Chapter 13 – Eros, Eroticism and Pedagogical Process
Main ideas and theses:
Chapter 13, as the quote shows, discusses the issue that many higher education professors today lack passion for teaching the subject. Though professor once held, and may still hold passion for the subject that they teach, they no longer strive to involve the students and develop their passion as well. Unfortunately, most students need inspiration to find a love of learning. Chapter 13 instructs teachers to always teach passionately and never lose the love of knowledge; if we, as teachers, are excited and involved, then our students will be too.
Consistent/ Inconsistent with Experiences as a Student/Novice/ Teaching Associate.
As a student, I could not agree with the ideas presented in chapter 13 more. My best teachers were those who never stopped growing in their own education. My kindergarten teacher was always on the lookout for new concepts to teach us; because of her devotion, we learned sign language and even cooked in our classroom if it related to the book we were reading. In high school, however, I had a chemistry teacher who, in fewer words, told the class he hated his job and his life. He did not care about the class, let alone our interest in the subject. I lost all motivation even before second semester began.
As a Novice, I must say that I am concerned as to how teachers lose their passion. When I found out that I had to tutor at 8:00am in the morning, I was discouraged; I immediately thought I would hate it after a week or two. As soon as I met my student, however, and began to work with him twice a week, I could not wait to find new ideas that I knew he would enjoy. I loved when he got excited about a book we were reading or an educational game we were playing, and I still can’t wrap my mind around the idea that I could ever lose that excitement.
Consistent/ Inconsistent with Teaching Beliefs & Practices
Chapter 13 basically spells out my teaching beliefs and practices. I feel that, if you lose the passion to teach, you should not be allowed to. Children need role models who display that it is fun and exciting and completely acceptable to learn. If I slack off as a teacher because I don’t care, then my students will think that it’s okay for them to slack off as well. The more they slack off, the more likely they are to slip in their education, and when children slip in their education, they begin to lose their chance at a comfortable, happy life. I believe that, as a teacher, it is my job to increase each student’s chance at a good life, and for that reason, I must instill the idea of passion into, and not only display it to, each student.
So what? Impact on Future Professional Development
I feel that, because I have been forced to look at the impact of teaching with passion, I have been enabled to realize that I can never lose my fervor. Perhaps so many teachers lose their love of teaching because they never took the time to step back and observe what a great difference it makes in their students’ success. By reading the books for this class, however, and analyzing what the teacher’s attitude in the classroom does, I feel that I have been compelled to take into account that I must never lose my passion. I realize that if I ever feel that I am losing my love of teaching, I cannot give up and let my students slip; I must not only challenge them, but challenge myself as well to always keep my students engaged and enlightened.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Teaching to Transgress chapter 8-14
5. Sentences Summarizing the Main Idea
In these chapters, bell hooks writes concerning the nation’s attempt to make all people the same. There is neglect throughout the country regarding differences in white male and black, white female and black female, and even white language and black language. bell hooks encourages difference and acceptance throughout the classroom as well as encouraging understanding of the differences in order to create greater equality. As well, she says that we, as teachers, must not only consider the mind in the classroom, but the body as well to make it an experience of the person as a “whole.”
4. Key Quotes
1. “Confronting one another across differences means that we must change ideas about how we learn; rather than fearing conflict we have to find ways to use it as a catalyst for new thinking, for growth” (113).
2. “It was only when I entered college that I learned that black males had supposedly been ‘emasculated,’ that the trauma of slavery was primarily that it had stripped black men of their right to male privilege and power, that it had prevented them from fully actualizing ‘masculinity’ (120).
3. “In the classroom setting, I encourage students to use their first language and translate it so they do not feel that seeking higher education will necessarily estrange them from that language and culture they know most intimately” (172).
4. “Significantly, I found that when ‘women’ were talked about, the experience of white women was universalized to stand for all female experience and that when ‘black people’ were talked about, the experience of black men was the point of reference” (121).
3. Key Terms
1. Feminist classroom – 113 – any classroom where the topic is being taught from a feminist perspective
2. Women’s Studies course – 113 – course aimed at studying women in the past and present
3. “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” – 167 – a poem by Adrienne Rich
2. Connections
1. “…despite racism, black gender relations were constructed to maintain black male authority even if they did not mirror white paradigms, or about the way white female identity and status was different from that of black women” (120).
• Throughout high school, I attended classes with a wide variety of students. Our school was made up of wealthy students of various descents, as well as poor students bussed in from the projects of our city. In four years, I became acquainted with many students from both ends of the spectrum, and quickly realized how differently life can be based upon race. To me, it seemed that, in the homes of wealthy African American students, their father was only a “good” father if he acted like a white man. So many of my friends from the less fortunate parts of town did not even know their fathers, but among those of whom did, not many shared positive experiences. It seems, too often, that in order for an African American man to gain respect in society, he has to whiten himself. The positive differences between white males and black males are not recognized; only the encouragement for society to act white, regardless of each man’s heritage, is encouraged.
2. In chapter eleven, hooks discusses encouraging students to speak in their vernacular language. She shares an occasion, as well, when she instructed her students to speak in such a manner, and when they did, other students were angered, complaining that they could not understand what was being said.
• In high school, our teachers always corrected students who spoke in their vernacular language. I realized then, and still do today, that it is not “proper” English. I never asked myself, however, what “proper English” really is. There were always different dialects and accents throughout the United States because it has always been such a melting pot; who is to say that we must speak in a certain manner to be accepted? I wish that I would have had teachers like bell hooks that encouraged my fellow classmates to speak in their vernacular tongue. Too often, I fear, there are students who don’t share their valuable opinions because they are afraid of “sounding dumb.” I know that I have sat in classes with ideas running through my mind, but kept quiet because I didn’t know if it was the right answer and if I knew how to correctly say it. Students need encouragement such as bell hooks provides to speak in the language that makes them comfortable and confident. If students are given the opportunity to feel not only encouraged, but insightful, they will strive on that success and, hopefully, reach their potential.
1. Question
In your classroom, how will you expect students to speak? Will you require perfect language in essays and oral responses? If so, what effect do you think your expectations will have on your students’ self-assurance?
In these chapters, bell hooks writes concerning the nation’s attempt to make all people the same. There is neglect throughout the country regarding differences in white male and black, white female and black female, and even white language and black language. bell hooks encourages difference and acceptance throughout the classroom as well as encouraging understanding of the differences in order to create greater equality. As well, she says that we, as teachers, must not only consider the mind in the classroom, but the body as well to make it an experience of the person as a “whole.”
4. Key Quotes
1. “Confronting one another across differences means that we must change ideas about how we learn; rather than fearing conflict we have to find ways to use it as a catalyst for new thinking, for growth” (113).
2. “It was only when I entered college that I learned that black males had supposedly been ‘emasculated,’ that the trauma of slavery was primarily that it had stripped black men of their right to male privilege and power, that it had prevented them from fully actualizing ‘masculinity’ (120).
3. “In the classroom setting, I encourage students to use their first language and translate it so they do not feel that seeking higher education will necessarily estrange them from that language and culture they know most intimately” (172).
4. “Significantly, I found that when ‘women’ were talked about, the experience of white women was universalized to stand for all female experience and that when ‘black people’ were talked about, the experience of black men was the point of reference” (121).
3. Key Terms
1. Feminist classroom – 113 – any classroom where the topic is being taught from a feminist perspective
2. Women’s Studies course – 113 – course aimed at studying women in the past and present
3. “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” – 167 – a poem by Adrienne Rich
2. Connections
1. “…despite racism, black gender relations were constructed to maintain black male authority even if they did not mirror white paradigms, or about the way white female identity and status was different from that of black women” (120).
• Throughout high school, I attended classes with a wide variety of students. Our school was made up of wealthy students of various descents, as well as poor students bussed in from the projects of our city. In four years, I became acquainted with many students from both ends of the spectrum, and quickly realized how differently life can be based upon race. To me, it seemed that, in the homes of wealthy African American students, their father was only a “good” father if he acted like a white man. So many of my friends from the less fortunate parts of town did not even know their fathers, but among those of whom did, not many shared positive experiences. It seems, too often, that in order for an African American man to gain respect in society, he has to whiten himself. The positive differences between white males and black males are not recognized; only the encouragement for society to act white, regardless of each man’s heritage, is encouraged.
2. In chapter eleven, hooks discusses encouraging students to speak in their vernacular language. She shares an occasion, as well, when she instructed her students to speak in such a manner, and when they did, other students were angered, complaining that they could not understand what was being said.
• In high school, our teachers always corrected students who spoke in their vernacular language. I realized then, and still do today, that it is not “proper” English. I never asked myself, however, what “proper English” really is. There were always different dialects and accents throughout the United States because it has always been such a melting pot; who is to say that we must speak in a certain manner to be accepted? I wish that I would have had teachers like bell hooks that encouraged my fellow classmates to speak in their vernacular tongue. Too often, I fear, there are students who don’t share their valuable opinions because they are afraid of “sounding dumb.” I know that I have sat in classes with ideas running through my mind, but kept quiet because I didn’t know if it was the right answer and if I knew how to correctly say it. Students need encouragement such as bell hooks provides to speak in the language that makes them comfortable and confident. If students are given the opportunity to feel not only encouraged, but insightful, they will strive on that success and, hopefully, reach their potential.
1. Question
In your classroom, how will you expect students to speak? Will you require perfect language in essays and oral responses? If so, what effect do you think your expectations will have on your students’ self-assurance?
Monday, March 1, 2010
Teaching to Transgress - Introduction - Chapter 7
5. Sentences Regarding the Overall Statement
In the book Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks writes on her experiences as a black student in the American public school system as well as her position as an African American schoolteacher. She shares her thoughts regarding how different methods of teaching combined with various attitudes towards not only education, but towards students. She writes to inform teachers of the nation how to teach children to transgress in life. She wants students to feel passion for school and power in knowledge in a multicultural world.
4.Key Quotes
1.“To begin, the teacher must genuinely value everyone’s presence. There must be an ongoing recognition that everyone influences the classroom dynamic, that everyone contributes. These contributions are resources.” – page 8
2.“In the effort to respect and honor the social reality and experiences of groups in this society who are nonwhite is to be reflected in a pedagogical process, then as teachers- on all levels, from elementary to university settings – we must acknowledge that our styles of teaching may need to change.” – page 35
3. “Not only did it require movement beyond accepted boundaries, but excitement could not be generated without a full recognition of the fact that there could never be an absolute set agenda governing teaching practices. Agendas had to be flexible, had to allow for spontaneous shifts in direction. Students had to be seen in their particularity as individuals (I drew on the strategies my grade school teachers used to get to know us) and interacted with according to their needs (here Freire was useful).” – page 7
4. “Many professors have conveyed to me their feeling that the classroom should be a ‘safe’ place…It is the absence of a feeling of safety that often promotes prolonged silence or lack of student engagement.” – page 39
3. Key Terms
1. “Liberatory practice” – page 59
* a form of teaching that will allow children to find power in knowledge and set them free from society’s unfair separation of classes.
2. “Paulo Freire” – page 45
* a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy
3. “”transgressions” – page 12
* movements against and beyond social boundaries
2. Connections
1. “And I saw for the first time that there can be, and usually is, some degree of pain involved in giving up old ways of thinking and knowing and learning new approaches. I respect that pain. And I include recognition of it now when I teach, that is to say, I teach about shifting paradigms and talk about the discomfort it can cause. White students learning to think more critically about questions of race and racism may go home for the holidays and suddenly see their parents in a different light.” – page 43
* This passage reminds me of our own Social Issues class. Weekly, I feel that Dr. Talbert pushes our limits, makes us think, and introduces us to subjects that we may never have looked deeply into without his aid. Sure, there are times in class where we feel uncomfortable or even ashamed of what we want to say, but that’s what makes the class so insightful. Observing what those around us think and hearing what they have experienced helps us to know what we may face in the future as teachers.
2. “The unwillingness to approach teaching from a standpoint that includes awareness of race, sex, and class is often rooted in the fear that classrooms will be uncontrollable, that emotions and passions will not be contained.” – page 39
* So many teachers in high school were afraid of losing control of our classroom. In English class, especially, we would read works that particular students may feel passionate about, but if a religious belief or any other value that was not standard in the classroom was brought about, it was quickly avoided. Unfortunately, I saw so many students in my class become discouraged with their lack of opportunity to express themselves and share what the book had done for them and their own emotions. Dr. Talbert, however, does the exact opposite. He encourages us to lose control (to an extent) and to let our emotions and passion run unleashed. I feel that an uncontained classroom such as his has allowed me to connect with how I feel about society and the educational world, as well as about myself as an educator, more than any other course I have taken part in throughout my school career.
1. Question
* As a future educator, how do you plan to conduct your classroom? Will you incorporate liberatory practices? If so, how? If not, why not?
In the book Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks writes on her experiences as a black student in the American public school system as well as her position as an African American schoolteacher. She shares her thoughts regarding how different methods of teaching combined with various attitudes towards not only education, but towards students. She writes to inform teachers of the nation how to teach children to transgress in life. She wants students to feel passion for school and power in knowledge in a multicultural world.
4.Key Quotes
1.“To begin, the teacher must genuinely value everyone’s presence. There must be an ongoing recognition that everyone influences the classroom dynamic, that everyone contributes. These contributions are resources.” – page 8
2.“In the effort to respect and honor the social reality and experiences of groups in this society who are nonwhite is to be reflected in a pedagogical process, then as teachers- on all levels, from elementary to university settings – we must acknowledge that our styles of teaching may need to change.” – page 35
3. “Not only did it require movement beyond accepted boundaries, but excitement could not be generated without a full recognition of the fact that there could never be an absolute set agenda governing teaching practices. Agendas had to be flexible, had to allow for spontaneous shifts in direction. Students had to be seen in their particularity as individuals (I drew on the strategies my grade school teachers used to get to know us) and interacted with according to their needs (here Freire was useful).” – page 7
4. “Many professors have conveyed to me their feeling that the classroom should be a ‘safe’ place…It is the absence of a feeling of safety that often promotes prolonged silence or lack of student engagement.” – page 39
3. Key Terms
1. “Liberatory practice” – page 59
* a form of teaching that will allow children to find power in knowledge and set them free from society’s unfair separation of classes.
2. “Paulo Freire” – page 45
* a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy
3. “”transgressions” – page 12
* movements against and beyond social boundaries
2. Connections
1. “And I saw for the first time that there can be, and usually is, some degree of pain involved in giving up old ways of thinking and knowing and learning new approaches. I respect that pain. And I include recognition of it now when I teach, that is to say, I teach about shifting paradigms and talk about the discomfort it can cause. White students learning to think more critically about questions of race and racism may go home for the holidays and suddenly see their parents in a different light.” – page 43
* This passage reminds me of our own Social Issues class. Weekly, I feel that Dr. Talbert pushes our limits, makes us think, and introduces us to subjects that we may never have looked deeply into without his aid. Sure, there are times in class where we feel uncomfortable or even ashamed of what we want to say, but that’s what makes the class so insightful. Observing what those around us think and hearing what they have experienced helps us to know what we may face in the future as teachers.
2. “The unwillingness to approach teaching from a standpoint that includes awareness of race, sex, and class is often rooted in the fear that classrooms will be uncontrollable, that emotions and passions will not be contained.” – page 39
* So many teachers in high school were afraid of losing control of our classroom. In English class, especially, we would read works that particular students may feel passionate about, but if a religious belief or any other value that was not standard in the classroom was brought about, it was quickly avoided. Unfortunately, I saw so many students in my class become discouraged with their lack of opportunity to express themselves and share what the book had done for them and their own emotions. Dr. Talbert, however, does the exact opposite. He encourages us to lose control (to an extent) and to let our emotions and passion run unleashed. I feel that an uncontained classroom such as his has allowed me to connect with how I feel about society and the educational world, as well as about myself as an educator, more than any other course I have taken part in throughout my school career.
1. Question
* As a future educator, how do you plan to conduct your classroom? Will you incorporate liberatory practices? If so, how? If not, why not?
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