Mommy is Sooo Proud!!

Today was the first day of real discussion since school has started back. The first two class periods are difficult to work with, because students are adding and dropping, so you might as well just resign yourself to covering the syllabus, doing ice-breakers and helping them understand the breakdown of the class. Today is when the real thing starts, and I did something a bit different, so I was a little nervous.

I assigned a reading from Paulo Freire, and I photocopied about 8 pages from the second chapter of his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire is really important to my own teaching pedagogy, but I feel he has something important to contribute to everyone. The second chapter in particular deals with what he calls the banking model of education, and it's a fascinating read. The entire chapter can be found here.

A banking model assumes students are vessels to be filled with knowledge and the teacher will pour it in when and how she chooses. It assumes that there is nothing to be gained by the teacher from the student. The student only has a voice when the teacher decides to grant it. Example: the class is to remain quiet until I need you to answer a question. But then, you'll raise your hand, and I get to pick who gets to speak. While a certain amount of structure is important, and Freire discusses the students "apprenticing" themselves to a teacher, it is the stifling of creativity and communication he is most concerned with. It is a revolutionary book. Those who unschool will readily resonate with the material. This book caught on like wildfire outside of the developed First world. Students were photocopying sections of it and passing it around. Students under totalitarian regimes caught with part of the book risked prison and punishment.

I was concerned because I felt that we should start our critical thinking exploration with just such a piece. But most of the time, a student will only encounter Freire in a graduate program, if then. Not exactly something normally handed out to 18-19 year olds. So I was expecting a difficult time discussing the piece. Students for reasons of their own hate, hate, hate to discuss things in class. Probably because of the very banking model that they were educated in. They also don't want to appear foolish and unknowledgeable in front of their peers. I thought it was going to be hard.

Boy, was I in for a surprise! I had budgeted 15 minutes to discuss this article, thinking it would be like pulling teeth. The next thing I know, I look down at my watch and we have 5 minutes left in class! They took to the material in a livlier and fresher way than some graduate classes I've been in. And did they have things to say! We went from schooling to choice to the media to the Iraq war (we always end up on the Iraq war nowadays)back to schooling to what on earth are we going to do about it. They were full of observations. They were quick to correct and supplement each other. It was the perfect discussion.

And it was exactly what Freire would've wanted. The students become teachers and the teacher shuts up for a while and becomes a student. They engage in dialogue, in communication, and they poke around the edges of ideas together. They leave class still talking about it.

Mommy is so proud!!

-- Virgil