Engaged Pedagogy Research Paper

Knowing this about the gifted learner and coming to the realizations about the democratic classroom and working towards social justice, I have come to the conclusion that my reflection must include my current teaching situation, students, and practices. As Camp and Oesterreich (2010) stated in their article on critical teaching, “uncommon teaching offers the possibility of re-centering education on the students and away from the common-sense of scripted and restricted curricula to promote acquisition by students of a critical consciousness in order to become agents of change for social justice”.

Classrooms are different today from those of previous generations, they have become communities of learners where students assume more responsibility for learning. As opposed to a place where the teacher is in charge the modern class room there is often a hum of students, talking about books they are reading and working together in small groups using digital as well as print text. The students are more culturally and linguistically diverse, many have English as a second language (ESL). This Critical- reflective essay will explore using the four resource model developed by Luke and Freebody, focusing on; how young children learn to read, the four roles within the resources model are Code breaker, text user, text participant and text analyst. This essay will also articulate the understanding of the three phases of reading and writing development. Phase one, experimental reading and writing. Phase two, early reading and writing and phase three, transitional reading and writing. This understanding will then be applied to an early years setting including and application of strategies for cultural differences.

In “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” Paulo Freire tells of the complex relationships that contrast narrative versus instructive teachers and compliant versus existentially aware students, in regards to the various methods of instructing and acquiring knowledge. Although this reading is only a particular excerpt from Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire does an exceptional job by capturing the immense reality of certain educational methods. He explains the “banking” system of teaching, which portrays the teachers as “oppressors” who enforce themselves with an authoritative, commanding position upon the “oppressed” students. By introducing scholars to this “banking” concept of education, the teacher has no regard for the student, inhibiting further questioning and analyses, which only “negates education and knowledge as processes of inquiry.” (Pedagogy) Freire applies negative connotations to help better demonstrate the contents in which these teachers apply towards their students, stressing that this simply is not well defined enough when the time arrives to properly educate the students.

Critical pedagogy is a philosophy that aims to foster more than just dialogue between the educators and students. It encourages “exploration, to help students move through the process of discovery by talking with them, asking questions and generally keeping up the momentum of exploration” (Elmborg, 2002, p. 458). This then effectively resolves the issue of a stagnant pedagogy, one that does not keep up with the times and needs of the students. Additionally, critical pedagogy serves to place some, or perhaps a lot of autonomy on the students’ part, attributing the means to the realization potential to them as well as the educators. As such, the only way for the educator to come to a better understanding of their students’, as well as their own

The power of literacy is not the ability to read and wright or to have good penmanship but rather than an individual’s capacity to combines those skills and express one’s thoughts and feelings and comprehend the same from others. An individual’s capacity of combining these skills and using them to trudge a course for his or her own life is where the power of literacy lies. In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Mr. Auld warned Mrs. Auld that if you give a nigger an inch he would take an ell (Douglass 1845) and Fredric Douglass did just that. Literacy is the key that unlocks one’s ability to increase learning process. Fredrick Douglass is prof of this and should serve as an inspiration to others to learn how to read and wright and or to enhance their literary skills.

I am currently a high school teacher of Living Environment in a public school in the Bronx. Over 80% of the students at my school are on reduced lunch. Additionally, over 98% of my students are Latino/Hispanic and African American. As I come to define what literacy means to me as a teacher, I begin to come to realize that my own definition of literacy is highly influenced by my personal experiences in life. I grew up in a single parent home in a rough part of town and attended a school that was majority Latino/Hispanic and African American throughout my academic career until I reached college. The university where I attended was the complete opposite: most of the students were white with only a handful of students of other ethnicities. While in college, I remember being self-conscious about my ability to both read and speak. Public speaking was one of my phobias during my undergraduate career. I noticed that all of my white colleagues were articulate with their speech and never seemed to stumble over words. Myself on the other hand, I struggled with certain root words and for that reason I never wanted to speak out in class. However, I believe the most frustrating part of this whole experience was the lack of understanding from my colleagues. For them, reading and speaking was something that just

Engaged learning, within a highly supportive environment, enables our students to develop strong communication skills, excel within collaborative settings, effectively address complex problems with innovative solutions, and lead with integrity and compassion throughout their lives and careers in a diverse and rapidly changing world.

A key component in teaching students critical thinking is being able to engage students in the active process of learning, and one can accomplish this through teaching the class by involving relevant topics that students can relate to. This is a main aspect of Acosta’s critical pedagogy curriculum which involves having the student participate in the academic experience. Acosta shows

Critical pedagogy, influenced by Paulo Freire and Michael Apple, sees students become participants in their learning, where topics are relatable and relevant to their lives. Critical literacy refers to the use of text and other communication to challenge the rules governing the societal norms of everyday life (Luke, 2012, p.5). Asking students to interrogate a text and question the use of language, allows them to form a critical observation about what the author wants the readers to know, for example, when studying Australian First Contact, allowing students to draw conclusions about the treatment of Indigenous people from a text which glosses over the details, ensures students look at the topic from multiple angles and apply their sociocultural knowledge to the discussion. The introduction of multimodal tools into literacy teaching, acknowledges that a

This involves a learning process that engages the learners. Attention is moved from the teacher to the learners through practices such as role playing, group work and problem-based approaches, for instance. These activities put the learners in a situation where it is up to them to use available learning resources to solve problems, hence causing active learning.

The film The World in Claire’s Classroom, 2000, shows us an alternative first and second grade classroom dynamic that Claire helps facilitate by her teaching style and beliefs.While certain parts of the film are socially problematic, in regards to some methods when learning about other cultures, Claire practices very progressive teaching methods and concepts that our class has covered. Because of using these varied teaching methods, Claire is also creating a more indepth and engaged learning environment that appears to have a positive impact on her students. Two concepts that I will be introducing and comparing to Claire’s classroom are Self-directed Learning and The Four Aspects of Engagement. Both of these concepts connect to multiple

Literacy pedagogies have a developing and complex history in education, intertwined with social and cultural change and evolution. Each change has paved a new path for more significant approaches and strategies, which cater to diverse learners allowing them to create meaning and communicate more effectively. These literacy pedagogies brought out by the changes in education have both strengths and weaknesses. As such, educators need to explore and understand the four knowledge processes portrayed by Kalantzis, Cope, Chan and Dalley-Trim; didactic, authentic, functional, and critical literacy approach (2016), to be able to consider how they can influence teaching and learning so they are able to make informed decisions with regards to their students’ literacy learning. Teaching is becoming increasingly complex; this is particularly evident in the area of literacy. This paper will explore the four literacy pedagogies, their limitations and their strengths, and how they have impacted literacy learning within the Australian educational context.

Active engagement occurs in the classroom when a teacher makes the connection between teaching and learning through pedagogy. The choice of pedagogy must see fit with the content of the lesson which in return will assist the teacher in constructing a more meaningful and supportive learning environment where students’ are more willing to participate and be actively engaged. The most important skill in pedagogies is relating the learning experience to real world situations in which students’ can relate too (Churchill et al., 2011).

students are composed of many diverse groups of people together, which is a problem for teachers when providing lessons. However, engagement is best method or way for people to acquire knowledge. In schools, engagement is an important way that students acquire their education. When students and teachers are highly engaged in school, teachers are able to help students improve their learning. In the article "Student Engagement", the author pointed out that highly engagement between teachers and students help to reduce dropout rates and increased levels of student success. Also, the author believes it motivates the students keeping them interested in school and their education. (Sadker, M) The action of engagement it benefits both students and teachers. From the schools, teachers and educators point of view, it is important for teachers to engage students in the learning process, because it helps teachers to know and make sure the students are learning. In the "Teachers Engagement" article, the author explain the idea of teachers engage students in learning help students motivated and interested in school. Also, in the article, the author pointed out that most students are do not know purpose why they are in school, and teachers by engaging the students in school help students realize the purpose of education. (Kennedy, C) With those reasons, it shows that engagement it important for students and teachers in

My observations has taught me the importance of engaging students. I am now able to recognize when a student is not engaged. They seem distracted and are not paying attention to what the teacher is saying. Whereas an engaged student is alert, discussing the material, and asking questions