Comment on Teaching (bell hooks) by Armin

As you mentioned diversity brings both opportunities and challenges. It is important for instructors to teach all students to contribute to the ongoing commitment to social justice. Instructors should let different voices be heard and contrasting opinions be valued in the classroom. Students should become familiar with various social justice concepts, activities, institutions, and movements. This I think help reduce some of the challenges you mentioned.

Comment on Curiosidad! Educación! Libertad! by Jacquelyn Marie Prestegaard

I like your example about learning students’ names. I’ve found that classes where teachers learned the students’ names (even in large lectures) were more interesting, and the instructor seemed to be more passionate about the class overall. I always wondered how much time that must take…do they have flashcards they memorize? Some would see this as excessive and too much work but it seems worth it.

Comment on Teachers and Learners – Critical Pedagogy by Selva M

I agree with your statement of us being facilitators of learning rather than just telling people what they need to know. I asked the same question last week during our discussion. Why we have to be called professors, when maybe we should just be facilitators? Are we supposed to be up in front of a group as the preacher of knowledge? Or are we supposed to be facilitating conversation?

Comment on Critical Pedagogy: Learning to think not memorize by britthip

I know what you mean by cold calling a student and watching them sit there. I’m my classes this semester, we have been constantly fighting with trying to get student to think about the materials on tests. We have had to drastically change how we approach problems so that they can get enough practice to do it on the test without help.

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Comment on Critical Pedagogy in Practice (Not a word cloud) by Yousef Jalali

Such an interesting representation of critical pedagogy! I should say that I enjoyed listening your explanation of different aspects of your vision. One particular aspect I really like was the fact that you take into account community or public, in several ways.
I also like implicit conception of relation in your plan, highlighting the notion of participation “with” the world.

Comment on Curiosidad! Educación! Libertad! by Selva M

I really enjoyed reading your blog post and thoughts on the different readings. I agree so much with your statement that, it’s ‘Hard to know if the practical, day-to-day classroom experience is fostering critical engagement.’ I too struggle with this and wondering if I’m actually creating an environment where every student feels they are learning something. I just want them to want to be there. I think just the fact that you are thinking about how to teach is the first step towards getting them engaged, and learning there names is a great place to start! 🙂