Freire Chapters
Posted by Catherine Rousseau on Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Freire's work is important for any educator. In a previous class, Critical Pedagogy, we read many excerpts of Freire's work in order to clearly understand ways of dynamically and critically teaching. Freire points to major issues that are often neglected by teachers today. He brings attention to student based teaching, where the teacher must fully acknowledge the students abilities and conditions in order to not only appeal to the student, but to teach them in a way that is useful to them. Here, Freire brings light to many issues such as understanding your students culture, class, ability, overall literacy and interests.
Freire underlines the many issues of teachers and school systems today. The following are select quotes from the reading which I found particularly interesting and meaningful:
"On one hand, students have to become literate about their histories, experiences, and the culture of their immediate environments. on the other hand, they must also appropriate those codes and cultures of the dominant spheres so they can transcend their own environments" (p. 47).
I believe that this is a major issue in school. We grow up to believe that school is where you go to learn math, science, and other academic topics, but never think that our schooling extends beyond the school campus itself. What needs to happen is a blend. If we want students to carry what they lean in the school to their personal environments, then they must also be able to bring their personal environments into the school establishment. Schooling should not be so black and white. We must understand our students, and their own stories in order to teach meaningfully to them.
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"One method the critical educator can try is what you and I are doing right now, using discussion as an attempt to challenge each other so that we can understand the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, so that we can in the final analysis understand the enormous and undeniable role of science and technology, and also so that we can understand the risk taking inherent in a humanized life" (p. 59).
For me, this quote underlines the importance of discussion. Here, Freire is talking about the literacy of technology in schools, which is extremely important today, but the underline message is the discussion part. It is the argument of the 'banking system'. Students learn best when they learn for themselves - through discussion. A teacher who reads from a book and gives students manuals and busy work is not doing anything that anyone can do. A teacher instead needs to spark conversation between students and allow them to ask the critical questions.
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"Reading the world always precedes reading the word, and reading the word implies continually reading the world" (p.35).
This quote I love because it is so essential to learning and teaching. In order to read and understand your reading, you must be able to put the reading into your own context. In order to put it into your own context, you must understand the world around you on your own terms. It is simple, yet essential.
The readings of Freire are truly very important to both students and teachers. In order to understand anything inside a classroom, you must understand how the conditions outside of a classroom, and the implications your teaching has on your students world.
Freire underlines the many issues of teachers and school systems today. The following are select quotes from the reading which I found particularly interesting and meaningful:
"On one hand, students have to become literate about their histories, experiences, and the culture of their immediate environments. on the other hand, they must also appropriate those codes and cultures of the dominant spheres so they can transcend their own environments" (p. 47).
I believe that this is a major issue in school. We grow up to believe that school is where you go to learn math, science, and other academic topics, but never think that our schooling extends beyond the school campus itself. What needs to happen is a blend. If we want students to carry what they lean in the school to their personal environments, then they must also be able to bring their personal environments into the school establishment. Schooling should not be so black and white. We must understand our students, and their own stories in order to teach meaningfully to them.
_____________________________
"One method the critical educator can try is what you and I are doing right now, using discussion as an attempt to challenge each other so that we can understand the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, so that we can in the final analysis understand the enormous and undeniable role of science and technology, and also so that we can understand the risk taking inherent in a humanized life" (p. 59).
For me, this quote underlines the importance of discussion. Here, Freire is talking about the literacy of technology in schools, which is extremely important today, but the underline message is the discussion part. It is the argument of the 'banking system'. Students learn best when they learn for themselves - through discussion. A teacher who reads from a book and gives students manuals and busy work is not doing anything that anyone can do. A teacher instead needs to spark conversation between students and allow them to ask the critical questions.
_________________________________
"Reading the world always precedes reading the word, and reading the word implies continually reading the world" (p.35).
This quote I love because it is so essential to learning and teaching. In order to read and understand your reading, you must be able to put the reading into your own context. In order to put it into your own context, you must understand the world around you on your own terms. It is simple, yet essential.
The readings of Freire are truly very important to both students and teachers. In order to understand anything inside a classroom, you must understand how the conditions outside of a classroom, and the implications your teaching has on your students world.