“Or
else he expounds on a topic completely alien to the existential experience of
the students…disconnected from the totality that engendered them and could give
them significance.” (Freire, 52)
What happens when you attempt to
connect students to issues that you believe aren’t alien to them, and they
aren’t moved?
“The more completely they accept the
passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world
as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited on them (Freire 54).”
I think this quote gives the best picture of what I’m seeing in the classroom.
It is also my biggest problem. I have realized that my students really do not
understand reality as I see it, and even when I attempt and get the chance to
make their learning relevant, it doesn’t always work. I also realize that
students have become comfortable with they way things are, and do not realize
that it isn’t much different from the way things were. The agency and voice
that schools have stripped from its students is evident in the way students
approach their education day by day.
The students are hesitant to think
and speak. It is as if they believe the kinds of thinking and meaning making
they do in school is separate from what they do in their daily lives. I don’t
think my student’s think what they believe is worth anything as far as school
goes. They’re constantly looking for a right answer and get frustrated with me
if I ask them to think or if I’m not guiding them towards it. School is not
about learning; it’s about getting the right answer and writing it down in
order to pass.
Today was the start of Nonfiction as
required by the PISD bundles. I was excited to start this unit because I was
given the freedom to choose the texts for my classes. As of this moment this
excitement has been compromised due to my students’ reaction to what I feel
were very relevant and impactful texts. Their reaction was nothing. I’m still
in the process of figuring out why and I think the main issue is they just
don’t know how or don’t know if it’s permissible to think freely in school.
They also lack a lot of background knowledge. I was blown away when some of my
students calmly told me that they didn’t know anything about segregation.
I realize that there is so much more
scaffolding to be done with this particular class before being able to move to
what I hope will have an impact on how they see and navigate through the rest
of their education.
I’m also beginning to see that there
is some group tension here as well. One of my African-American students is
extremely hostile to some of the Mexican students and says some really
derogatory things to them and that is something that needs to be addressed.
So for the next class, I think I have to
focus on community building and putting an emphasis on thinking and
communicating within the community. I see that there is no way I’ll be able to
get anything out of them without it.
You bring up a lot of interesting things that I deal with, as well. I think you'll find that if you talk to teachers who have somewhat of a similar mind as you you'll find that they are going to understand your struggles. Most teachers I think can relate, so don't be shy in seeking solace with other individuals who understand your issues.
ReplyDeleteMy students have the same problem, and I've had to consistently tell them to speak their minds. Does it always work? No. But I think we have been somewhat successful in changing that dynamic. I think students are beginning to understand, in a way, that their responses matter. Just keep harping on it and be passionate about it. Tell them that you want them to say whatever they want, tell them there's not a right answer. This might be hard when you're a student teacher but later on you might find more success and authority in the class to make things like that known.
You're right that background knowledge and scaffolding is key. However, can't students just be asked to think and comment on an issue without the scaffolding? Sometimes I want them to just say stuff--even if it's wrong. In fact, I want them to be wrong, because then we can work toward new reasoning and introduce new information that might change their thoughts. However, like you said, it's tough to just figure out what they think in the first place.
I have the same issues with black kids and Latino kids. Some of the black girls the other day wanted me to play a song while they were doing a worksheet (a sub was there). I put it on. The Mexican kids complained. Then I put on Mexican music and the black girls started saying some real bad stuff about it. Then I just turned it all off and listened as the Mexican girls spoke to each other in spanish--they were obviously pissed and talking about the girls that had trashed on the Mexican music.
Anyway, the last paragraph is what I've been trying to do the whole time. I talked about the Constitution and the Social Contract as a lens to think about community, then I have lately moved into discussing communities such as schools, low-income areas ("ghettos"), and whatever else seems somewhat relevant. I started by using a mainstream, historical narrative and relating it to things nowadays and then having us create our own Constitution, our own social contract. However, I sometimes question if that's the best approach. Who knows.
What would you do to build community? I would like to know...
It's crazy to me that students don't know about segregation. I wonder if it's that as a country, the United States wants so badly to forget its awful history of racism (and current institutional racist policies) that we just don't really talk about where we've been. I think you're right about the scaffolding part; since they seem to lack knowledge about the past, how are they going to be critical about their present existences? But I do think that the work you're doing right now is important. I think you have to keep pushing (and I'm assuming that you're pushing conversations about race/racism) because, like Freire says, the oppressed start fighting within themselves--and this seems to relate to the group tension between races. They're distracted from what's really going on, and how else are they going to come to any kind of understanding about the real issues unless you're working to start these conversations? Don't lose hope, Jackie...it's just that you may be the first teacher who has really pushed them to think for themselves, and that probably comes with a lot of growing pains. (And the fact that you're reassessing the situation to make the unit accessible to them shows me that you really have faith in them, just as Freire would appreciate.)
ReplyDeleteJacqueline, I think the reaction that your students had is fairly common. I think you are right in the assumption that students do not see the school ways of doing and texts that are brought up as relevant to their lives. That creates a premise for when truly deep and impactful literature comes across their eyes, it's as if it is another piece in the stream of pieces thrown at students. There will be those that latch on, and it may be years before they realize what a text did for their thinking, but until what is important to students outside of school is validated, what is offered to students inside of school is less likely to be received with willingness.
ReplyDelete