Application to Teaching (APLING 603 Discussion)

The Prompt was to write about 500 words about how I might approach teaching differently or view students differently as a result of what we read and discussed in this class.


My Response:

As a result of what I have read and learned about critical pedagogy this semester, I am more aware of the importance of recognizing the cultures my students are from, as well as the importance of helping my students learn to think critically. When I go back to teaching high school, I will try to be more cognizant of my students’ varying beliefs and backgrounds. I will provide opportunities in my lessons for them to compare what we are studying to aspects of their own lives and encourage them to verbalize their ideas and try to help me and their fellow students to see the lessons through a different lens. 

I will also seek out continuing education for myself in critical pedagogy. One training I would seek immediately is something to help teachers encourage respectful discussion in the classroom. If I am going to have a room of teenagers openly sharing their differences with each other, I need the classroom to be a safe space where they feel comfortable being honest with each other. I’m sure I could use more training in that.

I recently joined a group on Twitter called “Teachers Going Gradeless”. This community of practice uses a message board to discuss ideas and encourage each other. I’m investigating it now to see how it aligns with the principles of critical pedagogy. From what I have read about it so far, abandoning the traditional grading system and having students evaluate their own learning seems to go hand in hand with bell hooks’ assertion that students need to be “active participants in the pedagogical process” (hooks, 2009) and also with Freire’s contention that reflection, investigation, and dialogue are key (Freire, 2009). The teacher I observed for our Classroom Redesign project is trying this in his classroom now. I am closely following his experiences and having email discussions with him about his students’ progress.

Through the aforementioned group, I also discovered an annual conference that is in large part about Critical Pedagogy. It’s called “Free Minds, Free People”. It would be a good conference to attend in future years to remind myself of what we have studied in this class and to make connections with teachers from across the country who have similar goals. The mission statement for this organization is: “Free Minds, Free People is a national conference that brings together teachers, young people, researchers, parents and community-based activists/educators from across the country to build a movement to develop and promote education as a tool for liberation. We seek to develop ways of teaching and learning both in and out of school that help us to build a more just society. The conference is a space in which these groups can learn from and teach each other, sharing knowledge, experience and strategies” (http://fmfp.org/about/mission-and-goals/).

I believe that by continuing my own formal education and by opening up my mind to the fact that I can be a learner in my own classroom as well as a teacher, I will be able to implement some of the ideas of critical pedagogy.