Talking Points #10-Connections -Ira Shor Empowering Education Critical Teaching for Social Change.Eduction is Politics
In reading
Ira Shor Empowering Education Critical Teaching for Social Change my gears were turning. I had so many connections that I was feeling to the readings that we have had before. Working through this reading the first had come very early on......
Starting with the sentence "to educate is to adapt a child to an adult social environment....The child is called upon to receive from outside the already perfected products of adult knowledge and mortality". One prior reading shouted out to me louder than the others:
Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit. I thought of Delpit when reading this passage because to me they seemed to be one in the same. These two authors seem to be in tune with the same ideas.Lisa Delpit teaches us that children need to be taught explicitly the" rules and codes of power",using a direct stylized method. As a future teacher I do agree we have to be clear and concise when delivering our lessons,however adding further detail Shor does for warn of an issue "copying an external model". We want to teach lessons however we also want to encourage independent thought. Delpit states we want information to sink in however Shor puts emphasis on not wanting students to duplicate their teacher. Simply being able to repeat information is not indicative of learning or understanding. When we teach the rules and codes of power we want students to understand them and to also be able to form their own opinions.We do not want obedience to take the place of self expression, ideas or individual thinking.
Ira Shor goes on to speak of another familiar theme.The
"Performance Strike". With the sound of these words I immediately thought of
Herbert Kohl: I won't learn from you. Refusal to learn can often appear as inability however things are not always as they appear. Shor makes a poignant statement "mass education has become notorious for the low motivation of many students". In those words there are so many ideas that could be conveyed however Kohl's ideas summarize it precisely. As a teacher we need to be able to distinguish willful not learning with failure and not just assume that they are one in the same. Teacher-centered classrooms according to both authors
do not work. In a classroom setting students often "tune out " in a lecture scenario . A teacher-centered classroom according to Shor does not work for many reasons mainly because of the lack of participation. Real learning takes place in a participatory environment. In the type of classroom where students are the center more learning is cultivated. When a teacher is lecturing not everyone is always listening. If a teacher is in the front of the room and speaking on a topic they know like the back of their hand students are often
not following along. Often times the performance strike can be happening and the teacher does not even know it. The fact that they are talking and well talking a great separation is being created and cannot be broken unless dialogue can take place.Cooperative exercises can engaged students attention and help them to understand lessons often better than a lecture or lesson.
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| Teacher-based classrooms do not work students often "performance strike". |
As future teachers it is going to be our responsibility not only to teach what we know but to teach why it's important. We must remember what worked in classrooms we were in and what didn't.
Question for the class
How do we keep students motivated? This seems like such a simple question however the answer is anything but. How do we create a learning environment that encourages individualism inside and institutional setting?
Shanelle,
ReplyDeleteKnowledge is power was what I was getting from the article the entire time I was reading it too! You go girlfriend!
I was writing on Dorothy’s blog about my English professor this semester and how my first paper’s grade was less that great. However, I believe this is why he gave us the grade as a provision. After reading over the comments and discussing it over with him, I was able to gauge what it was he was looking for. I believe my next paper will be much better because now I know his style. After reading some of my extra credit papers, he too knows my style. I believe this is an example of how you describe knowing the rules and codes of power. We will always need to know the rules and codes of our professors in order to deliver our work in a way we both understand.
Thanks for making this bold: "As future teachers it is going to be our responsibility not only to teach what we know but to teach why it's important. We must remember what worked in classrooms we were in and what didn't."
I think you have stated something that Shor doesn’t spell out for us but that he hints at. You have put it in a way that we can relate it and understand!
Jocelyn,
DeleteThank you as always for your thoughtful reply. I always feel like you get what I'm writing about. Were you also thinking of School House Rock during this reading?
See you Tuesday,
Shanelle
Shanelle,
ReplyDeletei thought you made brilliant connections from pervious readings we have read. It stated your opinions so well. One connection you made about "The Performance Strike" and Herbert Khols's "I won't learn from you" was so powerful. That teachers need to take the time to teach and explain why we learn instead of lecturing because students will not pay attention and will be labeled as "remedial" because their lack of interest will show on assessments.