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 | MY CULTURE SITE |
| INEQUALITY.ORG |
| GERMANTOWN ACADEMY |
Implications for my own teaching career
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The implications of what this study means to my own teaching career are best expressed through the ideas of Paulo Freire. He believed that a movement of inquiry must have fellowship and social solidarity at its core (Freire 85). Thus, at least for my classroom, I have to establish a community that is united. I could use the Germantown Academy website (view link on website) to have icebreakers and encourage community building in the classroom. Standard 4.2 of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning will relate to the goal of becoming united by understanding one’s own culture and others. The class should present knowledge of all cultures and see what unites those cultures and what unites our own. In this cooperative learning project, all students will have the opportunity to gain the liberating education that Freire talks about, “liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferals of information” (79). My ultimate goal for students in my classroom will be for them to find themselves and leave the course with a stronger sense of self and an attitude of respect toward others. Freire pointed to a solution, “not to ‘integrate’ [students] into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become ‘beings for themselves” (74). People can only be forced to do something for a limited amount of time. It is important to have high expectations, but all students should ultimately gain from their learning experience.
As Gloria Boutte asserts in her book, Resounding Voices, “the challenge for educators is to make each child feel special” (304). One way to do this is by addressing inequalities that are evident in social, political, economic and historical culture. I could use the website inequality.org (view link on web page) to discuss these. That can mainly be fulfilled with high expectations for each student while stressing the importance of collective achievement. Every individual strengthens the whole. A classroom environment should portray this belief. Boutte also makes a comment on Freire’s conception of cultural invasion relating to the myths spread by schools making Christopher Columbus a hero. This symbol for discovery of the Americas could be used as a stepping stone for greater truth. Instead of just covering the story about Columbus’ discovery, his life should be critically examined by students. Then, others like him should be researched as a means to discover a more complete truth. This is an example of a healthy exercise that should be acculturated and manifested into current school culture because this process should be carried out in all social interactions. Instead of just relying on social and political culture to supply all the answers, students should become learners of themselves and of others in a meaningful and personal way. This dehumanization, what Freire also discussed, has caused students to separate themselves from the culture of education (44). They feel that this information is somehow not real.
My job as a future teacher will be to make information more real to students. I have to understand students more by incorporating their experiences into the classroom. Knowledge has to directly relate to students. For example, if the lesson is about German Kings, I would not only talk about accomplishments, but also discuss failures and request of students to come up with solutions if they were in situations as kings. Role-playing is just one example which would make learning more meaningful.
As far as changing culture, students (myself included) will have to eventually relate the study of other cultures back to our own culture. When my teaching reaches that point, small changes in culture will start taking place. The following chart illustrates how this process can become reality.
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Figure 1. Solidarity has to be established before any classroom learning can take place. “Student” represents the teacher and the students. “Discipline” includes other disciplines that students might be taking that are used in making connections. Notice that students, throughout the process, are connected to each part of the process, which means they are in dialogue about knowledge attained. As a result, students desire to be more intimately connected with other people in mutual understanding; thus, increasing commitment to introducing this process to others. Students who have completed the process will want to repeat the process, but this time with a higher level of understanding and an increased desire for life-long commitment.
