I just read Vivian's article, "Our Way: Using the Everyday to Create a Critical Literacy Curriculum" and got some great tips! Many times both this year and last I have had the same reaction that Vivian had in terms of trying to smother a particular topic students are talking about or seem interested in because it's causing "disorder" in the classroom. Students do try to please their teacher, so that they probably will stop talking about whatever if they feel the teacher is not approving. Yet, is it right to silence students' voices? I have struggled with this idea a lot, because I want my students to be engaged. I also want students to feel comfortable to voice their opinions or concerns in my classroom. I agree with Vivian that students should be able to lead the way and direct the learning process. How do I get students to do that in a math class though when a lot of times they find no relationship between calculus or trigonometry and their daily lives?
I do believe that it is important to let students have a voice and have responsibility in their learning, but it is also important that students learn what they need to know and also acquire basic skills and discipline to learn for the sake of learning. I agree it's important to question, but I also think discipline and motivation are so important, because it pays off later in life when looks upon you favorably for showing those skills. Acquiring knowledge is really important, because one is buildling general skills in that process. Many times students will not retain what they learn years and years later, but they will retain skills that will enable them to learn again. I firmly believe in learning for the sake of learning and enjoying it in the process!!
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the desire to please the teacher used to be a great thing to me. it was a big pick-me-up during the day; however, i now see that it simply means that students are blindly conforming because that seems to be the right thing to do. however, in a critical literacy classroom, students will be expressing their viewpoints and analyzing the world in their own way. most likely, this way will differ from the teacher's ideal.
therefore, students truly part of critical literacy must express themselves irregardless of the stance of the teacher. on the flipside, we teachers must be open enough to recognize that, hey, this is exactly what we dreamt when we wanted to have a critical literacy classroom, students that could analyze and draw informed conclusions that may be independent from our own.
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