Traditions Journal
... cards as a means of teaching and testing, or more commonly, “drill and grill.” This reliance on rote memorization of facts to be evaluated on tests and quizzes encompasses the core philosophy behind conservative thinking. Thus, while Mr. Stickerman teaches from behind his desk at the front and center of his classroom, his students must sit obediently in neatly lined rows and desks, mere sponges for his knowledge transfer. In fact, should a student even gather enough courage to question the importance of one of Mr. Stickerman’s lessons (which does not happen very often, I assure you), the student is to be comforted by Mr. Stickerman’s explanation that “all third graders must learn and comprehend particular topics while in third grade.” Oh, okay. Great. So, in other words, the reality is teachers are merely agents for transferring knowledge and ensuring that the students are taught toward some bulk set of standards set in place by a moron who isn’t even present in the classroom. Hence, when only a handful of “smart” kids are calling out the answers to his multiplication flash cards, a large number of others are still trying to understand the calculation long after Mr. Stickerman has moved on to the next card. I have to ask myself, is teaching toward some ambiguous set of standards really worth the expense of leaving some students behind? I can’t help but wonder how much value there is for the students in a structured environment such as this. I mean, certainly, a uniform set of standards are useful in providing a comprehensive framework for evaluating each student and ensuring a smooth transition from grade to grade, but that intent seems to get clouded by the fact that students are only passive participants in the learning process. By focusing only on the basics, Mr. Stickerman has lost sight of the bigger picture, and I’m afraid his students are suffering because of it. September 6, 2004 Mr. Stickerman, that’s where I left off right? No, let’s not even go there again tonight. Last night was enough…perhaps, indefinitely. Just across the hallway from mine is the classroom of Miss Footer, a friendly thirty-something woman, characterized by a warm smile, a skip in her walk, and a certain approachable demeanor. Miss Footer is, in my mind, a pleasant reminder of many of my favorite childhood teachers. And there is no doubt that she enjoys her job to the fullest and is excited to be there each and every day. In fact, it’s almost as if her enthusiasm can be felt within every nook and crevice of her classroom: on the walls, Miss Footer has (somewhat haphazardly it seems) placed a variety of pictures and posters, the students’ desk are scattered around in a similar fashion, clustered into small groups of fours, maybe fives. The teacher’s desk is located off to the side to make room for the “library corner,” a cozy retreat shared by beanbags and books alike. Nothing like the old-school Mr. Stickerman, the classroom environment created by Miss Footer shows much more progressivism. And, unlike Mr. Stickerman, there are no prearranged timelines, no standards matrices tucked inside a grade book, no dependence on knowledge transference…rather, Miss Footer teaches to inspire. Teaching, not as an educator, but as an advisory instigator for encouraging her students’ exploration of ideas, their development of problem-solving techniques, and their use of analytical thought. This encouragement is exactly why students immediately swarm Miss Footer on their arrival, filled with questions and conversations about anything from the previous night’s assignment or the change in the weather outside. So with the enthusiasm her students have shown her, she too energetically responds to each of these students’ accounts, validating their individuality and encouraging their future explorations. But her encouragement does not stop there. In fact, when a hand goes up at the start of class to give the details of a parent’s thoughts over yesterday’s social studies lesson, Miss Footer encourages the story and the proceeding class discussion. She opens the floor to all the students, using the told anecdote as an opportunity to review yesterday’s lesson and expand its contents in undetermined directions. Unrestrained by time schedules and pre-determined lesson plans, Miss Footer takes advantage of every teaching opportunity, no matter how it arises…ah, so this is how it happens. Often times, I have wondered just how a teacher “plans” for these types of teachable moments, and now I know the answer: you can’t. You can only remain open to and aware of the hidden opportunities to welcome students’ interests. What’s more is that by emphasizing learning through listening and doing, Miss Footer uses a more experiential curriculum to promote maturation of her students through their own self-discovery of ideas. Hence, a typical book report analysis of a short story (so often used in other language arts classes), is for Miss Footer an opportunity to create engaging conversation, to lead a class discussion on the messages behind the plot. Using the small group arrangements of students’ desks, Miss Footer encourages her students to discover and explain the hidden meanings throughout the story through their own self-expression, working within a creative and supportive environment. Suggesting artwork, speeches, games, any expression at all to articulate the students’ individual understanding of the story, Miss Footer seeks to combine the different disciplines of education into an integrative community. A story, when analyzed through art and self-expression, becomes an integrative lesson of language arts, social studies, and art. It becomes an opportunity to apply an analytical framework to what others, might have only been an exercise with flashcards. Miss Footer, in this way, ultimately aims to provide more relevant context to her students. She purposely seeks to avoid the mere facts and the “right” answers, in favor of a broader knowledge base and more meaningful understandings. This approach to teaching enables Miss Footer to adapt to different students’ learning styles…and its child-centered focus translates to a system in which the best interests of the students are central. At once, what a relief. I’ll surely sleep better tonight, rest assured that there are still one-of-a-kind teachers out there who truly care. It doesn’t always have to be about the standardized tests and the right answers, it doesn’t have to be about the “things a third grader should know,” but it can be about what’s important to those students, what will help them grow for actual living. September 8, 2004 A night off was a much-needed break from all of this theoretical thought, particularly with the world of radicalism and Ms. Blamers awaiting me. Just a little background on Ms. Blamers…Ms. Blamers comes to us, just two years ago, from Crossroads Elementary, located in Northeastern Baltimore. And conceivably from her experiences there, Ms. Blamers carries a gravely pessimistic chip on her shoulder…that, in all honesty, would more than likely be a consequence of any teacher working within an inner-city elementary school. The glaring reality of the economic status of the school its students, and its neighborhoods could be obviously noted by the exterior absence of a playground amidst clumps of brown grass, and by the school itself, a dark cement building void of windows or, for that matter, sufficient lighting. The darkness seemed a silent symbolization of the many struggles never experienced, let alone recognized by the likes of our sheltered suburbia surroundings here. So the reality is Ms. Blamers has had a lot of real experiences in her time of teaching. And it’s telling by the weight on her shoulders that many of these heavy experiences are carried forward into today. Nonetheless, she’s a friendly, but quiet, little lady with numerous subtleties that I’ve only just begun to understand. But I’ve found that by simply studying her face and its many gestures, there is a lot of understanding hidden inside. Her eyes, at any moment, seem detached from the present and awash in thought; she has a quiet voice and a passive disposition. There is a gentle way in which she always seems to say through the expressions on her face…“that will do.” I can’t explain it, and perhaps I shouldn’t even try, but she seems to be constantly apologizing for her experiences in the past and the diverse teaching atmosphere from which she came. In trying to understand her classroom environment, it seems that the greater the distance between Ms. Blamers and a student, the less likely she is to teach that student, engage him, or even acknowledge him at all. I guess what I mean to say is…there are a handful of students who sit i[ close in the very front row, and these students receive the majority of Ms. Blamers’ attention. Whereas the others are moved to the back burner – some to simmer and others to turn cold. Thus, idling away, these students are ultimately the ones who walk out at the end of each day, still ignored and still unlearned of anything new. So why? Well, you see, to Ms. Blamers, this is the reality that the students have to come to terms with. Children must be educated according to their specific place in modern society as achieved through schooling’s reproduction of the capitalist order. They must understand that some students will be powerful and educated, while others will be assigned to tedious manual work. Thus, it is her responsibility as a teacher to introduce them to that reality and ultimately make it easier for them to deal with it in actual living. Wait, how could this possibly be? How could Ms. Blamers become so daunted by our society to believe that the purpose of schooling is to repress different classes and social groups by only providing them with the knowledge and skills needed to occupy their respective places in the labor force? It seems that the answer takes us back to Crossroads Elementary once again. Because, as it turns out, Ms. Blamers attempted a progressive and liberal approach – she tried to work within the lower income schools to foster a child-centered environment where education was about learning in different ways. She sought egalitarian access to good education, and the opportunity to develop every individual as such, but the students continued to fail, not because of the students, but because of the dominant ideology that kept limiting their educational opportunities to just fulfilling their respective places in the labor place. Which then brings us to today, in which Ms. Blamers quietly fulfills her duty to capitalist reproduction. Citing her failures within the low-income school district as just another example of how schools are used as a cultural apparatus to reproduce dominant ideology...