From our discussion on 7.7.11, what will stick with me the most relates to the discussion we had about Freire’s statement: “the oppressed find in the oppressor their model of ‘manhood.’” The first question to the group was about what this ‘model of manhood’ might look like for the students we will teach in the future and how we might realistically combat that model. In posing the question, I was specifically thinking about teaching elementary school students and the boundaries that exist when teaching students of younger ages. Though I would love to have discussions and lessons on oppression/societal issues with my students, it becomes more difficult the younger they are. My group members had a lot of valuable insight for me, which was greatly appreciated. They mentioned, much like we discussed in Professor Cass’ class on Wednesday, taking experiences from students lives and using them as an opportunity to teach different lessons. For those of you who might be thinking about this as well, Professor Grandson also mentioned some resources that he used while teaching 1st grade: “We are all alike, we are all different” by Laura Dwight and a nonprofit organization called Voices of Love and Freedom which promotes “a literature-based approach to literacy, values, and prevention.” The idea of reaching into our student’s lives as a way to relate topics in the classroom to their worlds is coming up frequently in our classes and discussions. It is becoming evident that this is an idea we will continually be thinking about for years from now.
(This is not directly related, but I can't make myself form a new post...)
ReplyDelete7.7.11. Reflection
Working with my group on Thursday helped me to better digest some of Freire's and Fanon's points.
Throughout my reading (Friere), quotes I was first drawn to were:
"Their vision of the new man or woman is individualistic; because of their identification with the oppressor, they have no consciousness of themselves as persons or as members of an oppressed group"(Freire 46).
"The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom" (Freire 47).
My mind raced through multiple images in attempt to digest the text: I thought of students that have been alienated in the classroom, absent of resources, thinking this condition is "okay" because he knows of no condition that has ever been better. And I thought about the student who glows with determination in attempt to re-write the prescribed "guidelines"imposed by society.
In our group, Brian proposed an interesting question: How do we trust the new urban community we teach in? Interestingly enough, we all thought about how do we get the students to trust us? We can't just assumed that we'll have an easy entrance into their community. We need to get to know the students, acknowledging our prejudices and remain open-minded.We need to approach our new communities with a critical eye, in order to best serve our students.
-Michelle