What Is Social Justice?

In an article titled, "Framing Social Justice in Education: What does the 'Capabilities' Approach Offer?" by Melanie Walker. I got some insight on what social justice can do for those who are the lower and middle class. According to walker, social justice in the education system meant that all people whether upper or lower class had the ability to pursue higher education or become something that gives them more respect than what they currently have. Walker says, social justice is essential because, “education in the formal settings of schools and universities shapes lives.” If school is going to shape a child's life, we need to help students see that they can be anything they want, and not defined by there class, gender, or ethnicity.

Walker lists ten capabilities that are included in Nussabaum’s approach but pays close attention to two; practical reason and affiliation.  Practical reason is defined as “being able to form conception of the good and to engage in critical reflection about the planning of one’s life.” I believe it is important for both teacher and student to engage in practical reason. If teachers care for the students future and encourage them to achieve whatever they desire and students believe they can, we come closer to having social justice. We eliminate our differences. Affiliation is described as caring for others, understanding others situations by placing ourselves in their shoes and treating everyone as equal. Affiliation and practical reason go hand in hand. They are both characteristics of a democratic environment where everybody is treated the same and all have an equal opportunity to be successful.

There is a problem with the approach, even though we as teachers and mentors can encourage students to go above and beyond, we cannot predetermine what students choose to do with this. Two people may choose to go into the nursing profession. One may want to do it because he/she loves to nurture others, the other may do it for the salary and comfortable living situation.

This approach has faults. It tells us to teach students that they are capable of achieving anything they desire, regardless of those who feel inadequate. The article, however, does not show us what this looks like in a classroom. It is up to the teacher to decide how to implement these capabilities in their teaching. All in all, we need to show confidence in our students. Make them believe they are just as equal as anybody else. With this idea instilled in students’ minds, the desire to be educated will flourish in each individual and we will become closer to attaining social justice.

Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture in an Urban Secondary English Classroom

The biggest question I ask myself before I create a lesson plan is, “Will this motivate my students to act?” I love that this reading, “Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture in an Urban Secondary English Classroom” gave me some insight on how to put a little more meaning into my lessons.

I will be a student teacher in January and I have been thinking about lessons I can create that will make a big difference in my students’ lives. We will be covering the Holocaust unit and I feel that I can take advantage of this and do something huge! I am placed at a school that is full of students from struggling families. It is enlightening to hear that others schools like the one can make a difference. Any student can fight for what they believe in.  As teachers, we can help students to find what they want to fight for.

There were many things in this article that I valued, but I will just talk about one of them. The power of a movie, it can either be a productive teaching tool or a waste of time. It all depends on how the teacher utilizes it. I like how the reading put it, “It is important to state up front that we watched film, not merely as entertainment, but as an intellectual activity.” Film can be more intriguing to students because they get a visual. I feel that for students (some who really do not like to read) would rather see a visual in action rather than just reading about it. Film can have a stronger hold on emotion. In order for movies to be a productive teaching tool, teachers need to find ways to assess students on the information covered in the movie. The text gave some examples, taking notes, watching segments and discussing it as a class, and including comparisons to other materials covered or current events. When watching a movie, the class is hearing and seeing everything at the same time, “The class members, as a community of practice, participate together in joint activity of making sense of this text.” (I learned that film can be a type of text!). Working together creates a safe space for students to express opinions and engage in discussion for future lessons.

The most important piece of knowledge I gained was to always make connections between the curriculum and the world our students live in. Film is an efficient way of doing this. The more connections that are made, the more ambitious our children will be and their desires to act will grow.  WOOT for engaging pedagogy and curriculum!

Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts

Nothing in this world is absolute. Let us have that soak into our brains for a bit. After reading Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts, I have been enlightened. My view of the world and the education system has changed just a bit. When I think of the world, I believe that everything is, for the most part, black and white. There are truths and there are untruths, there are answers to every question and traditions are always the best way to go about doing things. Well, that is not true. Society has a way of wanting to conform to one thing. The media, government, education system, etc. have a way of telling us how things are. If we do not conform or we do not meet the standards, we feel that we have failed. This should not be! Those who resist to conform to society should not be deemed wrong either.

In education, teachers have a set way of doing things, they have procedures put in place to smooth the transitions, deal with misbehavior and effectively teach. What may work for one teacher may not work for another. I see in the classroom I am placed in, my teacher has a way of dealing with student misbehavior and rewarding good students. After observing, I find that I want to use the same techniques because they work. This is not the only way of doing it though. Maybe this is how ideologies are formed. Something may work once, and it starts a waterfall effect. Generations keep doing the same thing because that is how the generation before it did. Once somebody tries to break tradition, people stand aghast! Standardized testing is one of these ideologies that will take forever to break; a standard that one must meet to be considered a successful student.

As I have continued in my schooling, my mind has been put to ease on the ideology that teachers are all knowing and students expect that from them. I have found that this idea is slowly fading and classrooms are becoming more democratic. Students and teachers play an equal role in the classroom. Veering away from this traditional idea, I believe, helps students to inquire for themselves, to test the limits of knowledge and truth and become valiant thinkers. That is my goal as a future teacher. I want to break this concept that there is absolute truth, that there is always an answer, it hinders learning.

It is my hope that we as individuals can act like individuals and decide for ourselves, without outside influences to determine what values and morals are; to look at society through new glasses. Try to live a life without prejudice or concrete standards influenced by society.

Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Chapter two of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire, was easier to understand than the first chapter. In the beginning of the chapter, it seemed as though Freire had a blanket opinion that all teachers were the same. He refers to “banking concept of education” in which teacher are all knowing and students ignorant. It is the job of the teacher to spit out information at the students and they are to take it in and memorize it without thinking why this information is so. While reading I felt that he was accusing all teachers of this. I agree that when I went to high school a few of my teachers really did follow this concept. As long as I memorized my terms and could write them on paper, I passed the class. I can’t remember anything from those classes because I didn’t think about what the concepts meant to me and the world. Freire explains that this is a problem. Education should not be something we just accept.

Freire later introduced another form of teaching called, “the problem posing method” which is essentially the banking concepts opposite.  “The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. This method makes students and teachers equal in the learning process. Concepts that are taught are not accepted as fact, but are explored and discussed. Concepts gain value and are not just words but have a place in the world.

I agree that the problem posing method is the better method to use in fact it is the method that we are now taught in college. Teachers should not have all the answers and should not be perceived by students as such. In reality, like the text implies, if we study a concept deep enough, we find that we do not come to one conclusion but find many aspects that lead us to question even more. This is the beauty of education. It never stops.  With this method in action, schools become a place where students learn to inquire for themselves and act, which later leads them to become successful citizens in the real world. 

Paulo Freire: Chapter 1 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, chapter one, explains how to become human beings. We live in a society that that has a distorted view of what it means to be human. There are two types of people in the world, the oppressor and the oppressed. 

            The oppressor, in the act of trying to be “human, “ dehumanizes the oppressed. The oppressors believe they have freedom. (Which they don’t) The oppressed on the other hand start to believe they are of little worth and see no other way than to be under the rule of the oppressor. It is ironic because they (the oppressed) are the key to restoring humanity. In order to achieve humanity, the oppressed need to fight for their freedom, which is responsibility and the right to self govern. This conquest is not impossible but the oppressed must overcome their lack of confidence and ACT!

            The oppressed must overlook their current situation and see themselves as powerful figures.  In order to do this, they need to continuously reflect on who they are and what they are doing to act. By acting, they become the oppressors of the former oppressors. If they are not acting correctly, they will switch roles and become the new oppressors. If the pedagogy is rightfully achieved, the (former) oppressors will sympathize with the oppressed and all will be equal.  At the end of the reading it briefly revealed who exactly the oppressed and oppressors are.  The oppressors are teachers and the oppressed are students.

So what does this all mean? I believe it means that our education is changing. It used to be that teachers were the leaders and students saw the teacher as a feared authority figure. Teachers taught by lecture. One-way communication. Education has come a long way since then. We have found that classrooms work more effectively when teachers and students work together (as the reading states) “re-creating that knowledge.” This knowledge comes from constant reflection and action. The goal of the classroom is to attain freedom and human equality.  If teachers and students work together and create a space where two-way communication, positive feedback, and an uplifting atmosphere coexist, students will be successful in their role as a learner and creator of knowledge.

This text was very difficult to understand and I still am not sure if have a clear idea of the point this text was trying to make. I did like nor understand the reasoning behind people having “objective” and “subjective” views. It says that they cannot exist together or apart and they contradict each other, therefore they do not exist. And yet society needs to have an objective view in order to correctly act.

I also did not agree with the portion that explains the oppressed as being a flock that does not make a decision without everybody else agreeing at the same time. If we look at it from a classroom perspective, there are small groups of students who group together and generally agree on a choice before voicing it, but somewhere along the line, an individual had to express an opinion in order for there to be action. 

I thought this informational text danced around a simple concept and was very repetitive explaining it. The level of diction was unnecessarily high and was probably put in place for the purpose of confusion. I felt oppressed! It seemed in some ways, a false representation and over exaggerated interpretation of the educational system.

Common Core State Standards for Reading

I studied the reading literature and informational text standards for 8^th grade to get a deeper understanding of what each standard entailed and if the students in my classroom were up to par with the standards. I also read over the reading foundational skills for 5^th grade (the highest grade standard).

First off, I want to say that I am a fan of Common Core State Standards. I believe that schools all around the country should strive to meet similar goals. It would be convenient for students to move to a different state and not be far behind or ahead in the curriculum (easier on the teacher too). I also believe that the standards are broad enough that a number of classrooms can be at different levels of understanding while achieving the standard. Like the website states, “Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and knowledge their professional judgment and experience identify as most helpful for meeting the goals set out in the Standards.” Not all teachers are created equal. Some teachers will help their students to achieve the higher end of the standard, while other teachers reach the lower end. The gaps in the standard can be positive or negative depending on the work ethic of the teacher.

Reading, in my opinion, is the most effective way to gain knowledge. Looking over the reading standards, I was impressed to see the word “analyze” in almost every single one. This verb tells us that students should not just read, but they should reflect, examine and make connections to what they read. This skill is essential for citizens who live in the real world (real world meaning to have a job, or important responsibility.)

In the CCSS I also ran across some things I did not like. One in particular is the goal learners are supposed to meet by the end of the year. For 8^th graders, they are to read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of their grades text complexity band. I am not totally sure of what a complexity band is, but I do know that each book in a school library shows what reading level it is. Just because a student is in 8^th grade does not mean they are incompetent if they have trouble reading 8^th grade level books. The books are given a reading level based on the level of diction it uses. There is more to a fiction novels than vocabulary. Books at a 5^th grade reading level contain complex situations that cause the reader to think of a solution. These books can be about characters that are older than ten and experience problems that 13 and 14-year-olds do.  I am new to the whole education field but I hope the tools that are used for determining whether a student is with the standard are not solely measured by vocabulary.