CRITICAL PEDAGOGY IN PRACTICE
Monday morning a child brings a stray dog into the classroom.
The traditional teacher sees that it is removed immediately.
The progressive teacher builds on the students’ interest; perhaps measures and weighs the animal with the children, has the children draw and write about the dog, and eventually calls the humane society.
The Freirian teacher does what the progressive teacher does but more. She asks questions, using the dog as the object of reflection. “Why are there so many stray dogs in our neighborhood?” “Why are there more here than in the rich suburbs?” “Why do people have dogs?” “Why doesn’t the city allocate enough money to clean up after the dogs and care for the strays?”
While accepting stray animals into a classroom isn’t the bellwether mark of an elementary Freiran [sic] teacher, engaging children in reflective dialogue on topics of their interest is. (Peterson, R. E. (2009). Teaching how to read the world and change it: Critical pedagogy in the intermediate grades. In A. Darder, M. P. Baltodano, & R. D. Torres (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (2nd ed., pp. 305-323). Routledge.)
You must understand that your idea of being educated is exactly what Paulo Freire denounced. Freire didn't want students to fit in and succeed in the current system because he was a marxist who thought the current system was oppressive and dehumanizing. He saw education - and the knowledge that it signified - as a form of private property that oppressive classes used to maintain their control over society. Education, in this view, was just a means of certifying someone's ability to fit into the system and reproduce its oppressive structure.
The academics who added marxist theories of culture, race, sex, and gender to their teaching methods and practices see education in the same way. They think the very idea of being proficient in reading, writing, and math is wrong because those things - as they are currently taught - serve to reproduce social injustice. For instance, Culturally Relevant Teachers think all knowledge is socially constructed and culturally contingent. Culturally Relevant Teachers think all cultures have their "own ways of knowing, doing, and being" in the world. Therefore, to hold children accountable to "Western mathematics" in schools serves to reproduce the ideology of white supremacy. That is to say, Culturally Relevant Teachers think there isn't a right or wrong way to do mathematics. They think the only reason we all think math is universal is because we have been ideologically indoctrinated to think so. "Western math," in this view, is a product and tool of white supremacy. Therefore, Culturally Relevant Teachers don't care whether or not a student is actually proficient in mathematics. They only care that students learn to see and "read" mathematics through a marxist sociopolitical lens for purposes of inspiring activism and radical social change.
The academics who added marxist theories of culture, race, sex, and gender to their teaching methods and practices see education in the same way. They think the very idea of being proficient in reading, writing, and math is wrong because those things - as they are currently taught - serve to reproduce social injustice. For instance, Culturally Relevant Teachers think all knowledge is socially constructed and culturally contingent. Culturally Relevant Teachers think all cultures have their "own ways of knowing, doing, and being" in the world. Therefore, to hold children accountable to "Western mathematics" in schools serves to reproduce the ideology of white supremacy. That is to say, Culturally Relevant Teachers think there isn't a right or wrong way to do mathematics. They think the only reason we all think math is universal is because we have been ideologically indoctrinated to think so. "Western math," in this view, is a product and tool of white supremacy. Therefore, Culturally Relevant Teachers don't care whether or not a student is actually proficient in mathematics. They only care that students learn to see and "read" mathematics through a marxist sociopolitical lens for purposes of inspiring activism and radical social change.
The Method
Critical Pedagogy is a marxist teaching method that works by hijacking classroom instruction and forcing political conversations into lessons. The point of Critical Pedagogy isn't to teach kids to read, write, and do math. The point is to lead kids to activism by programing them to "read" and see oppression, power, racism, and sexism in everything.
1. Generate themes
2. Codify
3. Problematize
4. Decodify
5. Activism
2. Codify
3. Problematize
4. Decodify
5. Activism
GENERATE THEMES
1. Teachers select themes that are (or can easily be made) politically charged to begin their lesson planning.
Examples:
Examples:
- Poverty
- Gender Identity
- Privilege, Power, and Oppression
- Inequality
- Racism/Sexism
CODIFY
2. Teachers "codify" the theme they've chosen. That is to say, teacher's couch their politically charged theme into an otherwise neutral lessons to make it "engaging" and "relevant" to their learners.
In this step, the teacher's goal is to "make oppression real." That is, the point is to make sure their lesson is structured in a way that coerces students to "read" social injustice, privilege, inequality, racism, and sexism into it. Thus, the lesson becomes less about what the students should be learning to do - read, write, etc. - and more about discussing politically charged issues.
"Codifying" a lesson usually involves representing "oppression" via pictures, charts, videos, or literary works. The point is to coerce and shock the learner into seeing oppression represented in concrete form.
Examples:
In this step, the teacher's goal is to "make oppression real." That is, the point is to make sure their lesson is structured in a way that coerces students to "read" social injustice, privilege, inequality, racism, and sexism into it. Thus, the lesson becomes less about what the students should be learning to do - read, write, etc. - and more about discussing politically charged issues.
"Codifying" a lesson usually involves representing "oppression" via pictures, charts, videos, or literary works. The point is to coerce and shock the learner into seeing oppression represented in concrete form.
Examples:
- Adapting a statistics lesson to include U.S. poverty data broken down by race
- Adapting a biology lesson to include discussions of gender identity
- Adapting a social studies lesson to discuss privilege, power, and oppression
- Adapting a literature lesson to read politically charged books that focus squarely on racialized and sexualized topics
PROBLEMATIZE
3. Teacher's help students "read oppression" into the lesson they've developed. That is to say, teachers use Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Queer Theory as the analytical lens through which they guide their students through the lesson. In this stage, the teacher's primary goal is to begin to politicize the students and program them to see "structural" and "systemic" problems that can't be ignored.
Examples:
Examples:
- CODIFY: Adapting a statistics lesson to include U.S. poverty data broken down by race
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use the statistics lesson to provoke conversations about racial inequality, leading students to believe that different racial groups experience different distributions of poverty because of structural and systemic racism
- CODIFY: Adapting a biology lesson to include discussions of gender identity
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use a biology lesson to introduce the topic of gender identity, arguing that gender and sex are social constructs.
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use a biology lesson to introduce the topic of gender identity, arguing that gender and sex are social constructs.
- CODIFY: Adapting a social studies lesson to discuss privilege, power, and oppression
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might discuss on colonization and slavery, focusing solely on the exploits of white Europeans
- CODIFY: Adapting a literature lesson to read politically charged books that focus squarely on racialized and sexualized topics
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might assign reading materials that present the human condition in collectivist terms i.e. certain groups are oppressed because of their various and intersecting identities
Decodify
Teachers convince students that they are the "oppressed." In this step, teacher's convince students to "read" themselves into a historical and political context by identifying with the oppressed identity group in question. The goal of this stage is to help students develop their own critical consciousness; to help them realize they are responsible for analyzing and deconstructing the "structural" and "systemic" oppression in their lives and in society writ large.
Examples:
Examples:
- CODIFY: Adapting a statistics lesson to use U.S. poverty data broken down by race
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use the statistics lesson to provoke conversations about racial inequality, leading students to believe that different racial groups experience different distributions of poverty because of "structural" and "systemic" racism
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell black students that they themselves are more likely to be poor because of racism.
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use the statistics lesson to provoke conversations about racial inequality, leading students to believe that different racial groups experience different distributions of poverty because of "structural" and "systemic" racism
- CODIFY: Adapting a biology lesson to include discussions of gender identity
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use a biology lesson to introduce the topic of gender identity, arguing that "gender and sex are social constructs."
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that they can change their sex and gender
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use a biology lesson to introduce the topic of gender identity, arguing that "gender and sex are social constructs."
- CODIFY: Adapting a social studies lesson to discuss privilege, power, and oppression
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might discuss colonization, focusing solely on the exploits of white Europeans
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that knowledge is a social construct and we live in a white supremacist society
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might discuss colonization, focusing solely on the exploits of white Europeans
- CODIFY: Adapting a literature lesson to read politically charged books that focus squarely on racialized and sexualized topics
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might assign reading materials that present the human condition in collectivist terms i.e. certain groups are "oppressed" because of their various and "intersecting" identities
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that they must consider someone's group identity before evaluating whether their books or articles reinforce sexism and racism
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might assign reading materials that present the human condition in collectivist terms i.e. certain groups are "oppressed" because of their various and "intersecting" identities
Activate
The final step is to convince students that they are morally responsible for changing the world to reflect the prescriptions of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Queer Theory. In this stage, educators push students to become activists personally and collectively.
Examples:
Examples:
- CODIFY: Adapting a statistics lesson to use U.S. poverty data broken down by race
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use the statistics lesson to provoke conversations about racial inequality, leading students to believe that different racial groups experience different distributions of poverty because of "structural" and "systemic" racism
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell black students that they themselves are more likely to be poor because of racism.
- ACTIVISM: Teachers might invite students to participate in community activism under the guise of tackling poverty.
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell black students that they themselves are more likely to be poor because of racism.
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use the statistics lesson to provoke conversations about racial inequality, leading students to believe that different racial groups experience different distributions of poverty because of "structural" and "systemic" racism
- CODIFY: Adapting a biology lesson to include discussions of gender identity
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use a biology lesson to introduce the topic of gender identity, arguing that "gender and sex are social constructs."
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that they can change their sex and gender
- ACTIVISM: Teachers might invite students to join a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) in their school, or help students write letters to their congressmen about specific legislation.
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that they can change their sex and gender
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might use a biology lesson to introduce the topic of gender identity, arguing that "gender and sex are social constructs."
- CODIFY: Adapting a social studies lesson to discuss privilege, power, and oppression
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might discuss colonization, focusing solely on the exploits of white Europeans
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that knowledge is a social construct and we live in a white supremacist society
- ACTIVISM: Teachers might invite students and their families to participate in racialized "affinity groups" to push division and radical agendas throughout the school and community
- ACTIVISM: Teachers might invite students and their families to participate in racialized "affinity groups" to push division and radical agendas throughout the school and community
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that knowledge is a social construct and we live in a white supremacist society
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might discuss colonization, focusing solely on the exploits of white Europeans
- CODIFY: Adapting a literature lesson to read politically charged books that focus squarely on racialized and sexualized topics
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might assign reading materials that present the human condition in collectivist terms i.e. certain groups are "oppressed" because of their various and "intersecting" identities
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that they must consider someone's group identity before evaluating whether their books or articles reinforce sexism and racism
- ACTIVISM: Teachers might invite students to protest certain authors and speakers
- ACTIVISM: Teachers might invite students to protest certain authors and speakers
- DECODIFY: Teachers might tell students that they must consider someone's group identity before evaluating whether their books or articles reinforce sexism and racism
- PROBLEMATIZE: Teachers might assign reading materials that present the human condition in collectivist terms i.e. certain groups are "oppressed" because of their various and "intersecting" identities
REFERENCES:
1. Peterson, R. E. (2009). Teaching how to read the world and change it: Critical pedagogy in the intermediate grades. In A. Darder, M. P. Baltodano, & R. D. Torres (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (2nd ed., pp. 305-323). Routledge.
1. Peterson, R. E. (2009). Teaching how to read the world and change it: Critical pedagogy in the intermediate grades. In A. Darder, M. P. Baltodano, & R. D. Torres (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (2nd ed., pp. 305-323). Routledge.
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Copyright © 2024 The Lancing.
Copyright © 2024 The Lancing.