“Pedagogical practices can
determine the extent to which all students learn to engage more fully the ideas
and issues that seem to have direct relation to their experience.” -bell hooks
Dear lovely reader,
This week bell hooks in her book Teaching to Transgress asks teachers
to examine themselves in a not-so-flattering light. Some is directly stated and some is
implicitly drawn between the lines.
Within the context of giving voice to the students as well as other
views other than the hegemonic norm, she brings up the term “authority of
experience” that gives notice only to those who have erudition and power by
means of social scripts that allow them to have such. hooks cites that this is often used to “silence
and exclude” different views/people from the conversation. In order to change this dynamic and release
other voices in the framework of the class room teachers must be willing to 1) scrutinize
their own beliefs, 2) let go of their pride, and 3) let go of fear.
If the goal of a teacher’s classroom is to empower critical thinkers
who learn to question their beliefs and traditions as a form of learning, one
of the first things a teacher must learn to do is to question his/her own
beliefs. In order for the students to
see and understand this it must be modeled for them right? There is a grey area
here that a teacher must answer for her/him self (assuming that hooks’ premise
for the goal of a classroom is something to be emulated-something that asks for
a conversation of its own); what part of this questioning process is shown to
the students? Is it truly a good idea to be in a state of questioning such core
beliefs in the midst of one’s students? Perhaps it might be best to show them
only the end product or only the beginning of the journey, or maybe it might be
best to explain a process that has already taken place rather than something a
teacher is in the midst of. Certainly,
it would take away creditability to tell one’s students that the authority
figure does not/did not have everything figured out right?
Is the argument for a loss of credibility
valid at all? On one hand, a teacher must be able to control the
classroom. At the very least students
must respect the teacher enough to listen to them and obey the rules of the
classroom. On the other hand the tight
grip on that “creditability” can also suffocate students by not allowing the
teacher to teach by example or to let other perspectives speak. This is the idea of “Do as I say not as I do.” Perhaps it is valid to acknowledge that
sometimes “credibility” is just a fancy word for ego and pride. If a teacher can
realize that his/her pride does play a role in their classroom, maybe it is
also possible to find a way to model how to question one’s own beliefs and perspective
while still maintaining credibility. While on the way to balance it might be
prudent to ask teachers and students alike –Who speaks? Who listens? And why? As
hooksl suggests so that this new freedom can be taken home to the classroom to commence
this process. Learning to lessen the power a teacher holds creates the
opportunity for the students to empower themselves.
The final step to question is that of letting go of fear. hooks speaks the fear of passion in the
classroom.
As she sees it, many teachers are afraid of passion because they fear
that it will inevitably lead to conflict.
Many teachers (me included) seek to combat this fear of chaos by
creating a “safe environment.” While
this tactic can and does work in many cases, it lends itself to a conversion
from safe into boring. The “safety” net
becoming a distance from the harder subjects whether it be racism, violence, or
even the teacher her/himself. So what
does safe look like when it is not boring? hooks would explain it as community,
I would add that there is also a need for checks and balances built into that
community. Through building a community,
a space is freed from the fear of oppression on the part of the students as
they learn about each other in ways that unlearns stereotypes and creates significance
for differing perspectives. Within this,
checks and balances are needed. These might include parameters of respect
instituted by the teacher as well as offering accountability for things that
are said/done in the classroom. I would
purpose that these types of changes would bring more coherency rather than
chaos in the classroom as a whole.
All of this being said, it is important to note that this is built on
the premise that the idea hooks is concerned with (the opening of minds to new
thoughts and perspectives as a means creating a better society) is one that
should be shared as a priority in the classroom.
“Educating the mind without
educating the heart is no education at all.”
-Aristotle
~A.R.G.
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