In retrospect, I did not publish anything about how the next day went, because there was really nothing much added. We did not create a classroom definition about respect because the regular school end of the year caught up with us. We ended up cleaning out our desks and tearing down the classroom. I was also swamped with record keeping and end of the year paperwork such as creating a file for struggling students among other administrative things.
Even then, I was able to discuss with my students whether we needed a definition or if they understood and created a meaning for themselves. It turns out, that by writing down their meaning of respect, they were able to refine it and think about it form themselves, and for some, for the very first time.
For the end of the year, I asked each student to write a letter to next year's 3rd graders. I asked them to please tell them how much they feel that they learned in a year and to tell the new 3rd graders about the teacher. I said: "Please tell them something you learned about me as a teacher, and how this classroom works. For example, Ms. Monroy, lets you sharpen the pencil only during independent work time. Help them learn about the teacher." Several of my students said out loud: "I learned about respect, with Ms. Monroy." In the end, I was able to trust that they had defined respect for themselves, and learned it with me, instead of from me"
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Respect
The leaders do bear the responsibility for coordination and, at times, direction--but leaders who deny praxis to the oppressed thereby invalidate their own praxis. By imposing their word on others, they falsify that word and establish a contradiction between their methods and their objectives. If they are truly committed to liberation, their action and reflection cannot proceed without the action and reflection of others. --Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed)
Throughout the year, my students had been extremely disrespectful to me and to each other. They either laughed, hit, humiliated, isolated, interrupted, ignored, and devalued another person in class including myself. Every time, the incident happened I stopped them and talked about what had just happened as a class. Every time, I gave them my definition of respect. I labeled the act as disrespectful. I tried to have students talk, and to be as understanding with both parties as much as I could.
On May 31, 2013 it was as much as I could take. We were having a pizza party for all of 3rd grade at the end of the day, and most teachers held the party as a threat if they misbehaved. I wanted all of my students to participate in the party. Trust is another issue in class. We didn't get passed having a class monitor--someone who watches the class when the teacher is out, or when they are alone in the hallway. I explained that they are watching that no one is playing rough, fighting, or talking loudly. On this day, my classroom monitor was a soft spoken girl who tried to keep the class noise level down, but the rest of the students ignored and laughed at her. I arrived just as they pointed fingers and the boys rough-housed.
I stopped them by asking loudly, "What is this?!!!?" "You all know how to act in the hallway, I trust you to whisper to each other and stop playing rough" This was before I knew what my monitor was doing. I was so mad, I forgot myself, and sank back into the public teacher mode. I took the job away from my monitor because she was ineffective watching out for the class and keeping them quiet. She went to the back of the line and we proceeded to the restroom.
During the restroom break, my monitor approaches me. She calmly states that she could not contain the class so she was trying to get someone to help her. They all laughed at her and the boys told her they didn't care what she said.
In my rage, I felt like taking away their pizza party. I felt like injecting respect into their veins with a painful blow to their privileges, but I knew this would not work. They would not learn to be respectful out of punishment.
After I took them to Physical Education (P.E.) I went to my reading, and came across the quote written above, by Freire. I had to find a way to dialogue with them and simply ask them why they did what they did, and also give them my reasons for asking them to do what I am asking of them.
When they returned from P.E. they took their seats in class. They were quiet and immediately opened their books and kept working. Their heads were low, their faces grim. I told them "stop working in your books for a moment, please. I want to speak to you about something. Although most teachers agreed that I should take the pizza party away from you, I have decided that I would like all of you to enjoy your Friday with some pizza at the end of the day. The only thing I ask is that we have conversations about what respect is to you. If you really don't know how to define respect, or you don't know what it is, that is fine. You will be able to define it once we have conversed."
I gave them all an index card where they could write, because nobody wanted to have open dialogue. They felt more comfortable writing it down, and then expressing it. So I gave them an index card, and asked them to answer the following questions on it:
What is respect to you?
How do you show respect?
To whom do you show respect?
Most of the class did not know. They went off and wrote the one example I had given about listening when another person is talking. Some wrote that showing people they are important, was a sign of respect. Others said that they respected elders and anybody in charge. Others said, that respect was when you treat people the way you want to be treated. Yet others, wrote, that respect was not talking back, and not hitting, yelling or mistreating other peoples emotions.
Each person got a turn to speak including myself. The bell rang on us before we could finish our conversation. They got their pizza before the bell and ate on the carpet as we chatted. On Monday, they will have their index card by their desk, and we will create a class definition of Respect. They will keep their card for the remaining 4 days of our year, and hopefully keep the idea and definition of respect for the rest of our lives.
Throughout the year, my students had been extremely disrespectful to me and to each other. They either laughed, hit, humiliated, isolated, interrupted, ignored, and devalued another person in class including myself. Every time, the incident happened I stopped them and talked about what had just happened as a class. Every time, I gave them my definition of respect. I labeled the act as disrespectful. I tried to have students talk, and to be as understanding with both parties as much as I could.
On May 31, 2013 it was as much as I could take. We were having a pizza party for all of 3rd grade at the end of the day, and most teachers held the party as a threat if they misbehaved. I wanted all of my students to participate in the party. Trust is another issue in class. We didn't get passed having a class monitor--someone who watches the class when the teacher is out, or when they are alone in the hallway. I explained that they are watching that no one is playing rough, fighting, or talking loudly. On this day, my classroom monitor was a soft spoken girl who tried to keep the class noise level down, but the rest of the students ignored and laughed at her. I arrived just as they pointed fingers and the boys rough-housed.
I stopped them by asking loudly, "What is this?!!!?" "You all know how to act in the hallway, I trust you to whisper to each other and stop playing rough" This was before I knew what my monitor was doing. I was so mad, I forgot myself, and sank back into the public teacher mode. I took the job away from my monitor because she was ineffective watching out for the class and keeping them quiet. She went to the back of the line and we proceeded to the restroom.
During the restroom break, my monitor approaches me. She calmly states that she could not contain the class so she was trying to get someone to help her. They all laughed at her and the boys told her they didn't care what she said.
In my rage, I felt like taking away their pizza party. I felt like injecting respect into their veins with a painful blow to their privileges, but I knew this would not work. They would not learn to be respectful out of punishment.
After I took them to Physical Education (P.E.) I went to my reading, and came across the quote written above, by Freire. I had to find a way to dialogue with them and simply ask them why they did what they did, and also give them my reasons for asking them to do what I am asking of them.
When they returned from P.E. they took their seats in class. They were quiet and immediately opened their books and kept working. Their heads were low, their faces grim. I told them "stop working in your books for a moment, please. I want to speak to you about something. Although most teachers agreed that I should take the pizza party away from you, I have decided that I would like all of you to enjoy your Friday with some pizza at the end of the day. The only thing I ask is that we have conversations about what respect is to you. If you really don't know how to define respect, or you don't know what it is, that is fine. You will be able to define it once we have conversed."
I gave them all an index card where they could write, because nobody wanted to have open dialogue. They felt more comfortable writing it down, and then expressing it. So I gave them an index card, and asked them to answer the following questions on it:
What is respect to you?
How do you show respect?
To whom do you show respect?
Most of the class did not know. They went off and wrote the one example I had given about listening when another person is talking. Some wrote that showing people they are important, was a sign of respect. Others said that they respected elders and anybody in charge. Others said, that respect was when you treat people the way you want to be treated. Yet others, wrote, that respect was not talking back, and not hitting, yelling or mistreating other peoples emotions.
Each person got a turn to speak including myself. The bell rang on us before we could finish our conversation. They got their pizza before the bell and ate on the carpet as we chatted. On Monday, they will have their index card by their desk, and we will create a class definition of Respect. They will keep their card for the remaining 4 days of our year, and hopefully keep the idea and definition of respect for the rest of our lives.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
This blog was created to share ideas, experiences and practices having to do with pedagogy in the classroom. I will be sharing teaching experiences where I have applied methods and philosophies by Paulo Freire such as Liberation Pedagogy and other alternative methods of education. Feel free to share an experience or make comments. I will occasionally copy quotes and share online articles with a reflection.
I am not an expert on Liberation methods, and technically, the space of a public school system is not a liberated space, but I work around these things until we are able to determine a liberated space to fully practice Liberation pedagogy. I am merely introducing students to another way of teaching where they are also teachers and I learn with them.
I am an Elementary school bilingual teacher in Texas who is fed up with the current way that children are being taught and treated in schools. I have been a teacher for 5 years now, and I must say I love being a teacher It gives me purpose and direction in life. I feel that as a teacher I have a direct impact on the future of our society.
That is why I'm still here after national devastation of public school system: education budget cuts and charter school absorption of public educational funds, with extreme data driven curriculum and prison-to-pipeline programs in place. I cannot see a bright future ahead for our children with this current educational system and neither do they. Drop out rates are getting higher and higher in our district, and laws are only getting more stringent. Education has become a product and students have become clients. Not all children have the same opportunities. Project based learning and exploratory models such as Montessori, are being taught in private schools, or schools that cater to a specific racial or social class. Children in bilingual classrooms are no longer receiving the education that Lau vs. Nichols defended for them.
Therefore, I decided to help them build character, learn to develop their own morality and norms, teach them to develop an opinion, learning to make decisions and standing up for them, and learning to think for themselves without being told what to think; becoming problem solvers and analytic thinkers.
All these things they teach themselves, while I am more of a mediator and a coach. I use a liberated method where I do not preach directions on how to do these things. Instead, the children come to these understandings themselves. I am still understanding how to teach in alternative ways other than direct instruction, and this blog marks the trajectory of my practice and growth towards a more loving and equal educational system.
This blog was created to share ideas, experiences and practices having to do with pedagogy in the classroom. I will be sharing teaching experiences where I have applied methods and philosophies by Paulo Freire such as Liberation Pedagogy and other alternative methods of education. Feel free to share an experience or make comments. I will occasionally copy quotes and share online articles with a reflection.
I am not an expert on Liberation methods, and technically, the space of a public school system is not a liberated space, but I work around these things until we are able to determine a liberated space to fully practice Liberation pedagogy. I am merely introducing students to another way of teaching where they are also teachers and I learn with them.
I am an Elementary school bilingual teacher in Texas who is fed up with the current way that children are being taught and treated in schools. I have been a teacher for 5 years now, and I must say I love being a teacher It gives me purpose and direction in life. I feel that as a teacher I have a direct impact on the future of our society.
That is why I'm still here after national devastation of public school system: education budget cuts and charter school absorption of public educational funds, with extreme data driven curriculum and prison-to-pipeline programs in place. I cannot see a bright future ahead for our children with this current educational system and neither do they. Drop out rates are getting higher and higher in our district, and laws are only getting more stringent. Education has become a product and students have become clients. Not all children have the same opportunities. Project based learning and exploratory models such as Montessori, are being taught in private schools, or schools that cater to a specific racial or social class. Children in bilingual classrooms are no longer receiving the education that Lau vs. Nichols defended for them.
Therefore, I decided to help them build character, learn to develop their own morality and norms, teach them to develop an opinion, learning to make decisions and standing up for them, and learning to think for themselves without being told what to think; becoming problem solvers and analytic thinkers.
All these things they teach themselves, while I am more of a mediator and a coach. I use a liberated method where I do not preach directions on how to do these things. Instead, the children come to these understandings themselves. I am still understanding how to teach in alternative ways other than direct instruction, and this blog marks the trajectory of my practice and growth towards a more loving and equal educational system.
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