Hi all,

I really love that everyone’s post included individual pieces from each group member. Our group had one output that included something from all of us, but I really like the approach of inclusion and recognizing the input from each person in the group.

I also appreciate the bell hooks graphic 🙂

Hi Sarah,

I both agree and disagree with your assessment of critical pedagogy in large classes. I think aspects of critical pedagogy can (I don’t know how to italicize things in a comment but imagine that can is italicized for emphasis) be implemented in larger classes, but I would also acknowledge that depending on the resources allocated to individual professors, it’s not always easy to do that. If a professor is overloaded and has 3 sections of 100+ student courses, along with departmental demands regarding assignments, etc., it’s easy to see where that individual would have the personal resources to explore ways to engage critical pedagogy in their classes.

Like you said, I think we should all strive to engage critical pedagogy, but we should also not be so quick to harshly judge those who do not.

Incidentally, I don’t think the onus should be on the higher education system to “undo” (are both of my quotes facing the same way? They are as I’m writing this comment and I don’t like it) the negatives caused by the primary education system. Rather we, as individuals, parents, and community members, should work toward shifting the educational paradigm so that K-12 education is actually valuable and sets students up for later successes. Developmentally, it’s much more difficult to undo or correct maladaptive behaviors so late in adolescence, the time when most students begin in college.

Wow, I love this approach. It’s similar to the approach from Blayne’s group in that each group member had a unique contribution and I love how the end product from these two groups were so vastly different.

I think this really engages on of the core principles of critical pedagogy, that individuals’ unique backgrounds, experiences and skills should be valued and have the place and space to be shared. Great work!

Hi Dr. Nelson,

Sorry for the delay with the comments and the picture. It should be fixed now so I will send the message to have the feed updated!

Best,
Diana

I agree… I think critical thinking is something that is being lost in the mix of the ridiculous numbers of standardized tests (and standardization in general). I think it’s long since been time to take a step back and really think critically about education and how to realize the kind of learners– and indeed citizens– we want to see come out of our education system.

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“At the end of the day no class is perfect no matter what guidelines you follow or how much you pay attention to the details.” I love that… I need to remind myself of that more… I’ve definitely been staring at the ever-growing laundry list of things that I should do or pay attention to or try and feeling increasingly daunted by being a “good” teacher. Perhaps it’s time I started thinking about things in terms of being “good enough,” especially when I’m still so new to teaching, and focusing just on trying. With any luck, students will see the effort I put into class and at least learn something from it, if not maybe enjoy some pieces of it as well.

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I have no idea myself… It does seem that many of the methodologies we’ve looked at in this class, critical pedagogy included, are easier to implement with smaller class sizes and smaller or simpler assignments. In my own classes, I’m going to be teaching Computer Science concepts, where everything seems complicated. How can I give students feedback quickly, easily, and fairly (basic teaching needs) while giving them flexibility to show what they know (inclusive pedagogy) and thinking critical about their learning (mindful learning and critical pedagogy) in a way that is hopefully fun and interactive (student-centered approaches) while still covering all the required material (ABET accreditation standards)? It seems like such a tall order, and a daunting task at best. Currently, I think my only solution (since I can’t solve all these problems at once) is to simply be aware of these issues and remain mindful to them as I gain more teaching experience and try out new ideas.

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I think I mostly agree with your comments… Freire’s writing often seemed long-winded, and even repetitive to me. That’s not to say that he didn’t have valid points– he certainly did– but I found myself sometimes wishing he could reach his conclusion faster as I was reading his work. The political nature of his writing just made it worse for me. However, I think in a way he did understand the power dynamic between teachers and students, and he saw a way to leverage that to the benefit of the students. That being said, I would have liked to read more discussion on this particular point since I could definitely see this being a very fine line to walk… How do you use the power dynamic to your advantage without accidentally abusing it or steering students in the wrong direction? Is there a way to tell how much good vs harm your teaching methodologies are doing, especially outside the classroom?

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Thank you!! I really appreciate the positive comments 🙂

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I agree with your comments here… I suppose I never really thought of Computer Science as being political. Maybe I’m too used to the idea that the internet is a free-for-all neutral zone of sorts? But that’s likely because I grew up in a country where there has historically been very little censorship of websites and web content, especially in comparison to other countries like China that are known for such censorship. Even if Computer Science and teaching Computer Science is political, I still think the political ties and influences attributed to reading and writing skills are much clearer to distinguish than those with programming skills, but I will definitely have to think on this more…

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