Diversity and Change
December 21, 2011
Penny
L. Sullivan
Abstract
This paper explores critical
pedagogy in the multicultural and diverse classroom. The paper includes a
critique of three books. These
educational texts are viewed relative to my experiences, their additive affect
for my classroom, and critical analysis on personal changes inspired by the
books. Wink (2005) asks the reader to define their critical pedagogy through
writing and exploring the theories. She writes about how to do critical
pedagogy in the classroom and with families, and the importance for it in the
twenty first century. Lea and Helfand (Eds.) (2007), explore the subtle and
hidden racism in U.S. educational institutions and ask us to examine our
unconscious ways of perpetuating racism. Delpit (2006) discusses racism in
teacher education and classrooms, and student identity conflicts in education.
Diversity and Change
Large
numbers minority students, students in poverty, and in lesser degrees, from the
dominant culture of the U.S. have high dropout rates. The effective classroom
teacher has a responsibility to provide equity for all students to gain the
knowledge necessary for a population active in communities and to ultimately
make the world a more beautiful place to live with all of the freedoms we are
empowered to possess. What worked in education is no longer motivating students
and has not kept pace with the needs of students to learn and enjoy the
learning. One reason for this is that the educational system favors dominant
groups and classrooms now have large populations from non-dominant groups.
Giroux (June 4, 2009) suggests the “new racism” is color-blind. The current
claim is that all of us have equal ability to succeed with hard work, moral
values, and education. The claim disregards the inequities in our justice
systems, educational institutions, and employment. The claim has racial
undertones. For example, zero-tolerance policies in schools have had a
detrimental effect on the education of minority youth through unequal
punishment and the act of removing students from the one thing they need,
education in a supportive, stable environment, and moving them into the unjust
justice system. Their potentially vibrant futures thwarted. Giroux (April 27,
2009) sees the need to view racism through historical contexts, critically
explore it, and make changes through active participation in democracy.
Educators need to develop literacy, critical thinking and action in their
students, not in mass, but with an approach that begins with what appeals to
individual natal cultures, personal identity, learning style, and their
thoughts about relevant issues. Shor
(1999) defines this objective as critical literacy. Critical literacy leads
students to Standard English knowledge, critical thinking through questioning,
and activism based on the evaluation of their new knowledge. The three texts
discussed in this paper have guided my thinking about praxis. The importance I
place on education is to preserve freedom and democracy for and with my
students with pedagogy of knowing, caring, reflecting, and acting in infinite
ways.
On
reading Critical Pedagogy: Notes from the Real World, Wink (2005), the
first time, I had no idea what critical pedagogy was by definition. Wink leads
the reader down a path to discover for himself or herself what defines their
critical pedagogy based on their experiences and their personal identity in
relation to the needs of their students. Wink recommends learning the language
associated with critical pedagogy to express our unique critical pedagogy.
Reading Wink, I learned to ask, to know my students, their families, their
communities, the world, and myself. I
read the theories outlined in Wink. Particularly puzzling was the Marxist
version of teaching. I eventually understood, after reading three texts and
additional journal articles that I was striving to prevent a class system with
regard to intellectual capital. I was excited at the idea that I could give
everyone equitable access to empowerment and expression. I could “mess up the
control” (Wink, 2005, p. 96). Hegemony needs to replaced by heterogeneous
groups to avoid the possibility that one group hoards power, as Gramsci
observed (Wink, 2005,p.94). Wink moves
on from the knowing about theory stage to the action, teaching. The active guidance of students begins with
what they know already and by sharing mutual respect. Dewey, at the base of
educational theory in schools, asked teachers to take the student as he or she
found them and construct their knowledge based on that foundation. With my new
knowledge that clearly indicates racism in our institutions, I wonder why the
majority of teachers did not Dewey’s theory with their diverse students. Those
from the dominant culture had the teachers’ attention but other students
fulfilled the prophecy of failure. One wonders if the theory was practiced and
in these teacher’s reflections was evaluated as useless or if the subtleties of
racism affected their attitudes. Wink says that critical perspectives are more
criticized and asks how we can survive the cynicism expressed by other teachers
(Wink, 2005, pps.10, 17). In my experiences as an older student teacher, over
50, the self-fulfilling prophecies of teachers who told me students could not
do the projects I proposed shocked and saddened me. When I proved them wrong, I
felt left out. Students and parents were happy but the hierarchy seemed
threatened or displeased. Did the teachers, middle class teachers who have
grown up in the area, live in a world that never extended beyond their comfort
zones? Administrators seemed more inclined to want the same things I wanted. My
classrooms though, were often louder than acceptable with the chatter of busy
groups or music. Wink mentions the problem of criticism and conflict but offers
no concrete ideas that seem useful for a teacher without tenure. I have named
my problem. After reflection, I see that the educational hierarchy, parents,
and communities need education on the research as part of education reform. I
could act on that. Authentic learning is not the boring, static learning that
drives students away. Wink reinforces that in adding Standard English to their
repertoires, would empower students to change their world, promote freedom, and
democracy. There was no need to be told by Wink to model enthusiasm, I was the
picture of enthusiasm by the thoughts on how I would add to my firm knowledge
of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and Bloom’s taxonomy. My students and I
would embark on our journey together to reflect on our new knowledge and learn
collaboratively, with study friends, and pair shares based on Vygotsky’s ZPD.
My students would do something more than just analyze and synthesize their new
learning. They would go beyond and evaluate the knowledge to solve relevant,
current problems. Wink provides many examples on how to teach education
students how to do critical pedagogy by teaching them the same way they should
teach their future students. Wink’s comprehension activity with pairs helps
students connect knew knowledge while they read and write. Four Corners is a
fun activity for test review and lets the kinesthetic learner out of their
seat. Wink’s technology guidelines for global communities and family
interaction are useful ideas. The transformative education model accepts
change. Wink guides the teacher to have passion for subject matter, know
students, involve, encourage thinking time, show, ask, and read. Cummins view
of change in the twenty first century highlights global “cultural, linguistic, scientific,
and technological realities” and our relationship with our physical and social
environment (cited in Wink, 2005, p. 166). Students need to be participants of
this changing world. When students, families, and communities interact, everyone
becomes a stakeholder in the changes.
The first step in
critical pedagogy is to know who we are. We cannot change the way things are or
be aware that change is necessary if we are not aware of our own identity.
Identifying Race and Transforming Whiteness in the Classroom, Lea
and Helfand (2005), provides essays to guide readers in defining themselves and
their praxis to cross the bridge between “racial identity, social class, and
social power attributed to physical characteristics” (Preface, vii). Lea and Helfand examine themselves in their
introduction, modeling for the reader the process involved in identifying race
and transforming whiteness in the classroom. Specifically, they suggest that in
identifying ourselves we create a “liberating and dynamic” praxis to empower
students. Theory followed by reflection and actions create dialectic so that we
can learn how best to “interrupt” whiteness.
At first, this book may seem threatening. Especially, for me, the idea
that I had any privilege just because I was born white made me question the
idea that there existed racist effects on other people not intended or seen by
whites. I wondered if I was truly white. My Father’s family from Sicily looks
black. Most people who share my father’s surname live in Algeria. My parents
were discriminated against in the 1950s and accused of being a biracial couple.
On further reflection, I acknowledged that despite the hardships of my own
life, poverty, dysfunctional and broken family ties, being a woman, and rural
isolation would have been even worse had I been black or an immigrant because
of the ingrained racist effects of our society’s entire history of wealthy land
owning white male rule and dominance. Schools are becoming more aware that the
eclectic teacher is good. One recent job application asked where I had
traveled, for example. The essay by O’Brien asks us to challenge the norms. The
essay is on the expression of emotions. With the wide use of prozac, paxil, and
ADD medication over the past couple of decades, like the “soma” that everyone
was required to ingest in Huxley’s 1932 Brave New World, emotion is
something that upsets the status quo. O’Brien (2005) helps the white woman
identify with the idea in the observation that women are objectified and always
being told to “calm down.” (in Lea & Hefand, 2005, p. 69). Emotions are
traits “associated with being a member of the lower classes” (in Lea &
Helfand, 2005, p. 69). Women of color, disenfranchised by the feminist groups
of the past, need a voice to express the injustices and the change. The voice
of injustice cannot possibly be quiet and unemotional. Strobel (2005) makes clear how easily
benevolent assimilation leads to genocide by his discussion of the
decolonization by Americans of Filipinos (in Lea & Helfand, 2005,
pp.29-46). Essentialism and social constructivism, the naming and defining of
the words, brought me to the realization that despite my knowledge and empathy
for victims of imperialism, genocide, slavery, and take over, I also possessed
the will to change the social contracts. That will, acted upon, could help me
define pluralism for my class. The John
Lennon song Imagine provides images of a unified world not dominated by
anyone but shared by everyone. Like Delpit and Wink, and Lea and Helfand
concentrate on urban African-American students. My experiences have been in
rural schools with Hispanic and Native American students. Bilingual education
would be an advantage to the dominant and Hispanic cultures. ELL would
especially benefit. Current policies prevent bright young students from
excelling in their learning, an obvious racial bias, and dominant students
continue to be the only students in the world who are monolingual. Krashen
(1997) calls for bilingual schools with expanded libraries of bilingual
multicultural literature. Native American students can possess different
learning styles. The importance for all students, even those not covered by the
three books, remains the role the teacher plays to know their students and be
“adults who balance human concerns with high expectations for achievement. They
must communicate an attitude of understanding and caring while at the same time
demanding high performance”
(Swisher, 1991, Teaching Style Section, para. 2). The result for the
reader of Lea and Helfand is the “conscientization” prescribed by Freire to
deconstruct whiteness through critical thought, reflection, and action for
change. Schools need to provide teachers and students more time together to
encourage the patience needed for the success of all students.
Delpit
(2006) in Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom
criticizes the racial inequities in schools in light of the fact that teachers
of color are an endangered, silenced or ignored group. Teacher education for African-Americans
is shown to have failures in the assessment of African American teachers by
supervisors from the dominant culture who do not know or understand the ways to
teach African American or poor students. Lesesne explains that students in
poverty have certain traits respected by their community and necessary skills
to survive poverty but alien to other socio-economic classes of people and
discouraged by the status quo (in Delpit, 2006, pp. 193-200). As a middle class
African American woman, Lesesne realizes the challenges poor students face and
her own challenges to help them survive in a middle class dominated society.
African Americans and the poor need the skills to express their fluency.
Students with a voice that speaks with the knowledge of the codes of the
dominant society will be able to reach real audiences and result in
empowerment. The introduction discusses the successful Hyde School, where the
values of integrity, courage, concern, curiosity, and leadership are as
important as knowledge. Delpit’s book led me further in investigating ways to
really know my students and how to best approach learning. I see the need for
pre-testing students for what they already know before a unit, pre-teaching
vocabulary, and making sure, they learn the grammar and writing skills they
need to express their ideas. I also see the need for a posttest to see how I
did and reflect, gaining new knowledge about what to use and what to throw away
for this particular group of students. There are tendencies for certain groups
of students but there are so many individuals within each group. I find comfort
in age due to many years of contact with many different people. It helps me see
subtleties and prevents stereotypical assumptions. Often, to negate the idea
that our cultural is seriously flawed, I hear stories of the exceptions. The
girl born on the border in the bed of a pick-up is now a regional and bilingual
manager for a well-known chain and upon her graduation has an even bigger job
with the company. She received no grants or loans but worked. She has
resiliency and adaptability. A teacher somewhere found out what motivated this
young woman, maybe it was her parents, or was she born that way ? One young African
American said he was motivated by
sports. He had a teacher who knew this and worked with him by giving him an
ultimatum. If he wanted to do sports, he had to do his schoolwork first even if
he had to spend lunch in the classroom with his dedicated teacher. Students
need motivation but they need resiliency and adaptability. Teachers do too.
Additive learning gives us the creative ideas we need to adapt and become
resilient while keeping our identity in tact. Delpit gave me some of the codes
for her society; so that I can help, those students learn the codes from mine.
Delpit’s only failure is that she did not include the “Ten Factors Essential to
Success in Urban Classrooms” in her book (Delpit, 1999).
1. Do not teach less content
to poor, urban children, but understand their brilliance and teach more.
2.
Whatever methodology or instructional program is used, demand critical
thinking.
3.
Assure that all children gain access to “basic skills,” the conventions
and strategies that are essential to success in American education.
4.
Challenge racist societal views of the competence and worthiness of the
children and their families, and help them to do the same.
5.
Recognize and build on strengths.
6.
Use familiar metaphors and experiences from the children’s world to
connect what they already know to school knowledge.
7.
Create a sense of family and caring in the service of academic
achievement.
8.
Monitor and assess needs and then address them with a wealth of diverse
strategies.
9.
Honor and respect the children’s home and ancestral culture(s).
10.
Foster a sense of children’s connection to community – to something
greater than themselves.
The
three books, in addition to informing my pedagogy as a teacher, helped me
unlearn my ideas that racism was going away. I now clearly see the need to
change hidden racism. Giroux (April 27, 2009) hopes that Obama will correct the
injustices to urban poor youth. He draws attention to the “historical legacy of
a neoconservative revolution” begun in 1980 with Ronald Reagan (para. 3). Poor
classroom management, with its lack of empathy, cultural insensitivity, fear,
and anger metes out harsher punishments based on racial bias. Now I understand
that African American males and Hispanic males face stiffer penalties that
result in their populations outweighing white populations in our prisons. I am
more aware of my white privilege and how I can use that privilege to influence
change and share power. My critical pedagogy makes me strive to continue
self-transformation and right the wrongs for a more humane society.
References
Delpit,
L., (2006). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom.
New York: The New
Press
Delpit,
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2009 from http://www.essentialschools.org.
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H., (April 27,2009). Youth and the post-racial myth under barack obama. truthout/perspective.
Retrieved June 14, 2009 from http://www.truthout.org.
Giroux,
H., (June 4, 2009). Judge sonia sotomayor and the new racism: Getting behind
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from http://www.truthout.org
Krashen,
S., (1997). Why bilingual education? National Association for Bilingual
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New York: The New
Press
O’Brien, E.(2007). I could hear you if you would
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Shor, I., (1999). What is critical
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Strobel, L.M. (2007). Teaching about whiteness when
you’re not white: A filipina educator’s experience. In V. Lea & J. Helfand
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