Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Beyond Tolerance
"No, I don't encourage tolerance in my classroom, instead, curiosity and inclusion. I want students to find and embrace others, not merely tolerate them (22)." What a powerful article. I loved the way the teacher was able to see faults in her thinking (prejudice against Arabs) and was able to change herself and her class, including boldly visiting a mosque in Utah. It was not only the main point of the article that i liked it was the way she embedded in the students' minds the importance of voice. " I asked, holding up a photo of Tiananmen Square.'See that kid in front of the tanks? All he wants to do is say something. All he wants is for someone to listen to what he has to say. You have a voice. What are you going to say?' The students hunched over their notebooks and began writing, feverishly, in their journals (20)." YES! That is why i want to be a teacher. I want kids to find their voice; to capture their thoughts and recite them, insightfully to others. It is this power of words i wish to instill upon them, the way Max showed it to Liesel through "The Word Shaker". A final quote i really appreciated from this article is when Cook shares that she is still learning, as well. "I am proud of what I'm learning in my classroom. I am proud of what students are teaching me...(22)."
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I am so happy this teacher pushed the limits in her classroom. We need to have more teachers who are willing to push the envelope in order to facilitate a greater learning environment. I think we also must realize like your last quote: the students are teaching us.
ReplyDelete"YES! That is why i want to be a teacher. I want kids to find their voice; to capture their thoughts and recite them, insightfully to others."
ReplyDeleteThis makes me smile, because I agree 100%. Enforcing the concept that "you have a voice" is seriously so crucial for growing adolescents!
Your opening quote was one of my favorite lines from the article. I too believe more has to be done in our society than merely having a tolerance policy. It's too much like saying: "Ok, this culturally diverse group exists, but I can still ignore them and say I'm tolerating them at the same time." With this attitude, the closed-minded people will still hold their opinions while the different cultural groups remain alienated from the rest of society because nobody will give them the time of day.
ReplyDeleteYes! I echo your heralds throughout this post. I too cannot wait for the day that something in my classroom moves my students so much so that they write with power feverishly to get it all out, to express themselves, to open up their souls to capture a single moment in time. I think for far too long we have muffled the voices of students in the classroom. If more educators allow themselves to be instruments rather than the whole orchestra, beautiful music will be made in the classroom!
ReplyDeleteIt was AWESOME to read an article about a teacher who wasn't afraid to be a little bit controversial in the classroom. Of course we all want to keep our job security, but there are SO MANY controversial things our students should definitely know, and there are plenty of creative mediums to relay these ideas. It's great that you enjoyed this article so much, and you definitely pulled out some really powerful quotes!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great article. I agree with the other comments too. As teachers, we have to be willing to push for what is the best for our students and also what we believe.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great you want your students to have a voice in society. How would you plan incorporating this idea into the classroom setting? I think it'd be great to use with multi-culturalism as well as diasters such as the Holocaust.
ReplyDeleteThis teacher was amazing. Hope I can even do 1/2 of what she was able to accomplish.
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