Within the book Critical Literacy, Critical Teaching there were many powerful teaching lessons and concepts. Chapter 5 included ideas for empowering students to own their education. The instructors did this by allowing students to decide what they wanted to learn about. They also made the students responsible for their discussions and taught them how to have harmonious group discussions. The transfer of power from teacher to learner for the responsibility of the student’s learning amazed me. This amazed me because it took responsibility off of the teacher and put it onto the student the teacher became a facilitator. One question that crossed my mind was, how did the teacher build up the confidence to know that the students would be successful in becoming the teacher and herself the facilitator? When did she know it was safe to release students to monitor their own learning via discussions? The book was clear that this took many lessons but did not seem to speak about the trial and error of this process. Also in chapter 5 the lab teacher spoke of the importance in getting parents involved and making a positive home-to-school connection as an essential part of the process of empowering students to be responsible and active for their learning.
Chapter 6 was especially important because it discussed the language teachers use with students and parents and how it can effect these relationships. Within chapter 6 there are two poignant examples. The first example is how the young student, Isaiah, does not perform up to his true ability level because the teacher sets her expectations for him lower than his abilities. She does this because she communicates her expectations for his writing performance versus another area he might be stronger in. This expectation is communicated through both teacher actions and language. It is important to remember that students read both our actions and interpret our language. Having high expectations means treating students with respect and clearly stating your intended outcomes for their performance.
The other exceptionally important example in this chapter is when the teacher has a conference with a parent and she tells them she wants her child to read fluently. Of course the parent has no idea what she is talking about. In this situation the parent asked her to clarify what she meant. Often time teachers speak in jargon and use acronyms that might confuse a parent during a conference. This example reminds us to speak clearly and use language that all understand. At times language that is confusing may be looked at as one group appearing that they are smarter than another group. Just like in the above example the parents may have thought that the teacher thought less of them because they did understand what “fluent” meant. It is important not to add stress to a relationship that needs to remain positive simply because of the way you communicate.
Chapter7 discussed assessing students and what represented learning, this also included notifying stakeholders of the progress that the program and students were making. This chapter was very straightforward and discussed observing and selecting books, or topics, that students could receive alternative assessments on and be successful at. This chapter also discussed the importance of notifying all involved: parents, teachers and other stakeholders on the progress of students and the program. This is essential because it confirms their support.
Throughout these chapters there were many underlying themes however there was one overall theme and it was, “It’s all about the students.” Whether it was teaching students to be empowered and responsible for their own learning, communicating effectively to students or assessing them appropriately everything discussed related to students. I know that this should not be shocking, but in an educational world driven by AYP and standardized tests it was refreshing to see a program driven by obtainable goals for students. Another theme that seemed to continuously appear was the theme of empowering students. The author was essentially connecting everything in the classroom back to the students including making them responsible in elementary school for their own social justice and equal discussions! Needless to say I was impressed at this refreshing view of education, especially teaching in a public school that emphasizes teaching to a test.
There are many implications for teaching. However there is an overall implication and that is to connect learning to the students by making their learning meaningful. When this happens students take ownership for their learning because they become engaged through investigating their interests. Many times in our teaching we dwell on teaching what is needed to get students to pass the standardized test. These chapters remind us that learning becomes meaningful when students make a personal connection to the topics and take ownership for it. It is the teacher’s responsibility to make this happen. Using critical literacy is a great way to teach students to be responsible and take ownership of their learning, but this should spread across the curriculum. Teaching students lessons on how to effectively work in groups, devising lessons for this type of teaching and encouraging administration to jump on board are just some of the components that are necessary to teach in this manner.
My reaction to this section of the text was, “What a great idea, but would it really work in the ‘real’ world?” I thought that all of scenarios given in the text were great examples of meaningful and powerful learning taking place, but how realistic is this for a classroom? The authors discussed having debriefing time. Does anyone ever have time for this in a true classroom that is driven by standards? Some components could be easily transferred, for example allowing students to select their own critical literacy project and allowing students to discuss these in harmonious groups. Other portions are not so realistic, for example having a positive home-to-school connection and guaranteed parental involvement. This is not always a guarantee that parents/guardians will be involved. I think that this is a powerful idea but I am not sure all components would be successful in the “real-world” because of time constraints and school climate.
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Thanks for your great summary of that section of the book, Hannah. One point you returned to several times had to do with the importance of parent or "stakeholder" buy-in, which is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I am working with a group of educators and parents to start an APS charter school in SW Atlanta, and one section of the application had to do with how we would hold parents accountable to involvement in the school and their child's life in school. Your point about parent involvement across the board being unrealistic is valid, but I think that the school's stance on parent involvement can make a big difference.
I worked at a charter school with 800 students that had an annual "contract" that parents signed, committing to at least 20 volunteer hours over the course of the year. There was no point person to "enforce" those contracts, and so they were more or less useless. With that in mind, my vision for parent involvement at Kindezi School (the charter school pending approval) is that: A) Parent involvement would have most to do with the direct academic development of each child, and B) The PTA would be the force behind creating the parent involvement perameters.
The element of our school that makes me the most hopeful regarding parent buy-in would be our student-teacher ratio of 6:1. How we are able to make this ratio possible would require a longer post, but my point is that, with teachers only having six homeroom students, the ability to create meaningful relationships with parents is so much more realistic; in fact, we would require parents to have weekly contact with each child's parent/guardian. It is unfair to teachers with 25-30 students to ask them to be responsible for making sure that the parent is involved, but obviously the school-home connection is crucial, so we're hoping that our school model could help create a situation that would be pleasing to the creators of the Albany Literacy Collaborative.
Hannah,
I appreciated your discussion of expectations when it comes to what the teacher communicates through words as well as their actions. Don't all of us know the students who receive poor grades most of the year, but every once in awhile will exceed beyond our wildest expectations? I saw many students like this when I was in high school. I worked incredibly hard for the grades I received, but there were always those who acted as though they didn’t care. These same students would every once in awhile surprise me with the amount of knowledge they had on a particular subject, amazing us all. I believe these kind of students have constantly been on the receiving end of low expectations. When low expectations are communicated, and the teacher acts if the student will never reach success, the student begins to believe that very same thing. However, I believe that students are much more capable then we often give them credit for. Maybe no one has ever believed in them. Maybe they have no idea what they could possibly achieve. It’s our job to see the potential in everyone. To encourage with both our words and our actions. It’s exciting to think about the impact this encouragement could have on a student who never thought they had the potential to grow academically.
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