First, I ask that you view a trailer about Roses in Concrete, a modern day version of Dr. Moses' Algebra Project. Here we see students becoming engaged in their education. Students working for their success in the future. Students becoming critical, active thinkers…
More about Roses in Concrete can be found at: http://rosesinconcrete.org/
In previous on-line discussion board assignments I assert that current pedagogical practices in our educational system create an “invisible student.” The notion of invisible student is played out in educational settings when we reduce a student's identity to a number/letter grade; ignore a student's culture by not including aspects of it (culture) in the curriculum; assess a student with biased tools that will not ensure her success in education; and impose language requirements and curricula that does not take each individual student's identity and multiliteracies into account. These one-dimensional approaches create and perpetuate a learning environment that discourages the student voice from being heard. Our educational system has become so entrenched by such methods, that the student’s success, and I mean LONG-TERM success, is no longer our number one priority. Thus, we lose sight of our purpose –our students- and their role in education becomes obsolete. Students become invisible entities in our pedagogical practices.
If we want to create reform in our educational system, we need to take a critical look at what is currently taking place in and outside of the four walls of a classroom. There are many essential questions that we must ask ourselves: What are we really doing to prepare students for the future? Or are we just preparing them to pass a test tomorrow? Are we providing students with the long lasting tools that permit them to successfully navigate their feature endeavors? Does our educational policy take each individual student’s concern and interest into account? As put forth by Dr. Moses, it is necessary to explore the answers to, “Are we going to have a society where only a small group of people are prepared for the future, where there’s a huge knowledge gap?” (2001, p. 12). Ultimately, we need to ask ourselves- what is more important: having our students be concerned with the immediacy of passing tests in their schooling, or preparing our students- all of our students- to have success at living a meaningful and sustainable life?
Not only must we as educators develop a more critical view of our pedagogical practices, but we must also insist that our students become aware of and use a critical lens. Essentially, students should be knowledgeable of the connections between their in-school life and their out-of-school life. It is imperative to remember that, “Communities and their processes of social change must also be centrally involved, and in some broad sense, national and local politics. Really working in all these arenas will require that many people adopt a more holistic outlook than they have ever done before” (Moses, 2001, p. 16). Furthermore, this integration of out-of-school knowledge and in-school knowledge helps to foster a higher competence of literacy (Allington, 2007). With the aim of ensuring success to all students by means of critical literacy, Dr. Moses argues that “the way we guarantee this necessary literacy is through education conceived of much more broadly than what goes on in classrooms” (2001, p.12).
In order to engage students as critical learners, they must become active learners. An educational system that encourages active, critical thinking fosters the acceptance of diversity and the individuality of students. This practice conquers the notion of “invisible student,” and places the student at the hub of the educational process. The acknowledgment of students as an important part of schooling requires educators to KNOW their students. This means knowing each and every student on an individual, personal level. Linda Rief suggests that in becoming an effective educator, it is a requirement to ask ourselves, “Do we know our students well enough each year to help them become the best readers and writers they can be?” (2007, p. 198).
By creating critical thinkers- visible students- educators must allow students to have voices, and allow those voices to be heard. Moses points out that, “Young people finding their voice instead of being spoken for is a crucial part of the process” (2001, p. 19). Again, this situates the student at the core of education. Wilhelm and Smith propose that when students have ever-increasing control and independence over what they do in school, motivation and competence increases (2007). When attaining success, students’ presence and role in the educational process must be affirmed. As students are allowed to be more active and evident in their schooling process, they emerge with a “new understanding of themselves as leaders, participants, and learners” (Moses, 2007, p.17). Pedagogical practices that facilitate the encouragement of active and critical learners will best prepare students for long term success in life.
Here is a link to a website that offers the benefits of dismantling the notion of the “invisible student” in our current educational system and creating an actively engaged, critical thinker: http://www.eckerdacademy.org/family-resources/article-archive/top-ten-benefits-of-learner-centered-education/
I ask, what are you doing in your classroom to make your students visible?
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