Edited version of last blog

I fixed the participle errors in my last post...

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Oppression, as defined by society, expands far beyond what are considered unalienable equalities and into the realm of what one assumes is an automatic right. When considering how members of society face oppression, education seldom presents itself as a main issue because the “ability” for someone to be educated has always been seen as a need and unchangeable right. However, digging deeper into the issue of educating the population, one must consider the level at which students are taught [PRESENT PARTICIPLE]. In his novel, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire reveals some of the major issues with modern education.

Students are rarely taught anything that expands past “receiving, filing, and storing the deposits” (pointed out in the second part of the novel) of whatever information is sent their way (Freire, p. 53) [PAST PARTICIPLE]. While there are many creative techniques that can be used within a classroom to promote long-term comprehension and use of information, students are often only expected to regurgitate information without applying it or finding a deeper meaning, relying far too heavily on this ‘banking’ system. In his piece, Freire further explains the assumptions of the banking system: that the “teachers know everything and the students know nothing” to “the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher” (Freire, p. 54) [APPOSITIVE]. Understanding that the oppressive assumptions of the banking system do not allow for room for student-discovery emphasizes the point that the system is flawed. In more forward teaching methods, students are able to explore information, young minds experiencing what they are being taught, whereas the banking system simply allows for surface-deep absorption of knowledge [NOUN ABSOLUTE].

According to the authors of Social Justice, Peace, and Environmental Education, “human rights are standards…that outline the conditions necessary for people to live full of dignity” (Andrzejewski, 66). With this mindset, standards can be described as the laws (governing what an individual is free to do) that function within the bearing of society [APPOSITIVE]. However, when dealing with education, standards take on a vastly different meaning. They no longer describe the rights that individuals have, but rather the goal that everyone is expected to live up to. As found in problem-posing education, educators and students become “[subjects] of the educational process” (Freire, 67). Standardized education strives for a common goal, sometimes disregarding varied methods of learning in order to get there. Fortunately, the need for “high” scores - "real" evidence of learning - does not always beat out the need for students to come to an understanding within education [APPOSITIVE]. The No Child Left Behind Act greatly emphasizes the need for students to reach a commonly established standard, placing responsibility on the schools and communities to do so (NCLB Act). While it does set a standard that the schools have to achieve, the act leaves room for schools, the hub of learning, to go about reaching the goal in their own ways [APPOSITIVE]. Within Washington state, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL, test was used for many years in order to gauge student learning and overall success. Using a single exam that all students would be taking presents schools with an idea of how to go about rating student learning, but its limitations do not accommodate for varied styles of learning, unique and diverse [ADJ. OUT OF ORDER].

So...I'm not quite positive about all of these appositives, but I'll give it a go!

Okay, so here's a bit of a paper that I recently wrote for my T&L 465 course...

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Oppression, as defined by society, expands far beyond what are considered unalienable equalities and into the realm of what one assumes is an automatic right. When considering how members of society face oppression, education seldom presents itself as a main issue because the “ability” for someone to be educated has always been seen as a need and unchangeable right. However, digging deeper into the issue of educating the population, it is vital to consider the level at which it is taught [PRESENT PARTICIPLE]. In his novel, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire reveals some of the major issues with modern education.

Pointed out in the second chapter of his novel, students are rarely taught anything that expands past “receiving, filing, and storing the deposits” of whatever information is sent their way (Freire, p. 53) [PAST PARTICIPLE]. While there are many creative techniques that can be used within a classroom to promote long-term comprehension and use of information, students are often only expected to regurgitate information without applying it or finding a deeper meaning, relying far too heavily on this ‘banking’ system. In his piece, Freire further explains the assumptions of the banking system: that the “teachers know everything and the students know nothing” to “the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher” (Freire, p. 54) [APPOSITIVE]. Understanding that the oppressive assumptions of the banking system do not allow for room for student-discovery emphasizes the point that the system is flawed. In more forward teaching methods, students are able to explore information, young minds experiencing what they are being taught, whereas the banking system simply allows for surface-deep absorption of knowledge [NOUN ABSOLUTE].

According to the authors of Social Justice, Peace, and Environmental Education, “human rights are standards…that outline the conditions necessary for people to live full of dignity” (Andrzejewski, 66). With this mindset, standards can be described as the laws (governing what an individual is free to do) that function within the bearing of society [APPOSITIVE]. However, when dealing with education, standards take on a vastly different meaning. They no longer describe the rights that individuals have, but rather the goal that everyone is expected to live up to. As found in problem-posing education, educators and students become “[subjects] of the educational process” (Freire, 67). Standardized education strives for a common goal, sometimes disregarding varied methods of learning in order to get there. Fortunately, the need for “high” scores - "real" evidence of learning - does not always beat out the need for students to come to an understanding within education [APPOSITIVE]. The No Child Left Behind Act greatly emphasizes the need for students to reach a commonly established standard, placing responsibility on the schools and communities to do so (NCLB Act). While it does set a standard that the schools have to achieve, the act leaves room for schools, the hub of learning, to go about reaching the goal in their own ways [APPOSITIVE]. Within Washington state, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL, test was used for many years in order to gauge student learning and overall success. Using a single exam that all students would be taking presents schools with an idea of how to go about rating student learning, but its limitations do not accommodate for varied styles of learning, unique and diverse [ADJ. OUT OF ORDER].

Dora the Explorer...kind of.

The main thing I took away from the story about Dora, and our class discussion, was the fact that almost all of us could relate. While Dora's story was a bit extreme (or at least that seemed to be the thought of many classmates), there was a lot that could be taken away from it. Students need trial and error in order to learn, and by supporting them throughout the process, teachers can help students become independent learners. I appreciated that in Dora's learning journey, her teacher did not automatically tell her the answers when she was struggling with a topic. Instead of skipping the exploration aspect, Dora's teacher gave hints to help her learn. Having taken part in the T&L 317 practicum, I understand the importance of letting students come to their own conclusions - to an extent. Obviously students need help if they do not fully understand a concept and are struggling with it greatly, but there is an advantage in leaving room for the students to explore.

After our discussion in class, however, I did not feel like we had discussed this very much. While it was beneficial for us to talk about our own experiences and how they related to Dora's, I think it would have been much more beneficial for us to think about how it would apply to secondary classes, considering that is where we are planning on teaching. I fear that a lot of secondary education majors do not think they will have to deal with struggling readers and writers because students "learn" to read and write at a much younger age, but that is not really always the case.

During my practicum, I encountered a number of students who were reading at low levels, and it was the responsibility of the secondary English teacher to make sure they advanced in reading enough to be successful in all of their classes. A class full of advanced learners may be ideal, but it might not be completely realistic. I do not expect that we will necessarily have classes full of students reading and writing at the primer level, but we will have students performing at a variety of levels and it is important to be prepared for that. The grammar lessons we have gone through, and the recent use of workshops, have provided me with some insight as how to encourage cooperation of students at different levels, and I look forward to receiving more ideas. I think it is important to make sure we (as teachers) are aware of the different levels of our students, but the varying levels are not necessarily something we need to share with the rest of the class. By having students interact using their writing, everyone can benefit and learn editing techniques as well as receive feedback on their own pieces.

I hope that as a class we delve into this a bit more. We seemed to repeat each other for a majority of the discussion on Thursday because we were so concerned with relating Dora's experience to our own. While it is important to see the connections between her learning journey and our own, I personally believe it is more important to draw on our experiences in order to help our future students, not to relive our own glory (or non-glory) days.