given a chance to work on something they care about, and how often that can manifest in them caring about their friends and others around them. I worked in a universal pre-k class two years ago for Jumpstart. There was a boy named Andrew in the class who was non-verbal. He obviously got very frustrated when he could not communicate with people, and sometimes would hit to get people’s attention. The other kids in the class were all patient with him, and when I first started in the classroom some of the other students would come over to help me understand what Andrew was trying to tell me. In a situation where the children could very easily have just gotten mad or ignored him for hitting them or not being able to talk, they all tried to include him and help him if he needed it. He was one of their friends like any other child in the class, and it was great to see how much the kids all cared about each other. I think it is important for young children to feel like they are useful and have the ability to make things change when so often they are told that they are too young to do things or that they will understand when they are older. It also made me wonder why children aren’t given the chance more often to be involved in social justice discussions. I know that in high school it social issues very rarely came up, and discussion was limited when it did. It was only at college that is became acceptable to be involved and have opinions on social justice issues, but even then it was often outside of the classroom. When schools claim to want to give their students critical thinking skills and make them informed members of society, why don’t they let students exercise those skills in school? Why is critical thinking limited to classis literature or physics problems? I’m sure it would be uncomfortable for administrators having a school full of people questioning their authority and actively engaging in social justice projects, but isn’t that the point? There are plenty of things that students could be encouraged to get involved in that would not put the school in a bad situation.

Another thing I found really interesting was Shannon’s discussion of Dewey’s philosophy of literacy. He was concerned that parents and teachers were forcing literacy on children before they were interested in it and truly understood its usefulness and role in their life. A lot of times educators get frustrated at children’s reluctance to study certain things, because we know that it is important that they learn it. We need to show them that it is important and relevant to their lives, or else why should they want to learn it? Children get frustrated trying to learn to read because a lot of times the only thing they are expected to do with it is read children’s books. Showing them that reading and writing is an important part of everyday life and is an effective way to communicate and actually do things is crucial in motivating them to want to learn. I think that is why some of the case studies in Larson and Marsh are so helpful, because they show teachers that actually use literacy in the classroom to not only help students gain literacy skills but to show them why having those skills is important.

Classroom Community

The conversation the other day in class was a very interesting one and I would like to make an addition to the things that were said. The conversation that I am referring to was about the construction of a meaningful classroom community. The observations made in the Larson and Marsh book about Maier were great. However, like someone mentioned in class it all seems great but things that work in an elementary classroom will not work in a secondary classroom.

There are many steps to building a classroom community. One thing that I found to work well was getting to know the students in the classroom. I found this to be an easy task during my first placement, but I only had one class during this placement. I also had time to get to know the students as I was only observing at the beginning of the school year. I also think that students should be made to know that their contributions to the class are valued, which can be accomplished in many ways.

I also found that creating a classroom community includes minimizing distractions and interruptions as much as possible. I know that this is a hard task, because it is something that I personally struggled with during each placement. However, toward the end of each placement it seems as though I was able to minimize distractions in the classroom. The way that I was able to do this was by getting the people who caused distractions over to my side. I did this by talking to the students after class and seeing what the issues were and then having them see the benefit in paying attention and not causing distraction. This was a practice that worked for me, but would not have worked had not I gotten to know the students on a more personal level. This is by no means an exhaustive list. These are just some of the things that I have learned about creating a community in the classroom.

Critical Literacy

The readings for today focused on pulling our students into thinking and believing that they can engage in and be a part of critical literacy. Freire looked at the oppressed population and bringing pushing them and allowing them to be self-sufficient in creating their own knowledge. This is similar to the work that Larson was doing. She talked about allowing students to be validated through accepting their forms of literacy as critical even if it wasn't traditional. Eventually the students will be able to read and write but shouldn’t we as teachers value what they already bring to the table? I find that one of the most important ways to incorporate students into the curriculum and engage them in class is allowing them to relate to the material. In my case, allowing them to see themselves as scientists. If we can show students that their lives matter through our content can we create critical literacy in our classes? I found these reading connected. Shannon was looking at how the framework of teaching practices and theory have changed. The quote I pulled speaks to the mindset of the people in charge (the ones with power). They want to measure learning in a specific way. This specific way will only test their knowledge in that specific way of testing. I found this passage to be not very connected to the other two. Through looking at Shannon and seeing that the public needs some measurable amount of learning I can see why we have come to the time of NCLB. This legislation calls for looking at standards and testing the students on their "learning." But what "learning" are we really testing for? Can we trust that state tests are authentic assessments of our students' knowledge base?

Blog related to CC#3

The readings for this week’s class intensely focused on this idea of critical pedagogy; and, more specifically how this critical pedagogy relates to/plays out in schools and classrooms. While the excerpt from Larson & Marsh focused mainly on defining critical literacy and the pedagogy that ensues with it, the other articles spoke about different, but related topics. Shannon’s book covered a lot of historical material, but mainly described more about different teaching strategies; and suggests that it is most appropriate to teach students to read when they are authentically interested in learning how to.

Lastly, Freire spoke about why it is important for students to be skilled in critical literacy. Freire’s article was intense, with its talk of the oppressed and the oppressor. I likened this relationship to students and their education (not students and teachers). As I applied this reading (Freire) to my career as a teacher, students are oppressed by the educational system and lack the essential freedom(s) that they should have. However, many students are comfortable in this role and adopt attitudes like the one expressed in quote #2 above. It seems that critical literacy/pedagogy is the solution for this oppression. Might I also suggest that teachers can be oppressed by the educational system, as well. As I was reading the excerpt from Freire, it took me a long while to make the connection between the article and teaching. In fact, it sounded like an article from the race, class, gender, and disability course. However, towards the end, it really came together (at least in my mind). I was most able to relate this to a students resistance for inquiry and constructivist pedagogy (when they are used to a more transmission method of teaching).

On a little bit of a separate note, in Larson & Marsh, I really enjoyed the idea about an “audit trail” that was discussed on page 51. I think that this is a unique way to not only document different lessons and activities throughout the school year, but it serves as a great way to show students all of the things that they have learned. It is very powerful to show a student a wall full of material and say to them “you know all of this.” I am wondering how this idea could transfer into a high school classroom (specifically a science classroom). Maybe this would take the form of a concept map? I think that concept maps really allow students to make the broader connections across the curriculum (especially in a year long course). The two reservations that I have with this “audit trail” idea in a higher level classroom is (1) what do you do during testing and (2) what do you do when you have multiple classes in the same room or you are a traveling teacher? If the walls are plastered with all of this great information that the students have constructed throughout the school year, how do you really test students when many of the answers are on the wall? Make everything in really small font? I don’t know, but needless to say, I think that this is a great way to document a class for the students.

The readings for this week’s class intensely focused on this idea of critical pedagogy; and, more specifically how this critical pedagogy relates to/plays out in schools and classrooms. While the excerpt from Larson & Marsh focused mainly on defining critical literacy and the pedagogy that ensues with it, the other articles spoke about different, but related topics. Shannon’s book covered a lot of historical material, but mainly described more about different teaching strategies; and suggests that it is most appropriate to teach students to read when they are authentically interested in learning how to.

Lastly, Freire spoke about why it is important for students to be skilled in critical literacy. Freire’s article was intense, with its talk of the oppressed and the oppressor. I likened this relationship to students and their education (not students and teachers). As I applied this reading (Freire) to my career as a teacher, students are oppressed by the educational system and lack the essential freedom(s) that they should have. However, many students are comfortable in this role and adopt attitudes like the one expressed in quote #2 above. It seems that critical literacy/pedagogy is the solution for this oppression. Might I also suggest that teachers can be oppressed by the educational system, as well. As I was reading the excerpt from Freire, it took me a long while to make the connection between the article and teaching. In fact, it sounded like an article from the race, class, gender, and disability course. However, towards the end, it really came together (at least in my mind). I was most able to relate this to a students resistance for inquiry and constructivist pedagogy (when they are used to a more transmission method of teaching).

On a little bit of a separate note, in Larson & Marsh, I really enjoyed the idea about an “audit trail” that was discussed on page 51. I think that this is a unique way to not only document different lessons and activities throughout the school year, but it serves as a great way to show students all of the things that they have learned. It is very powerful to show a student a wall full of material and say to them “you know all of this.” I am wondering how this idea could transfer into a high school classroom (specifically a science classroom). Maybe this would take the form of a concept map? I think that concept maps really allow students to make the broader connections across the curriculum (especially in a year long course). The two reservations that I have with this “audit trail” idea in a higher level classroom is (1) what do you do during testing and (2) what do you do when you have multiple classes in the same room or you are a traveling teacher? If the walls are plastered with all of this great information that the students have constructed throughout the school year, how do you really test students when many of the answers are on the wall? Make everything in really small font? I don’t know, but needless to say, I think that this is a great way to document a class for the students.

Literacy

Through the combination of my previous thoughts and these readings (for Tuesday's class) I feel as though a successful classroom relies on the fact that no member of the classroom community should be passive. Teacher-centered approaches to learning allow students to be passive which may result in a less meaningful and retentive form of education. Similarly student-centered approaches allow the teachers to be more passive which may result in students not gaining the knowledge they need to make them successful in future endeavors. So what is the best way to foster a strong classroom community?

I had a history teacher in high school who constructed a constitution at the beginning of the school year. As a class we made the rules that we believed were important to make a classroom successful. We then learned about the constitution and if it has been successful in the United States. Immediately we were able to make connections to how and why the constitution was or was not successful. Our conclusion, though we were just 10th graders, seems very sophisticated now. We concluded that The United States Constitution was successful only for those who it was written, in particular white Americans. When our teacher asked why this was true we deduced that, in the same way, our classroom community constitution would not work for any other class. For the rest of the year the kids in this class became my close friends because we had developed a community that reached outside the classroom and connected, for us, the theory of a constitution and the practice of a constitution. The teacher allowed us to develop the community on our own through open discussions in class and an online forum where we discussed readings, put up relevant comics, and proposed ideas. Was this critical literacy or classroom community of learners? I feel both but then where is the separation?

Anyways, Like any other American student I have had many classes that revolved around teacher’s lectures. These classrooms leave nothing in my memory. I feel as though they did not change my life, my views on the world, or anything about me. Gutierrez and Rosoff stated that cultural community is a coordinated group of people with some traditions and understandings in common (p. 21) and my history class gave us a sense of this cultural community while teacher-based lectures did not.

Now as I start teaching I hope to have classes that feel like a community and are able to have no barriers during discussions. I’m unsure on how to create this community in a mathematics classroom though. I suppose constructing a constitution would be a start but, unlike a history classroom, the connections to social practice will not be there. Rosoff suggests that “both mature members of the community and less mature members are conceived as active,” (p. 213) but I am lost in where that boundary line should be drawn especially in a mathematics classroom. Math generally has one and only one correct answer to a problem there is no debate, as there may be in history and English classes. So when I put a problem on the bored to be solved I see an individual solving the problem not a “community”.

You're hopelessly hopeless, I hope so for you

  • My post titles are pretty much just lyrics from whatever song I am listening to at the time, and we rarely make any sense. FYI
  • Freire posses an interesting dilemma. While, he makes and effort to rationalizing teaching for the liberation of the oppressed, he cautions against the use of “charity.” Would he, then, condemn organizations (like UNICEF, Red Cross, etc) which focus more on providing aid and relief to the oppressed and not providing them with the tools to foster their own liberation from their oppressed status? I feel he would not condemn their desire to make an effort, but just their actions to do so. To paraphrase Freire, food and money is important for the liberation of the oppressed, but it is not sufficient for liberation. Food and money may uplift and provide much needed materials, but does not give the oppressed the tools needed to provide for themselves and liberate their status as the oppressed. In other words, food and money provides much needed help in one arena, but fails to provide permanent or full liberation. The reason I feel this is an interesting dilemma is because of how it fits into critical literacy. Individuals without critical literacy skill view donations to various charities as enough or sufficient to resurrecting the oppressed to a higher status. However, the more critical literate (using teachings from the likes of Freire), view this as not sufficent. While it might warm the heart of those who donate, at the end of the day it does little to help the oppressed. It may help the oppressed for a day or to get through the week, but however sweet this respite is, it does not solve for the structural and institutional systems that oppress the oppressed in the first place. And if if donations do manage to create an uplift in some oppressed people, the manner in which this "liberation" occurred, only make the newly liberated into a new sub populous of the oppressor. According to Friere only will the true liberation occur if the oppressed gain knowledge about the structures which keep them oppressed and take action against these structures. Shannon writes of whole language theory as a grassroots movement by teachers. Is the whole language movement just another name for teaching for social justice? Whole language theory gives teachers the power to control the classroom, how is this power translated to the students in the classroom. While Shannon does not explicitly go in depth into the methods whole language theory (other than defining what it is), I feel there is ground for connecting this to Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. As teachers are empowered in their classroom, I feel this empowerment can be translated to students (much like in the case study in Larson and Marsh). However, it is up to the teacher to remain knowledgeable about the situation: just because the teacher takes control of the classroom does not mean the teacher is the sole power holder in the classroom. Power should also be posited to the students as well. Just how much power? I feel that depends on the philosophies and the practices of the individual teacher.

Critical literacy in a death match with all other forms of education!

Just an attention grabbing headline... fear not! 2 thoughts: 1) "Despite the potential of harnessing these agendas, some teachers' private politics and identity positions may well be conservative or even reactionary and no conducive to interrogating power relations or identity politics. In such cases, textual politics are relatively easier to broach, though the long-term classroom effects and take-up may be limited. Not all teachers want to lead, as Vasquez does, a critically literate life." Barbara Comber being quoted (Larson, 64). - Wow, okay, so does that's depressing, you get the vibe that if a teacher doesn't use this technique that they're a failure. Do you agree with this? Comber seems to really like critical literacy and if you read between the lines seems to have a real disdain for anyone not participating in it. While I think there are some amazing things that Critical Literacy can accomplish, I'm also quite sure that the world has lots of things to offer children, and that this is only one of them. Combers general tone in the questions at the end of the chapter seemed more discouraging than helpful to the numerous teachers out there who are not using (or able, equipped, willing) to use critical literacy. I was disappointed by the tone, it seems that an educator should be more supportive and understanding of alternate perspectives, abilities and strategies of other educators. 2) It seems as though the classroom experience in the larson chapter on Critical Literacy could just as easily have been in the section on Community of Learners. This begs the question: does it really help anyone to classify teaching styles in these ultra theoretical models? If one teaching approach can be classified as multiple models what does it tell us? Shouldn't we really be looking at what makes a good educator and a good educational environment? Aren't the good points of "new literacies" "community of learners" "critical literacy" the use of authentic cultural practices, etc... etc... etc... all fundamentally the same? Aren't they all engaging different learning styles, different brain centers, different perspectives, different time and mode structures? The point should be activating all parts of the human brain from as young an age as possible, these contemporary education models are all basically different ways of trying to diversify the types of stimuli we are exposing and engaging these young brains in. As far as I know, this is about neuronal development and building those neural pathways requires as much and as many different "things" in any given day as a child can be exposed to. Isn't this more useful than fancy names and made up words to describe something much more fundamental? Does this types of scholarship hurt more than it helps? Does it really encourage teachers or does it push more away? Can't even sub-par teachers be reached by a more fundamental understanding than these modern theories seem to have? I think the biggest thing is that we need to keep Ph.D.s employed and the only way to do that is come up with new theories, new big words and new research that quite frankly is just recategorizing what we already know in our hearts to be good and to work. Its wonderful to be trying to escape the "backwards" mindsets of times past and become more reflexive, but we should also remember that our children should not bear our sins. This is education, it is life, it is not a chance for us to atone for the horrors of generations past. Love, excitement, stimulation, hope, opportunity, triumph, failure, information of all sorts, experiences; these fundamental tools exist in all forms of education, the key is have as much and as diverse a sampling as possible no matter what you choose to call it. If a practice can be called critical literacy but looks just like community of learners, why even have the terms?

the oppressed

So I just finished reading "Pedagogy of the Oppressed".  It took me until I was about halfway through the article before I could make any sense out of what Freire was trying to say.  But once I started to understand, I started wondering how this can all be applied to teaching in the United States, in Rochester New York.  Here's what I came up with.
Only when teachers themselves identify themselves as oppressed, can they truly connect with students, who are also oppressed in some way, whether it be race, socioeconomic class, gender, etc., in order to establish a "community of learners."  Once we stop seeing "disadvantaged" kids as being disadvantaged, or "unfortunates" as Freire says (p. 54) can we reach them and teach them.  This has been a HUGE realization for me in the past few weeks/months.  I always knew that I wanted to teach in the city, but it was always for the wrong reasons.  I would tell people that I wanted to help those kids.  Now I realize that my view of those kids as being "unfortunates" has hindered my ability to teach them.  
I think that only once teachers can get past the idea that they are the "expert" in the class (oppression!!!), can they really teach their students.  This ties into establishing a community of learners as well, as in such a learning environment, everyone is equal and contributes something.  The teacher is there for support rather than to transmit knowledge.  This type of community cannot exist in an oppressive environment where the teacher views his/her students as unfortunates.  Rather, the teacher must see the value and importance of what each individual student brings to school, every day.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The class blog

This is just a template to begin with. We can certainly adjust things. Please - blog away.