Blog Post #6: Paulo Freire: Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The second chapter of Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed focuses on the fundamentally narrative character of the teacher-student relationship. He goes on to describe how this relationship features a “narrating subject,” the teacher, and “patient listening objects,” the student. The outcome of this teacher-student relationship, which Freire calls the banking approach to education, is that teachers become the depositors of information, and students become “depositories” that must be filled by the teachers.

“In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.”

This description of the banking concept of education, strikes me as a characterization of the very worst in American education. The sad reality is that this still exists in classrooms all across the country. All students, at one time or another, have experienced the banking model of education. In fact, I’m currently experiencing it in a history class. It baffles me that in the 21^st century this terrible version of education continues to exist when, as the article discusses, it is such a soul-crushing, anti-democratic, and dehumanizing experience.   

While this system continues to exist, even partially in most schools, many modern classrooms have moved beyond this system. In fact, the Eastern Ed department focuses on teaching the exact opposite of what is described in this chapter. Throughout all of my education, the emphasis has been on the importance of connecting students to their learning and engaging their background knowledge to avoid simply “fill[ing] students with the contents of narration.” We are taught the importance of guiding student learning and that we must help students remember the principles that guide that learning process. At the end of the day, most teachers enter into this profession because they care about the learning and well-being of their students. Everyone wants the best for their students and I think current educational trends are continuing to move in a positive direction.

 The ultimate purpose of education is to prepare students for the challenges they will face once they receive their high school diploma, not the next standardized test. Students are more than storage containers for knowledge, they are young adults seeking growth. Teachers need to move beyond the role of knowledge depositors and create a learning environment that provides students with a safe place to figure out what it means to be a human in a confusing and complex world. 

Blog Post #5: Standards-Based Grading

Section four of Spokane Public Schools’ Secondary Standards-Based Grading and Reporting Handbook discusses the negative impact of zeros. This is a new concept to me and I have some mixed feelings regarding this important topic.

I totally agree with the article’s point that students should be provided multiple opportunities to demonstrate achievement toward learning targets. I’m also aware of the powerfully negative impact that zeros have on student motivation. Therefore, I think it is the teacher’s responsibility to continually work with and support students, throughout the semester, to ensure students submit all required work for their final grade. I don’t think it is fair for secondary teachers to reject work submitted after a deadline, because things happen, and grades should accurately communicate what students really know and can demonstrate. If a student is willing to work hard and is motivated to achieve high standards, then an arbitrary deadline shouldn’t limit their ability to demonstrate their achievement toward learning targets.  

However, if grades are supposed to be based on the most consistent evidence, not the average of the data, then how are we supposed to grade students who consistently do not turn in their work? If a student is provided multiple opportunities to turn in required work, and varying types of assessment, but still fails to complete the tasks asked of them, then I think a zero accurately reflects their achievement toward learning targets. In addition, not including zeros in a student’s final grade sends the message that success in school doesn’t require hard work. I think this is a disservice to students. Educators should make an effort to teach students the value of hard work, because this lesson will benefit them for the rest of their lives. If we don’t hold high expectations for our students in the secondary setting, then how will they survive rigid deadlines in college or when they enter the workforce?

Blog Post #4: Assignment Template

I love the content and layout of this article!  The template included provides a simple and clearly explained process to help students read, comprehend, and respond to texts.  In addition, I think it is extremely useful that the template incorporates many of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts into a single template, which can be utilized by students and teachers.

Reading this article helped me develop a coherent strategy for creating my three-week unit plan draft. I had planned on introducing and developing students’ argumentative writing skills, because that is what the students in my placement classroom are currently learning. However, before reading this article, I wasn’t confident on how I was going to incorporate a literature component into my unit. This template helped me work through a lot of the issues I was facing because it lays out the process step-by-step and provides multiple ways for me to structure lessons to achieve student success and CCSS.

As mentioned above, my placement classroom is currently working on argumentative writing and this past week students learned the three Aristotelian rhetorical appeals (Logos, Ethos, Pathos) mentioned in the article. To assess student learning, my mentor teacher broke the students into groups and asked them to develop a skit that displayed one or more of the rhetorical appeals. Students were assessed on whether or not their fellow classmates could discern the rhetorical appeal(s) their classmates were attempting to act out. Understanding rhetoric is an important topic and I think this project successfully encouraged and motivated student learning.

One thing I particularly enjoyed while reading this article was its approach to rhetorically revising and editing. I’m currently taking English 408 and I’m realizing the importance of revision. For some reason I don’t remember the revision process being a huge focus in my high school education. Therefore, revision of multiple drafts hasn’t been something I have incorporated in my own writing process. I used to spend hours and hours writing papers because I expected my first draft to be perfect. This is a very ineffective and frustrating process that I want to make sure my students avoid! In my future classroom I want to provide students with the resources and tools that not only teach them how to be great writers, but also how to enjoy writing as well.

Blog Post #3: Team Teaching

I love the idea of team teaching! In high school I took an honors humanities class that was team-taught and it was truly an unforgettable learning experience. I found the team teaching approach to be engaging because it created a dynamic and interactive learning environment. As a student, I never considered the amount of work it takes to make the team-teaching method work in the classroom; however, as highlighted in the two articles, team teaching requires a lot of planning and collaboration. As a teacher candidate, I would love the opportunity to work in a team teaching environment because I think the constant collaboration with another teacher would consistently push me to learn and grow.  

In Melissa Leavitt’s piece, “Team Teaching: Benefits and Challenges,” the commandment I found to be most interesting was “thou shalt model debate with thy neighbor.” Our most recent classroom discussions have revolved around the fact that effective classroom discussion can work in many different ways. I really like the fact that team-teaching provides educators with an opportunity to model to their students what high-level, intellectual debate looks like among colleagues. In today’s world, it is extremely valuable for students to learn what successful debates and discussions look like, because students are often surrounded by the idea that discussions and debates hinge on hostility. For example, last night after the State of the Union address various people were commenting on the main points of Obama’s speech. Two of the commentators, who differed in opinion, quickly became so heated and hostile towards one another that they actually started yelling. If students are going to learn what it looks like to participate in a democratic society, then they must be taught explicitly what that process looks like. The team-teaching approach is an excellent way to model the discussion process to students and I particularly like the article’s emphasis on describing respectful debate as “professional disagreement” that is both “expert and collegial.”

Blog Post #2: Teaching to Exceed The English Language Arts Common Core State Standards

As a preservice teacher, the Common Core State Standards already play a role in the way I think about curriculum in the English language arts classroom. However, my experience with the CCSS has been limited to simply reviewing standards and plugging them into lesson plan assignments. This article details what the CCSS mean and how, as a preservice teacher, I can use these broad standards to create an innovative, captivating curriculum that will enhance instruction in my discipline.  

A key point this chapter brings up is that it is necessary for teachers to see the many benefits of implementing Common Core into the classroom by looking at the big picture. It is easy to see the many limitations to a standards-based approach and there are reasons that adopting standards may actually lower achievement, however, regardless of the difficulties and potential issues associated with incorporating Common Core into our instruction, it is what we are being asked to do. I really like the fact that this chapter encourages teachers to view standards as a general goal that they must help their students achieve by creating relevant and engaging curriculum. In order for students to successfully master CCSS teachers must passionately commit to making informed decisions about how and what they teach. One thing I found particularly interesting about the literary practices approach mentioned in this chapter is that it draws on the need to redesign classrooms to create what is referred to as "passionate affinity spaces."

One of the most critical points this article brings up is the fact that standards-based instruction is limited in its ability to address one of the most important issues facing the American education system—the achievement gap between middle-class white students and non-dominant students. As the economic inequality in America continues to increase so does the number of students living in poverty. There are many things that need to be done in terms of policy and action, and Common Core is only a piece of the puzzle in narrowing America's achievement gap. Therefore, teachers need to be champions for their students both in and out of the classroom by advocating for educational policies that work and adequate access to food, housing and resources.

Blog Post #1: Discussion in a Democratic Society

One hurdle that all effective teachers must overcome is the art of classroom discussion. This week's reading offers insightful strategies for creating discussion-based classrooms that are “crucibles for democratic processes and mutual growth” (8). To me, this chapter highlighted nine behaviors, or dispositions, that students and teachers need to practice in order to create a democratic classroom environment that is conducive to a productive and insightful discussion. In addition to facilitating discussion, these dispositions could also help promote mindfulness in the classroom, therefore, I think it would be extremely useful to use these ideals as a way to structure expected classroom behavior at the beginning of the year. The dispositions that the article lists as important are “hospitality, participation, mindfulness, humility, mutuality, deliberation, appreciation, hope, and autonomy” (8).

It is often assumed that high school students already know how to adequately participate in classroom discussion. However, as this chapter illustrates there are many complex skills and behaviors that students must obtain in order to effectively engage in meaningful classroom discussion. For me personally one of the most important tools for my own success in classroom discussion is being in a classroom environment that feels supportive and encouraging. There are certainly classes that I have freely participated in discussion and others that were a bit more difficult. As a future teacher I feel it is paramount to create a learning environment that encourages students to share their thoughts or opinions. As stated in the article, classrooms practice discussion not only to help students attain worthy democratic aims, but also because it is enjoyable and thrilling.  I’m not so sure I have ever experienced a discussion so powerful that it was an “educational equivalent of scaling a mountain or shooting dangerous rapids,” but I would love to create a classroom environment that allows students to feel this pumped about discussions.