Pedagogy and Pop Culture #3

So....we have been talking about the use of pop-culture in the classroom.  I just came across Willow Smith's music video for her song "I Whip My Hair,"  it isn't demonstrating critical pedagogy in the classroom but the music video itself, starring Willow (a tough as nails and clearly creative 9 year old), is about learning to access and honor your true self.  The beginning of the video shows a very sterile and homogenous school environment and then Willow comes in and shakes things up.  I believe that she is not only making a call for people to be themselves, but I also believe that in more ways than one, she is making a call for ethnic studies, for critical pedagogy, and for democratic education.  What do you all think?

Paulo Freire, Coffee, and Critical Chemistry

Today in our critical dialogues group we are discussing the very famous, very influential, chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  I thought I would post a quote from the chapter and a video that I believe epitomizes what Paulo Freire is calling for in his book.

"Knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other." 

Below you will find a slide show on a high school chemistry class that has really taken the ideas of problem-posing education and critical inquiry that Paulo Freire discusses in his book and has put them into action.  

Educational Philosophy

As I sit here attempting to verbalize my educational philosophy I am overwhelmed with words and phrases that would describe my ideal teacher and system of learning. I feel that my answer could be different in a mere few minutes, but for now this is it:

I believe that the relationships that students develop with school and learning is vital to their lives as a whole. School is a place that must teach students how to learn first and foremost. It can not be a place of simple rote memorization of facts, figures, and formulas- while those are arguably important, I feel that school must be a place where inquiry is key so that students leave with the ability and desire to seek information rather than simply filled with information. Further, the information being received and the knowledge acquired must be meaningful and have real world applications for any of it to stick or truly be learned. I would hope that the students in my class not only see but also make connections between the content in the school room and their lives around them. I want them to question everything- authority, rules, facts, history, current events, systematic oppression, social norms, religion, etc. This questioning terrifies many and is a driving force behind a very controlled education system, but I argue that this questioning and inquiry skills in addition to the facts, figures, and formulas empowers students to be fully contributing members of society. Lastly, education and school should be dynamic in that it can never truly be defined or unexamined because it is constantly changing with a fast-paced, ever changing world.

Philosophy

Although federal, state and local districts restrict curriculum taught and guide materials used, they've left teachers with some wiggle room for applying the craft of teaching. Classroom management and the methodology used is still, thankfully, up to the individual teacher. Within this wiggle room of teaching, my goal is to create an environment where every child finds success, feels empowered to take chances and isn't afraid to fail, values the actions that lead to discovery and critical thinking, and understands the importance of working diligently to achieve a goal. Part of creating this environment involves teaching the importance of each child's part in the classroom, demanding responsibility for actions, and modeling respect for all. When I began teaching, the emphasis was on "teacher as facilitator" and thirteen years later, I continue to see this role as valuable, but I feel more like a "conductor" who, after being handed the musical score, is left to orchastrate the beauty in performance.

Educational philosophy

I think that education is a community effort, it takes a village to educate a child. We further our students' education by bringing to the table as many resources as possible to get them down their paths. We can not be effective as teachers if we work in isolation. I feel that we should not only be involving parents, grandparents and other staff members; we should try to pull the community into our schools to move students as far as we can help them get on their educational journeys.

I want to give as much information as I can to help students academically and socially so as to maximize their potential. If other services are necessary, I need to make every effort to bring those services to the child or their care giver. I was trained to teach as an individual rather than in a cooperative group. I've learned that I accomplish more in a team than I do as a soloist.

Critical Pedagogy in Pop Culture #2

I was having a hard time finding clips of critical pedagogy in pop-culture so instead I decided to post a clip of bad teaching in pop-culture.  This video clip is painful and hilarious to watch, it is the absolute antithesis to critical pedagogy.  I'll keep searching for CP in pop-culture and hopefully I will have something for you next week.

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Roses in Concrete

Check out this video of Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade giving a keynote presentation at Harvard School of Education this last April. It is a very inspiring video to watch if you are an educator. Skip the first 12 minutes or so as they are having technical difficulties and he doesn't actually start his presentation until after that. He speaks a lot about social toxins...racism, patriarchy, poverty amongst so much wealth, sexism, violence, trauma, etc. that get in the way of a young person's ability to learn. He is asking educators to quit focusing on the dysfunction, low test scores etc. of these students and rather focus on how...despite the "concrete" / social toxins, these young people still come to school to "reach for the sun". He also problematizes Obama's use of the word "Hope" and reframes it in a way that serves the lives of people who need hope the most. It is a beautiful presentation and definitely worth the two hours it will take to watch it.


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