Talking Points #10: Critical Teaching for Social Change

          One quote in this article really hit home with me and I felt that it described my exact situation concerning my Service Learning Project. Shor says in his article, "People are naturally curious. They are born learners. Education can either develop or stifle their inclination to ask why and to learn." When I go to work in the classroom I always arrive early with another girl who comes at the same time that I do. We sit for a few minutes and talk to the teacher usually about how the kids are coming along or what the class is working on at the moment. Today she droned about how she thinks the kids are always looking for assurance in the questions they answer and how they are always checking with her to make sure they are right. The teaching method used in the school is direct instruction. All I could think about was how are the kids expected to answer questions where only one memorized answer is expected. These children are basically socialized to follow instruction and direction from other...a.k.a. the working class depicted in Anyon's reading!
          "People begin like as motivated learners, not as passive beings. Children naturally join the world around them. They learn by interacting, by experimenting, and by using play to internalize the meaning of words and experience. Language intrigues children; they have needs they want met; they busy older people in their lives with questions and requests for show me, tell me." Society and the constraints it exudes teaches people about rules, about embaressment, punishment, about following orders, etc. For instance, when a child talks out of turn or gets caught doodling in class, the teacher many times punishes their behavior with a lecture or a verbal lashing in front of the classroom, teaching them that if they do not focus on the instructor they will be embarresed for not following orders. I learned at the Diversity Event in one of the classes that people use their brains differently. Some use the left side more and others use the right. Children who doodle in class tend to be right side thinkers and they take in more when they draw or listen to music. Social conditioning many times impedes on childrens learning and it hurts their educational experience.
          "To make problem-posing work, the teacher needs to listen carefully to students to draw out the themes and words from which critical curricula are built." This reminded me of the "Silenced Dialogue" and the fact that teachers not only need to listen to their students but they also need to listen to each other. The article on community service offered some light on the fact that children AS WELL AS adults learn through their community. Learning does not only come through an enclosed space where books and worksheets are assigned, it comes through each other, questions, inquisitive thought, etc.
          This article proved very interesting. I found an abundance of quotes that I wanted to use, but there were so many to choose from. Many other authors like Meier, whom we've read in class were used through out the article. I really liked how the author did not just focus on elementary and secondary levels, but it also looks at the college level. The article brings up how education is molded by politics and  also elite classes. Many of the topics brought up in the last class concerning how politics drive education were also mentioned in the article. For example, how more money goes to upper class schools serving elite classes much better than lower. All in all, a good read.