Pedagogy of the Oppressed

I love Paulo Freire.  I just finished reading "Teachers as Cultural Workers," and it is fantastic.  This is the first time I have read anything out of this book, but I was definitely excited.  I think his work discussing the oppressors and the oppressed is absolutely necessary for educators to not only recognize and understand, but to act upon it.  I do not think there could be a time where there is no one being oppressed, but I think it is our job as caring humans to try our darnedest to get to that point.  It is absolutely necessary to be advocates for each one of our students.

For us to be powerful, exceptional educators, we need to be critical pedagogues, always on the forefront of activism for our students.  We must be conscious of the historical, social, and cultural implications for all students.  This is especially crucial for TESOLers.  We will have students coming from all over the world, bearing all kinds of stereotypes that could cause them to be the oppressed.  We must teach in a way that empowers them.

Kuma 13

I was really interested in the M&M observational scheme.  It takes observation to new heights, undoubtedly.  As a preservice teacher, it has definitely been drilled into my head that observation is crucial to the development of a new teacher, but it is not always perpetuated that observation is crucial to the development of a teacher at any level.  I believe this is why you always hear of old, cranky school teachers that are stuck in their old ways: they are not evaluative of themselves.  (Excuse the generalization.)

When I have observed in the past, I have not particularly become much involved; I usually just jot a few things down and tell myself, "I'll just remember this somehow in my wonderful, non-forgetting brain and use (or don't use) it later." Kuma has shown me how wrong I have been! Though I think the M&M method may be a little bit of overkill for the time constraints of an actual classroom, Kuma is right to say that there must be a deep observation of teachers if they are to really grow from their experiences.

I think the entire process would be excellent to do once or twice a year, but the rest of the time, I think it would be appropriate to choose a few of the steps that you may think need extra work and have a colleague look for those specific things.