"Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom"

 

"Nothing promotes border crossing or tolerance more than helping students arrive at an implicit understanding of what they have in common with those they have been taught to perceive as different" (Duncan-Andrade and Morrell 6).

Dang. If that doesn't make you think, I don't know what does. For me as a future educator, it simply makes sense. This has been my career goal going into the field this whole time; to teach empathy, compassion, and understanding. This is why literature is the best vessel to achieve such goals. Through literature, you gain experiences from lives you never will be able to live due to the circumstances life has dealt you. I will never be able to be a poor African child kidnapped from my home village to become a child soldier. I will never be born with cerebral palsy and have to tackle life being physically and mentally disabled. I will never be a racist bastard who gets turned on by the thought of raping a black girl. But I can gain insight from all of these instances, place myself in their shoes, and begin to understand what it's like to live those lives. Without having been placed in their shoes, I would have no tolerance, no empathy, and most importantly, no compassion for those who are different from me. We live in a world where it is so easy to say "every man for himself," and I want to end that once and for all because life is about human connection. Without it, we are nothing.

Another idea that the authors talked about was the thought that students are more motivated by pedagogy that consisted of freedom and social change. This encourages them to build up their academic literacy skills. I believe this is true. A lot of my peers I have found are afraid to talk about the real stuff. Yes, realism is a hard beast to tackle because it hurts. Human nature can be aweful, cruel, and terrible, but by learning about these characteristics, I believe we are better equipped to end it. Empathy leads to compassion which destroys intolerance (or tolerance, depending on the situation). I want my students at the end of our time together to feel empowered enough to WANT to make a difference. I want them to be stirred and bothered to the point of action. This will be how I know I did my job and did it well.