Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts

My life was surrounded by subcultures growing up. Poetry Slam performers bashed American societal norms, punk bands playing late night dive clubs screamed everything wrong with today, and liberal parents loved Eastern philosophy. Everything McLaren presented in his chapter on “Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts” was something I could connect to and be familiar with. The same things that the artist were shouting about society and culture controlled by the rich to belittle the poor, education as a tool of manipulation, and a push for self-promotion/empowerment were all present in this chapter. I think it is incredibly valuable to teach students in this way. Emancipatory education is a dangerous route to take however. You want to give students freedom and the knowledge of the control of wealth and power in society, but you do not want the school system to collapse into anarchy. The school board/principal could find out you were teaching, what might be worded as “radical ideas,” to students and upsetting parents and faculty. On the other side of the fence, teaching students about power and oppression could belittle your own ability to teach them effectively. They could easily see you as the dictator and shift into thinking that you are a teacher therefore you are the tool of the oppressors putting these social pressures on them. Teaching “radical ideas” can be a very fine line and as I was reading all I could think of is how dangerous it would be for someone to teach emancipatory education in an affluent white school district or a low-income minority population. Putting a mirror up to society may sometimes release a dangerous beast that is out to get you. McLaren speaks on the dominant cultures ability to attempt to oppress any subculture and make everyone subordinate, complacent, beings under its control, so teaching in a dialectical nature is a skill we must be very tactful in using. That being said, I love the chapter McLaren takes what Freire says about the oppressed and makes it much more understandable and penetrable, at least for the background I came from. It is much easier to understand Freire after seeing this from a prospective of our own society and would love to find a way to implement at least some practice of dialectic education in my own classroom.

Pedagogy of the Opressed

“Pedagogy of the Oppressed” is an incredibly interesting philosophical read. It is not often that I get the chance to read philosophy, so it was nice to see some in an educational concept. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the ideas presented by Peter McLaren in this chapter of his work. I really enjoyed the analogy of “banking” as an outdated form of teaching. This phrase is a great way to convey teachers who simply “deposit” information while students memorize it and do not comprehend. I feel like I was taught like this in various classes throughout my career and I often hated them the most. I thought of the teachers as condescending and self-serving, and after reading the section on the teacher justify their own existence by depositing information to those who don’t know it to perfectly fit my old interpretations of said classrooms. The classes that I participated in that strove for “liberation education” or “problem posing education” were always more challenging and exciting to me. I would leave ready to learn more and often times head home and do more research to be more informed in class the next meeting. In a way I left high school for Running Start because in 10^th grade most of my teachers were focused on “banking” information rather than facilitating cooperative learning between teacher and student. I hated that year for not challenging me, but I feel like if more of my teachers had focused on “problem posing education” I would have stayed.

            The usage of oppressor is being used in a liberal sense from what I can see in this chapter, but from what I read I can’t help but see it as a dystopian sort of idea. Teachers are oppressors of education teaching this is what is right and how you do it, then sending students off to the next teachers.  All of it seems very mechanical pushing all students forward with no real though provoking work on their table. To remove the oppressor the teacher must simply remove themselves from the position of power and place themselves in the students’ situations. This way we develop a simultaneous teacher and student relationship with all parties involved. I liked the wording of “critical co-investigator” because it alludes to all of us working together to solve a common problem. The idea of “unfinished beings in an unfinished reality” really pushes the idea forward that we are all trying to make sense of our world and it is our job to help guide students as they guide us to make more sense out of it. Not to lead them in black and white about what is correct and what is incorrect, but to work with them and discover what is correct, question why, and develop a better understanding with one another. 

A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature

If someone were to sit down and ask me, “Tyler what, to you, looks like the perfect English classroom?” My most simple answer would be the main focus of this research. To me, a discussion based English classroom where students are reading, building their own interpretations, discussing them, and then formulating more complex ideas from the discussion, is how the classroom should function. I especially liked the breakdown of Horizon of Possibilities (responding to literature through a human emotional/psychological connection) and Point of Reference (a sense of topic and the points being made) are not different, but are connected in our reading. These are great methods for building on discussion in the classroom, then using that to lead into critical thinking about the text. The importance of comfortable discussion is heavily focused on in the article because there is so much to gain from multiple interpretations of the text from students of various backgrounds and cultures. I especially enjoyed the section on maintaining a center of focus; as the teacher we must foster a community in which students are comfortable sharing their ideas, therefore we must validate their initial interpretations which, in turn, helps the students validate their understanding of the text. This will create and environment for thoughtful discussion and instruction based on response and help, rather than giving information. 

There were some issues I found with the research. I would like a more in-depth understanding on how one could teach literary concepts (setting, tone, ect.) to the class whilst maintain a community driven classroom. I would also like to understand what form of assessment would go into this type of response-based instruction. I assumed it would mostly be formative, since the class is so discussion focused, however there would have to be some summative assessment to help understand whether or not students are meeting standards. One other issue I was thinking of was the issue of students who are simply not interested, not reading or responding, and generally tuned out of discussion. Surely they could be brought in, but if particular members of the class are more vocal and more willing to give their interpretations other students me develop a feeling of inadequacy for their own ideas. These were all questions I pondered when thinking of how I could implement this in my own classroom. With my students this would certainly not work all the time, but I think they would enjoy response-based instruction much more than a teacher led classroom. 

SIOP 8 Components and 30 Features

With many ELL students in in classrooms this article was both helpful and incredibly informational. It reinforces, more than ever, the importance of group work, the fact that it is not only the English teachers goal to teach English, and give numerous amounts of tools to help ELL students grasp the language and learn not only the subject they are studying, but the skills to become a better speaker/writer of English. I found the group configuration section very useful. It showed how a variety of group styles can positively affect the classroom, environment, the students, and ELL students. It helps model good English for students, as well as, positively effects all students’ abilities. ELL students benefit from group work in multiple ways including, building their speaking skills in the English language, helping them make points and clarify ideas, and most of all practice the English language. There are many great teacher strategies for full class instruction in the article as well. Sometimes we forget that ELL students may need words repeated, read to them/explained to them, or simply require additional wait time to build their own comprehension. Wait time can be difficult and I hadn’t really thought of allowing students to use think-pair-share before replying to the prompted questions. This helps ELL students formulate their point with a peer first and allows for them to work through language and answer the question to the whole class. This is one of the few strategies that can be implemented to help ELL students. Previously, I have just given my ELL students shorter sections for in class reading, or asked them to be the speaker of their group, but after reading the SIOP I have found a wealth of additional tools I can use to help my four ELL students become a bigger part of the classroom, become better English speakers, and feel comfortable as students of language arts and language development. 

“The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12: Origins, Goals, and Challenges”

Often times as students of English education we find Common Core State Standards to be cumbersome and difficult. Those of use with master teachers who are concerned negatively with Common Core may find even more opposition against it. It is a scary thing to face that can often times be frustrating and feel limiting, but after reading this chapter on Common Core in Language Arts classrooms it is much easier to put many of the benefits of standardized into context. Only recently have I learned about the necessity to teach to 21^st century students. That is to say we as educators need to adapt to the electronic world with our instruction as well as help students shape into collaborative workers, leaders, and group members working toward a common goal. I really liked the description of “passionate affinity spaces” A lot of the things this section touches a go with our discussion of group work as a valuable tool in the classroom. It takes in a lot of what we discussed on students each bringing their own varied experience to the classroom, and that we can all benefit from different outlooks and learning styles/abilities in our classrooms. The classroom is described as, “where people’s endeavors and interest in a common goal…a deep passion that results in commitment to achievement in that goal,” is the perfect example of the mastery-based student focused environment we are trying to create. This gives the students personal value in the, sometimes hostile, learning setting.  Although, the strict structure of common core, and the districts sometimes strong hold on curriculum can be stressful for teachers who wish to put their own flair in the classroom, there are many way we can adapt lessons and still put in personal touches to reach this focused classroom community. As long as we maintain our rational what we are doing, we can use research such as this to build classrooms that are not only meeting common core and district standards, but are also meeting students’ needs both as learners and as humans striving toward one goal.

Discussion in a Democratic Society.

From the first section of this reading it seems to me that the most important aspect for us to think of when facilitating a discussion based classroom is that we need to find a means to make all participants feel free and welcome to project their own values, beliefs, and experiences into the classroom dialogue. I especially found the sections on hospitality and humility helpful when developing ideas for a democratic society in the classroom. Hospitality helps create a realm in which every ones opinions are of equal value and can be refuted or strengthened in a non-aggressive professional manner. I also found humility incredibly helpful because it places the teacher and students in a place of limited knowledge, due to the fact that we all come from different backgrounds. I think it is important to keep this in mind in a discussion based classroom because often times I find my students, and even myself at times, arguing points without truly taking the other side into account. If we open up to humility we are more likely to take all opinions and learn from one another, placing the teacher role upon everyone’s heads, and creating a more equal community-based classroom rather than a simply teacher led experience.

            One issue I found with the few chapters we read is that it did not present much information on how to deal with classrooms when discussion becomes aggressive and belligerent. Although there are many sections on how to develop a classroom in which we can create a friendly environment there is no information on how remedy an environment that has or might become toxic. This is something that has occurred a few times in my classroom. The portions on not expecting perfect discussion were somewhat helpful in this regarded. It let me know that conversation will not be perfectly focused, collaborative, or even present during every single lesson, but that crafting the art of good conversation skill develop over time and that varies from classroom to classroom.

            Overall, I found these first two chapters amazing. I know discussion was one of the most important aspects of the classroom because so many students have so many different opinions and backgrounds, that there is almost infinite learning potential we can draw from one another. I never really thought of how to create good conversation and always just sort of went for it with my students. These chapters showed why it is important and good ways to implement it in a great environment.