Blog assignment 1: Seminar 1
Critical Pedagogy and Teacher Education
Objective: Verify the capacity of the students to associate the concepts that were proposed in the text and to use them in their professional growth as teachers.
Good morning classmates, this is the assignment designed for this presentation:
Read the texts from Vossoughi Gutiérrez (2017). ‘Critical Pedagogy and Sociocultural Theory and and Johnson, K.E. (2009). Second Language Teacher Education. Answer the following questions based on the reading of both texts in a 300 word text:
A. From the reading ‘Critical Pedagogy and Sociocultural Theory’, answer the next question: Do you think every worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change, reform and justice?
B. Based on one experience you’ve had learning a second language, how do you think the sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher should be, taking into account the reading ‘Second language teacher education'?
Read the next question and reflect on it to discuss it in class:
In your experience or an experience you've heard of, have you found a teacher who you felt helped you engage in critical thinking? What did they do to achieve this?
CRITERIO DE CALIFICACIÓN
• Capacidad para relacionar los conceptos de la lectura (3.0 puntos)
• Puntualidad en el post (1.0 puntos) (Pueden hacer sus posts hasta las 3:00 pm del lunes)
• Reacción a dos comentarios de los compañerxs (1.0 punto)
Thank you for your contributions!!
A. From the reading ‘Critical Pedagogy and Sociocultural Theory’, answer the next question: Do you think every worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change, reform and justice?
ReplyDeleteAs proposed by Freire, education should be used to transform the world that surrounds us. Taking that into account, it is impossible to talk about real and critical education if we ignore the social reform and justice element of it. Education is the tool we give to people so that they can change their social realities, and gain equity using tools such as language, praxis, and prolepsis. Education should be the vehicle and the end; The vehicle because it allows both teacher and student to be aware of the way exterior powers and ideologies are affecting and oppressing them, and the end because none of these things can be changed without education.
It is also important to note that education opens the doors to new opportunities for everyone, in the sense that it allows them to acknowledge the oppression that they have experienced (and probably ignore), and that it shows them that there is an infinite amount of opportunities to change and grow, both at a personal (everyday life) and social (power) level.
Additionally, what is the purpose of education without the desire to change? If one does not educate oneself at all levels (personal, professional, social), one can not become a real thinker. One remains the same, something that goes against human nature.
B. Based on one experience you’ve had learning a second language, how do you think the sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher should be, taking into account the reading ‘Second language teacher education'?
As mentioned in the text, learning can not be separated from the context in which it occurs. Thus, the sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher should be focused on how the language is perceived by students in the classroom; the teacher should not have a grammar-focused approach, as this type of L2 teaching can be counterproductive as it regards the language being taught as a distant subject from the reality of learners.
In conclusion, second language teachers should focus on adapting the disciplinary knowledge they have to the conditions studentens have. That is, trying to reflect on the experiences they have had in a specific classroom in order to better understand how to share their knowledge with students. Experiences are equally important as theoretical concepts as these two have a dependent relationship. As teachers, experiences can be studied to answer the constant education challenges and problems, especially in SLA.
Written by: Juan Camilo Muñoz
DeleteI totally agree with what you said. I think reflection has been put aside when it comes to the L2 learning and teaching process. As you said, it is important that we, future teachers, create a safe environment in which students can think about their processes and dialogue with us about their experiences.
DeleteI agree with you, Camilo. I like the strategy that you used to explain your point and I think that the transformational power of the education is constantly underestimated, limiting the classrooms as spaces apart from reality with "abstract contents" that if they were taught in another way, it would be meaningful for students. Jhan.
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, not every worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change, reform or justice. This is because a dialectical approach of the world, as the critical pedagogy exposes, could reduce the problems to a relation of power in ALL the aspects of the human reality. In my view, this is something that can cause a reductionism of the explanation of the conflicts, erasing the individual responsibility, and consequently, it could not solve any problem. Of course, it doesn’t mean that the classroom can not be a place for reflection and promotion of a better society, but I think that social justice is a term that has to be rethought.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, regarding the second point, I consider that a foreign language teacher should reflect on his prior experiences and not just in theories. This can help to understand that each classroom is different because students are different. Also, it is necessary that the teacher is aware of the reality of the sociocultural context, because opposed to a positivist approach where the classroom is like a lab, it is evident that all the surroundings and the reality of the class influences what is meaningful and what is not. In addition, teaching a foreign language depends heavily on motivation and the sense that students find in this, so these aspects vary too much with the context in which they develop. Finally, the teacher has to have the capacity of adaptation and the ability to recognize that theory and practice feed on each other.
Hi, Camila
DeleteI completely agree with the part that says: "dialectical approach of the world could reduce the problems to a relation of power in ALL the aspects of the human reality" since I consider that education is relevant and impacts on every dimension of human life and it is just not appropiate to limit it to only one aspect. Also, I really like the part where you mentioned that learning a language depends on motivation because it is something I have experienced in my process in the university and it's something I'm still dealing with today.
I really love the part where you mention motivation as a factor that heavily influences the learning of a foreign language, like you said a classroom can not be a stric lab that drains the student's energy and love for learning. I think that there's nothing more fulfilling that entering a class that brings the most productive and receptive part of you.
DeleteI really like the second paragraph, I write something kind of similar on my answer, is not enough to give knowledge about language to be a foreign language teacher. José Ávila
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ReplyDeleteA) As it is mentioned in the reading, schools, education and learning should be transformative spaces, thats why i do think that it is necessary to take into account the social aspects and current topics that happen in the world that are shaping our lives everyday, as well as learning and reflecting about our past history as a society. I think that each action that we make individually or as a collective, either conscious or not, leaves a mark that impacts our current generations as well as the future ones, which is why it is so important that we have conversations about situations and topics that are relevant in our society. Education can give us the opportunities, resources and tools to create spaces that bring awareness to the events of the world, while also molding us as people with the capacity to be critical and to acknowledge the things that we can transform in our society that will bring us closer to the positive changes that can happen in our society. If we have the privilege to educate ourselves we should use it.
ReplyDeleteB) I think a foreign language teacher should have a deep understanding of their students and their sociocultural context, as well as be understanding of the fact that no student is the same and that they all have very different needs and ways. As the text says, I don't think that a teacher should have the mindset of "what language is, how it is learned, and how it should be taught" in a stric sense, I think it would be beneficial if the teacher came with an open mind to propose ideas and ways of teaching that are non-conventional and at the same time are nourishing for everyone involved.
"If we have the privilege to educate ourselves, we should use it". I think what you said summarizes what we ought to do to create a better educational process.
DeleteI agree with you, teachers must recognize the individuality of each student because that way they will be able to help them in their own needs.
DeleteA. From the reading ‘Critical Pedagogy and Sociocultural Theory’, answer the next question: Do you think every worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change, reform and justice?
ReplyDeleteIn my humble opinion, not all education should be linked to a struggle for social change. I think there are subjects to which this cannot be applied. For example, the exact sciences. Besides, I think teaching these topics in each class could be a bit counterproductive, the student could feel overwhelmed and develop a certain rejection towards these topics, they can begin to perceive it as something normative.
A risk is mentioned in the text that must also be taken into account, the teacher may have a tendency towards ideological heavy-handedness that may, at times, limit the development of thought and action of students. He can fall into the same error as banking education and think that because of his position of power, only he is right and that only he knows what social justice really is. In the end, the teacher may end up seeing the students as the banking education sees them, as containers that have to be filled.
B. Based on one experience you’ve had learning a second language, how do you think the sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher should be, taking into account the reading ‘Second language teacher education?
I think that the sociocultural perspective of a teacher must be focused on understanding that knowing and thinking must come from taking part in the social practices of learning and teaching. The teacher also must recognize that education is not just a process of enculturation, it’s also the action of rebuilding and transforming these practices to respond to individual and local needs. Therefore, the teacher has to be in constant change and not just reproducing what has worked for him in the past.
Hi, Luisa!
DeleteI agree with what you said about that teaching everything toward social change can be perceived then as normative, because if all the education takes that view, it would be the norm, would it? So interesting...
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ReplyDeleteA. From the reading ‘Critical Pedagogy and Sociocultural Theory’, answer the next question: Do you think every worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change, reform and justice?
ReplyDeleteI do think that every worthwhile education needs to have a tied relation to a struggle for social change, reform, and justice. It is necessary to take into account the social and cultural realities of each student since education is not merely a curriculum/agenda matter. In fact, for some students, receiving an education is a revolutionary act perse. Denying and making invisible the political and social order of the students is to erase their individuality and roles as historical actors. At the same time, it is indispensable to recall that our nature as human beings is focused on being social creatures, which is why we are constantly seeking to transform the rules and imaginaries of society, in order to answer our wills and necessities, and the best procedure to make it happen, is through educating people.
B. Based on one experience you’ve had learning a second language, how do you think the sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher should be, taking into account the reading ‘Second language teacher education?
As far as I am concerned, L2 teachers should have a sociocultural perspective that protects and understands the individual contexts of students: their struggles and advantages to learning a new language, their educational provenance and how it affects their current learning process, and their perspectives about the language. Likewise, it is necessary to recreate new tools, mechanisms, and methodologies to the learning manner; innovate and transform a field that has reproduced the same instructive activities and enculturation.
Karen Villota
I completly agree with what you say, especially the part where you mention that for some students education is a revolutionary act; some students don't have the privilege of staying quite and choosing to ignore the heavy situations that happen in our society. One of the best ways in which we can truly reflect into the social aspects of the world is by discussing them.
DeleteIn one hand, after reading Vossoughi Gutiérrez and seeing the link between Freire and Vygotsky’s works, I agree with the statement that every worthwhile education should look for social change. Specially taking into account that teaching shapes the way we think, as Freire said, and it has different implications on the hegemonic order inside and outside the classroom.
ReplyDeleteFor that reason, I think the education must be participative and partisan in order to change the oppressive order we live in, finding new ways to teach and learn with a horizontal relationship instead of a vertical one. Without losing sight of the fact that teachers and students have an equally important role, the firsts giving a good environment to think critically and the seconds questioning their world and what the teacher teach to them.
In the other hand, thinking on how sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher should be. I imagine that theories could be a starting point to begin their practice, but they have to reflect on the experiences he has had, not only keeping in mind what is written on books. A good foreign language teacher should bear in mind how they learned the language, the different strategies he used; and how they learned to teach, what was more useful in his practice in a real classroom with real students. Moreover, he must reflect on the context of their students, because beating that dichotomy school-home, could empower them and make them feel interested on learning. Language teachers also have the advantage of expanding the ways that students perceive their own world. Unfortunately, teachers usually don’t know the potential of redirecting the methods they learned to new ones worth for the complex humans in the classroom.
To conclude, I think that teachers have to be flexible and aware of the sociocultural context and reflect on their own practices for the purpose of be more engaging and reach a worthwhile education that look for a more equal and just society.
By: Jhan Quintero.
DeleteHi, Jhan!
DeleteI really like what you said about that theory can be the starting point to begin the practice, but it has to be feeded by the own experiences that the teacher lives in the classroom. Specially because both of them, theory and practice, are interdependent, one is not understood without the other.
A. From the reading ‘Critical Pedagogy and Sociocultural Theory’, answer the next question: Do you think every worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change, reform and justice?
ReplyDeleteThe education is that rowboat that drift us to the harbor we expect to arrive in our life; the tool that can open the gates for our realization as human beings as an a social as individual aspect: something quite important. So, I consider that thinking in any worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change... is viable. However, it must be in what are the problematics of each subject and what are the relations they have with the environment, the world. For example, the natural sciences and engineering must be extremely critical with the knowledge they supply, this is because that knowledge can be counterproductive with the world, even if it is for a good purpose. The atomic boom is a good example. But also to show the necessities they can cover in a social aspect, like to make water potable. And more important if it is a community that have no access to that sources.
B. Based on one experience you’ve had learning a second language, how do you think the sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher should be, taking into account the reading ‘Second language teacher education'?
My point of view is that the sociocultural perspective that a foreign language teacher should have, it must big enough to show to the student the different bounds there are and to break others between his or her mother tongue and the language is been taught, in how different the reality he or she is from others, this in a cultural aspect. Because if it is not shown the student can still think that the others are not different but strange. On the other hand, the teacher also have to put out critically the reality he and his students live and how it can be discussed in the language which is been teaching. Thus, the students will not just learning a language but also learning and discussing the problematics of the environment they cohabit
Andrés Cortés
Hi, Andrés
DeleteI would like to say that I agree with you when you mentioned that language is a cultural aspect. This is quite relate to what I wrote in my answer. It makes me remember the sociolinguistics and pragmatics classes where we learned to see languages as living elements that depend on a socio-cultural context, which make languages more complex than a system of grammar rules and that also makes the process of teaching/learning a foreing language more complex.
Hi Andrés, I would like to say that k really like when you said "The education is that rowboat that drift us to the harbor we expect to arrive in our life".
DeleteI feel that is a good manera to explain the text.
José Ávila
DeleteDaniela Pedroza
ReplyDeleteA) Education is made up by the whole process of learning and the relationships between the actors involved in such a process., thus it is a broad field which can lead to multiple purposes. Among those ends of the education, it is possible and important to situate social transformation, reforme, and justice. Humans, as individuals, need to seek the collective well-being and the way in which, together, they can move towards a more just and inclusive society. In an oppressing system, for example, education could be the solution to emancipate humans from the oppressive minority. Such emancipation begins in the classroom, in the way teachers develop their relationship with their students and the concept they build together regarding learning and education.
However, education should not be limited to a struggle towards social change. Education lets humans grow. Humans are not finished beings, they are in a constant daily growth process that is mediated, in large part, by the education they receive and the experience they articulate to the acquired knowledge. Restricting the purpose of education in a single sense, that of social transformation, is almost as limiting as the "banking education" system that externally determines what and how students should learn. An education system that promotes critical thinking and articulates pedagogy in this process should allow each individual to autonomously determine/tie the purpose of his or her education to what he/she considers it should be, adapting it to his or her context, needs and interests.
B) The sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher is a meaningful part through the teaching-learning process for future teachers and then for their students. In education in general, the sociocultural context in which the education occurs is important and plays a crucial role in the implementation of what is learned through experience, since it goes beyond the taught theory and allows to reach the praxis of the knowledge acquired in the classroom.
When it comes to languages, we are directly talking about culture, since we can separate one from another. While people are learning their native languages, they are also learning their culture and how they use language to describe the world around them. For that reason, it is necessary to take into account the sociocultural perspective of a foreign language teacher who is not only transmitting the grammar and linguistics aspects of a language to their students, but also is opening a door towards a new culture and a new vision of the world. The implementation of the sociocultural perspective of foreign language teachers allow them to reflect on their experience, on their own learning process and thus be able to open themselves to understand that each student experiences a unique educational process.
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DeleteI really like what you said about education. Education is a means to constant growth. We never stop learning and we never stop growing.
DeleteFirst, I like the way you use a kind of inclusive language, I think that it is usually forgotten in our writings. At the same time, I would like to highlight the alternative you give for Freire's, looking for an education that doesn't limit students in any dimension. Jhan.
DeleteA) As a respond of this question I consider that yes, every worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change, reform and justice. This is because, as we have seeing in the last classes, a classroom does not have to be a place where the main aim is to put teacher’s knowledge inside the student’s head, as the banking education Freire exposes. Each subject has to show the problematics it is involved, not only in its own theme but also in the social and cultural ones. Thus, the education can visualize and supply all the needs the a society require in its context
ReplyDeleteB) I consider that a foreign language teacher has to not only possess linguistic competencies of the language he or she is teaching but also be concerned of all the sociocultural aspects there are in the places and in the students. With this the educator can be aware and to administer a series of knowledge that can supply and give a near approach to the student’s reality. Because if the educator is just focus in a grammatical goal, the student cannot understand the objects and the benefits the subject is exposing, making thus not link between life and knowledge
JOSE AVILA
I'm sorry, I send the wrong one this is my answer:
DeletePersonally I consider that yes, every worthwhile education should be tied to a struggle for social change, reform and justice. This is because, as we have seeing in the last classes, a classroom does not have to be a place where the main aim is to put teacher’s knowledge inside the student’s head, as the banking education Freire exposes. Each subject has to show the problems it is involved in, not only in its own theme but also in the social and cultural ones. Thus, the education can visualize and supply all the needs that a society requires in its context or at least the requirements of its community in particular.
And as an answer for the second question I believe that Is important to know that foreign language teachers have to not only possess linguistic competencies of the language. the person that is teaching he or she also needs to be concerned with all the sociocultural aspects there are in the places and in the students. With this the educator can be aware and to administer a series of knowledge that can supply and give a near approach to the student’s reality. Because if the educator is just focus in a grammatical goal, the student cannot understand the objects and the benefits the subject is exposing, making thus not link between life and knowledge.
In conclusion the only purpose of education should not be just try to put as much information as the educator can in the head of a child, education must be a process of change and not only in the amount of information that you save, must be a change in the way you perceive the word that is around you and how you visualize the requirements of society in your context.
Jose Avila