Chapter 3 Teaching To Change The World

This chapter was a review for me regarding the history of education and all of the changes that have happened with education and the philosophies of education. As I was reading I was trying to find which philosophy I was most similar with. I thought “maybe a little of this a little bit of that” as I continued to read. I think it was best said towards the end of the chapter, ” Each day American teachers confront and win the curriculum battle, as they engage students with rich and powerful ideas that touch their lives. That is one reason they return to school each day.” I think teachers are winning the curriculum battle because we are utilizing bits and pieces from a wide variety of philosophies and incorporate this diversity to the benefit our students. As teachers we need to stand strong and confident not be told what is best for our students (NCLB). We should always remember the above quote and the importance of engaging the child to touch their lives and help them grow as a child.

The true stories/examples throughout the chapter were interesting to me and intriguing to read. I like having real life examples to help me connect with the text. Two of the stories that most interested me was the story about Halloween and Dia de los muertos by the first-year bilingual teachers and the story by Chang, the first grade teacher. Both stories brought in the relevance of the home/school connection in the classroom. I have actually heard teachers in my school tell their Spanish speaking students,”Do not speak Spanish in school-tell me in English and talk to your friends in English.” I want to run and hide of embarrassment for that teacher. The diversity of all of our students brings such richness and learning opportunities to our classrooms. How sad for a child not to have the opportunity to share their personal identity with school and make those connections not only for students of the same culture but all students. I’ve realized that I also need to let this happen more in my classroom and bring in MORE home/school connections than I do now. All year I kept saying I would love to ask some of my bilingual moms to come in and teach Spanish and share the Spanish culture to my students but I still have yet to do that. Why did I wait and keep putting that off? Does it go back to the curriculum dilemma of not having time for something like that and the administration feeling that is not an important part of the curriculum at this time. Back to winning the curriculum battle…

Freire Chapter 4

After our past experience with Freire’s letters I am feeling much more positive about his book. I have enjoyed the forward and the preface and getting some background knowledge about the book and Freire. It helps me put the readings in perspective and understand where they are coming from.

This fourth letter was my most enjoyable letter so far. I really could relate to these qualities and how they are all necessary for the educational world, not only teachers but everyone who is working with our children. How nice would it be if the entire human race would endure all of these qualities? What a world we would live in. After reading about some of these qualities I ask myself why are some of these so hard for people to portray at times including myself?

My husband is an archaeologist and he was at a Native American conference this week with Native Americans from all over the country and they were meeting to discuss cultural preservation, cultural sensitivity, etc. He was discussing with me the different perspectives of religion and culture that the Native Americans were discussing and he was sharing with me how the meeting and the discussions stressed how important it is that we are not judgmental of people’s religions, customs, and history, because that is a significant part of their group identity and we need to respect the different cultural views that people hold onto and believe. And our discussion went on and on –how is his world falling into my critical pedagogy world? Because these qualities are not just for education, they are worldly qualities and are important issues to consider in regards to how people from different backgrounds relate to each other.

There are two virtues that have really played a role in my life recently in work and my personal world. The first virtue is “lovingness”. I have a student this year who seems to be trying to take away my lovingness toward teaching every day. I chose this student as my critical child project because I want to see him change and see my attitude change towards him. After reading this letter I realized I need to really work on the lovingness for him and my other students and continue that fight for him to make things better in both of our worlds.

The other virtue I found relevant at times is the virtue of tolerance. Of course I have always been taught to be open to everyone and everyone’s differences and for the most part I am confident that I hold to that value. But it wasn’t until my special needs daughter was born that I really learned the word tolerant. When Maya was born she was different from the beginning and my entire family had to head down an unknown road. After Maya was born I remember driving in the car, going to stores, being at the mall and saying to myself and my husband,”Everyone is different!” I would just stare and look and make myself feel better and just say this to myself over and over. While enduring stares of people towards Maya I would just say under my breath and still do “everyone is different –what are you looking at.” After many discussions with my husband we have tied together intolerance with the unknown. Are people being intolerant or is it an unknown world to them and it seems they are being intolerant?

I  felt I too have a story and could connect with all of the qualities in the letter and enjoyed it!