Sunday, February 1, 2015

Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom

The paper “Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom” was an excellent read for, and my favorite out of all of our readings so far. It was nice to read some classroom based observation of the new skill we are learning about and real puts into context how to use it effectively and how beneficial it is for students and for teachers alike. I love the idea of this type of classroom. The students working together to develop discussion, working toward effective and meaningful life skills, and being passionate in the classroom sounded fantastic and highly desirable. The section that meant the most to me was involving pop culture in the classroom and the ideas on pop culture as a whole. While reading about elite culture effecting pop culture, I saw it leading to counter culture. The paper then mentioned that pop culture was both for and against elite culture. I found the entire aspect of the culture sections amazing. As for my current placement, many of my students are involved in pop culture and they often feel that school is disconnected from their own lives. I place they are forced to go that is not their “style” and is actively against it. Some of my best lessons have involved students and pop culture they were interested in. (Speaking on movie posters after going over the To Kill a Mockingbird posters from around the world the students questioned why movie posters were so bad now, we then went through posters and talked about art.) My students also are very into hip-hop culture. I had once mentioned I liked Kendrick Lamar and students were very excited and wanted to know more. If I could do something like their poetry unit, which used both rap and classic poems, I think my students would be much more interested in that than a regular lesson. I plan on using the things I learned about pop culture and its effectiveness in including students’ lives into the classroom. Having a connection exponentially will increase the otherwise vehement disinterest. 

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