Cara Swanson, Megan Bigalke, Yun He
Megan Bigalke:
Megan is a Speech Language Pathologist who works in a public school that services students 0-6 years of age. This is her third year in the field and she loves it. She is taking the course TE 843 in order to finish her teaching certification and to support her love of being a lifelong learner.
Blog Entry:
Upon reading the article Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts, I was forced to look at the theories behind what we do as educators and how it impacts our students. It also examines the complex relationship between an individual and society. The author indicates that it is the general idea of critical educators that theories of schooling and lesson plans should be fundamentally based on providing a better life for all. Some of the aspects they consider are not only what academic subjects to focus on but also what aspects of class and culture to embrace in our teaching.
One concept that I found particularly interesting was the one of Hegemony. Hegemony generally means the conflict in which the group considered more powerful is able to persuade the group considered weak or oppressed to agree to terms that the powerful sets forth whether or not it is actually beneficial too. Therefore, the weak group is enforcing the authority of the powerful group over themselves. This can be seen in many classrooms where students are expected to blindly follow the teachings of the teacher and they do so, not necessarily realizing that they have a choice to question why and what they are being taught. As teachers, it is “easier” to lead our classrooms this way because we can at times be afraid of conflict. However, allowing students to question (within reason) the purposes of the material they are learning forces us to examine why we chose that subject material and to explain how it really is beneficial to their lives.
Cara Swanson:
Cara was a computer and English teacher for five years before moving to New York to pursue a career in corporate America. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Education in the hopes of getting back to her roots in teaching.
Blog Entry:
While reading this article, I found the author arguing that Critical theorists don’t see school just as somewhere students gather a bunch of facts and socialize but also where they become empowered and self-aware. This is a cultural setting, not social or strictly educational. It involves many aspects and characteristics or ingredients if you will that work with each other to create something. It is similar to the recycle sign or yin/yang where one thing becomes enveloped into the other so that there is no more blue and red, there is only purple.
Critical theorists also feel that education is bias based on certain similar factors which influence the teaching as well as the learning. Therefore, even though we are affected by governments, corporations, economics and politics, we then influence (as individuals) our students and their political and social viewpoints. An example is the idea that Christopher Columbus discovered America which was taught for centuries. Only recently is it being taught that actually he only discovered it for Spain as the Native American were in fact living here and the Vikings were here long before Columbus. When more focus was put on learning the history of Native Americans, and people started to look at the story from a different point of view, the argument for Columbus was finally questioned. Prior, there was no push for individual histories so the majority history (aka European discoveries) overtook the popular vote. Even though people are now beginning to engage thought into the history of the Native Americans and their involvement in this “discovery”, little is still told about the arrival (and eventual departure) of the Vikings and probably countless other individuals
He Yun
He Yun is a Chinese language and culture teacher in a public elementary school at Lansing Michigan. This is her second year of teaching and second year of teaching.
Blog Entry
Why? Why? Why?
While reading Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concept (by Peter Mclaren), I decided to name my article "why? why? why?" Critical pedagogy asks tons of questions. Why does knowledge get constructed the way it does?
While reading Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concept (by Peter Mclaren), I decided to name my article "why? why? why?" Critical pedagogy asks tons of questions. Why does knowledge get constructed the way it does?
why are some constructions of reality legitimated and celebrated by the dominant culture while others clearly are not? Why do our everyday commonsense understandings- our social constructions or "subjectives"- get produced and lived out? Why do some forms of knowledge have more power and legitimacy than others?
Critical educational theorists view school knowledge as historically and socially rooted and interest bound. Knowledge acquired in school- or anywhere, is never neutral or objective but is ordered and structured in particular ways. Therefore, critical pedagogy encourages teachers and students to reflect on school knowledge. Why do we learn this instead of that? How does students from minority groups and from mainstream society perceive this content?
This pedagogy speaks significantly to me as a Chinese. Grown up under Chinese education system, I never ask why we learn this knowledge instead of that knowledge. We just learn whatever appears in the national-standardized textbooks. Teachers are asked to teach whatever appears in the textbooks. We never discuss why this knowledge has to be on the textbooks. I agree with critical pedagogy that school knowledge are not objective. They are constructed in a certain way according to the mainstream culture. In China, every students has to learn about Political science from elementary schools to universities.Basically, it is about theories from Marxism and communism. This subject is always compulsory, no matter what background you are from. It is assumed that this subject is related to everyone. Most of the knowledge we learn is concerned of Han, the largest race in China. We seldom learn the cultures about the other 55 minority groups.
As a teacher in the US now, I am facing a more diverse situation. American society has many minority groups, including African Americans or any other migration families. When teachers teach, teachers should take all the students into consideration. Teachers should understand curriculum is to prepare students for dominant or subordinate positions in the existing society.
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Thanks for sharing your expert opinions about critical pedagogy. I agree when teacher adapt this pedagogy, Students will be encouraged to think deeply and build more closer relationship between an individual and society. But I find this pedagogy doesn't work very well to little children. For example, Kindergarten. At kindergarten age, students’ cognitions are developing, and they don’t have good learning strategies, could they really ask the critical questions? Do they really understand when I explain China’s one-child policy to my kindergarteners? I think critical Pedagogy works better for elder students.
ReplyDeleteMegan, I know we spoke on the phone, but I really like what you said. Particularly the part about students questioning their teachers. I think it's great when students question me. It shows us another view point sometimes. It shows us why are students are thinking the way they are, where they are coming from. This also helps us to teach them in the best possible way.
ReplyDeleteI found this theory that we wrote about like a recycle sign. One fact continues into the next fact, and into the next, each time affecting the rest. So as you say, the powerful, affect the weak, and the weak therefore affect the powerful with their reaction. It's an interesting idea.
I also agree that we as teachers tend to take the easy way sometimes. We have A LOT to do as teachers and we do more than just help students to learn. We are mentors, therapists, and parents some times. So to go the extra mile and find creative ways to learn or to teach the truth but having to find evidence of it, is time consuming and difficult. I hope to try and catch myself if I ever do this! :)
One question that I was thinking when I was reading your blog and also writing my own was, "why do we let society choose whom the weak and the strong are?" Last semester I took a class on investigating social studies curriculum as well as the impact it had on our educational society, and I found that just we as teachers bring in our viewpoints and cultural perceptions of the world, other artifacts we bring into the classroom with us also have biases and influences on our teaching and how that teaching is perceived by our students. Take for instance maps, textbooks,and photographs. In Reading Pictures of People W. Werner uses the theme of photographs to explain the concept that “pictures invoke three people: the subject represented in the picture, the author, and the viewer” (Werner, 2006, p. 208). You can take a single photograph of a family of four and analyze it from various perspectives. The author may have intended for it to just be a family portrait, yet the way we analyze it and the time period in which we are looking at it the photograph may represent something else. Photographs have the ability to showcase the opressed and the powerful, they have the ability show the good, the bad, the indifferent, however they leave no voice behind them of what was actually going on in that photograph. So we are left to make meaning, and if we don't make that meaning then someone else will do it for us, which is all a matter of their personal opinon. Maps also show biases about the world. Some project Europe as the biggest, most central continent in the world, with Asia and Africa similarily smaller. Similarly, textbooks also make their own meaning, the author puts in the pictures that support his/her assertions, puts in the bolded text as an aid, and then tells fragments of history that may or may have not been totally true. Yet, the point is that the author of the piece has the ability to impower or dehumanize, and we are left to make sense of it all. With that being said we must allow our students to question the world. For if they don't someone else will, and in doing so we deliberately make our children weak.
ReplyDeleteAmber, I love what you said. I think it is extremely valid. That was sort of what I was saying on the Christopher Columbus part. History and literature are so abstract that just about everything can be projected with the teacher/author's viewpoint. I think it's important for us to teach and allow our students to question us (and society and authors, etc.) Debate is a great thing! I personally never gave much thought or argument to the concept of Christopher Columbus's "discovery". Then in my freshman year at MSU, I had a history teacher that brought in these great artifacts, and first account evidence and taught it in such a way, that I fell in love with History. Why don't we allow our students access to first person documents, etc. and have them figure out what they think happened? Let them debate. Let them question. Let them find their own voice instead of repeating ours.
ReplyDeleteI definitely want to check out that book you mentioned now!
Thanks Amber!
Amber,
ReplyDeleteI also agree that your point is valid about how the authors interpret photographs in a way to support their point. I wonder if it would be an interesting task to pick a chapter and have the students rewrite/edit/interpret the pictures and text in their own way and then present it in a way that would make sense to them. It might take too much time but it could fun!
In response to your comment Gloriawf,
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think kindergarten students will ask the hard questions this article discusses nor do I think at their age they will completely understand the complexity behind the issue of China's one-child policy. However, I do think that we can still encourage our students to be inquisitive and provide them the reasons for why we are discussing topics. This hopefully gives them the basis for understanding that some things should be questioned and understood. I think for younger students, we have to use more concrete, simple examples and visuals.
For example, if I had a student named Jenny that couldn't produce the "n" sound, I wouldn't explain the anatomy behind the tongue or why is it has to be placed in a certain position in order to produce the sound. I would say something like, "I understand this is hard for you to do and I also know that you get frustrated when you cannot say your name right. This is why I want to work on this sound--it is in your name." I would also incorporate the visual of her name written out and touching the side of her nose to indicate that is where the sound comes out.
Cara,
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of the recycle sign, it really does fit what this article is talking about! I also think it is very hard to not have a bias towards certain topics like you said and it is very easy to pass that bias onto our students. I try to remember to step back from a teaching situation and remove my biases if possible but it is difficult. What strategies did you do before and what will you do once you return to teaching in order to counteract (or more like present the other side) your own biases? I'm looking for ideas!
Cara, Megan, and Yun, thank you for leading me into a critical thinking world to question our current education system. Reflecting on my teaching, since teaching Chinese in an immersion program is quite new foreign language learning area, we are struggling with lack of materials, curriculum and supports. After reading your post, I keep thinking that from a critical standpoint, no curriculum might be better than an “traditional” one. We definitely need some curriculum to set our achievable goals as benchmark. However, to some extent, we do have more flexibility to adapt more ideas into our curriculum such as what we really want our students to learn besides the academics by thinking of what is the purpose of our education. Also, we would have more freedom of choosing material as the supplement, but not the text books. What’s more, we can have various material to meet students’ different needs. However, that all requires “a great teacher”.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone, thanks for the interesting posts. He yun, I couldn't help laughing when I read about the political science part. You are so right that we learned many things that do not help us when we step into the society. However I believe that this malpractice exists in all education system more or less. Take my friend as an example, he graduate in 2010 from Supply chain major. Then he got a great internship in a Russian company. He said that it terrified him that he didn't know anything because learning at school is complete different than real work. Therefore, critical pedagogy holds a good point on gearing the education with the needs of the society. Fortunatly, American education values working experience very much so students start to take internships and build their resume as early as possible.I think as educators, we should listen to our students' needs and get ideas about how can we help them to make their working/ life better, in this way, we can use this source in our lesson planning and curriculum building.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to read this group's blog on Critical Pedagogy. I could very much relate to the teaching of Christopher Columbus since I am familiar with the fifth grade curriculum here in Michigan. I still find it interesting that many students enter Social Studies in fifth grade and they ask when we will learn about Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America. It is exciting to teach them the real truth behind this theory and let them gather their own understanding. Cara, I agree that this is a great example of students being influenced by other people's view points, perhaps even parents at home.
ReplyDeleteHe Yun, your post really opened me up to the way education is taught in China. I can not imagine how those other 55 minority groups feel when they learn about just the Han. It sounds a little similar to education here in America before other minorities were given equal rights. I find as a teacher that literacy is a wonderful tool to help teach about the diverse culture and history we have in the United States. For lessons that I teach involving reading comprehension strategies, I try to incorporate stories about migration, the underground railroad, and other cultures. I completely agree with your statement that teachers should take all of their students into consideration when they teach. It is very important for our students to relate to the material we teach, and it is easier to relate when you see people like youself.
He Yun,
ReplyDeleteYour blog post caught my attention. I recently had a conversation with a friend about the bias represented in the local newspaper and she was shocked because it never occurred to her that there would be one. Her family's ethnicity is Dong from Hunan and we ended up having a conversation about the biases she encountered growing up in China. Your blog brings up an interesting point because she felt as though she should be "lighter" and speak better Mandarin and struggled her whole life to be more "Han". I wonder if a curriculum that embraced a critical perspective and enabled her to embrace her identity at an earlier age would have helped with the issues of self worth she encountered? I've heard that more recently China has begun to embrace the 56 minority groups' culture and celebrate it. Do you believe that this is genuine? Also, I was wondering what your thoughts were on the treatment of different groups within China?