Lets talk about democracy and social paradigms. We are not getting graded on our papers and for some of us this is causing some uneasiness, but in the end we know that there will be some grade on our transcript. Also, we sit in a circle as to promote a democratic, equal say type class setting but there is still a different relationship with Patrick in the circle than if the rest of us are in the circle. (this is as a result of a socially constructed paradigm). When Patrick speaks I notice that more people are taking notes. This is funny. But it is because of this teacher/student relationship that we cant seem to get past. I noticed this difference when Patrick came into class after the break yesterday when we had started to resume the class without him. Some of us subconsciously or even consciously care about what Patrick thinks of what we say. Some of us are looking for Patrick to say 'I agree." This is problematic. I also find it interesting that in our class there are some people who talk a lot (myself included) and could probably talk all day because we speak as we think. yesterday Patrick mentioned that there shouldn't be as much silence in the class- we should be participating more. We know from our own teaching experience and pedagogy classes that some students do not participate through speaking as freely and easily as others and also for many of us formulating these philisophical ideas can take a moment of reflection - thinking and then speaking-(reflection is actually a product of critical pedagogy isn't it? Praxis?) Oh and by the way aren't we also getting graded on class participation? These are just some questions to consider. Sometimes the challenge of having a democratic classroom can be daunting. How can we as educators develop an environment where we can really tear down these social paradigms of teacher/student ideologies and grades and teach as we would like to. I think it is also odd that I feel sort of like a rebel writing this- because social paradigms have set me up not to engage in this type of thinking thoughtfully and philosophically about how we are engaging in class discussion,
-More of this to come in our presentation on Critical Pedagogy- stay tuned
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2 comments:
Is it really possible, then, to really have a democratic classroom while there is grading (or any type of reward, for that matter) in place?
And while it might be possible to elimnate the extrinsic motivator of good grades, salary boosts, new ipods, etc let's imagine for a minute that we did. Ok, but how do you deal with the issues that people still have very strong intrinsic motivations? We can't eliminate the need that some people feel to please others. We can't touch the problem that is caring what others think. Oh sure, we can make a more comfortable environment, but can/would these motivators ever dissappear?
Very interesting. I noticed a difference in our class dynamic before/after Patrick rejoined us. I also noticed when our small group was prepping for the presentation, our conversations never stopped and were vibrant--with ideas colliding and flowing off of the others. Wish it could happen that way in the classroom because it was energizing and dare I say, fun!
It's been a revelation to me about how dependent we (I) are on the teacher's response--even though we are all adults, there's still seems to be that need for concrete evaluation or comment.
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