on-line post
Nicole Shelton
influence the students within the classroom. These influences can
effect relationships between teachers and students, and students with
their peers, the activities that contribute to learning environment
both inside and outside of the classroom, even the furniture
arrangement and culture of the classroom.
Clearly, the school curriculum is a structured learning path that
guides both the teachers and students toward an end goal by using
bench marks and standards. While this process is taking place, a
hidden curriculum can change or modify the structure the school
curriculum. For example, in most school there are norms and a school
culture such as being on time, and learning to follow rules and
respect authority. In the article, “The Hidden and Null Curriculum:
An Experiment in Collective Educational Biography” there is an example
of gender and the hidden curriculum when girls are expected to act in
certain ways. In reference to the hidden curriculum for girls that
she experienced the author states, “…the way to earn a teacher’s
approval was to do exactly what she wanted. Being very quiet and
respectful, always doing neat work, smiling sweetly, never arguing or
criticizing, walking quietly, saying you love to read, complimenting
the teacher, saying please and thank you constantly, were all ways to
make sure you succeeded in school and were thought of as a “good
student”. Subjective codes like these are often used by schools and
teachers could negatively affect students and their learning. Our
students are consistently subjected to many hidden messages throughout
the course of their learning experience therefore; teachers need to be
self reflective in order to examine and analyze what subjective
limitations we place on our students.
The Hidden Curriculum Packet has many examples of what we can do as
educators to transform literacy and use the skills we are learning in
this program. For example, in the article “Letting in the Sun: Native
Youth Transform Their School with Murals” the author was able to
illustrate how arts can be infused with literacy in order to not only
change the students but also the school and the community. The
teachers who worked with these students were able to access and build
upon the funds of knowledge of the students and transformed the
learning process from a passive to an active learning environment.
Another example that stood out for me was “ Disrupting the (hetero)
normative: Exploring Literacy Performances and Identity Work with
Queer Youth” by Mollie Blackburn was very inspiring because the
teacher in this article was able to empower a group of homosexual
youth using poetry. The students who participated in this program
were able to develop not only literacy skills but also self esteem
simply by having an accepting platform to express themselves. The
teacher in this article was able to make a true connection with her
students which gave them the strength to be themselves. I was really
drawn to this article because I have used poems by famous rap artists
to help my students evaluate and analyze the issues of inner city
life. Since all of my students live in the inner city and were
familiar with the rap artist, they were instantly able to make
connections to the material and write reflections based on their prior
knowledge and experiences. This concept of empowering students to
change their social conditions directly relates to Freire’s work
because he believed that education can be used as a liberation tool
for the oppressed.
Erica Tymeck
I really like the quotes you highlighted in your discussion. After
doing this work as well as my work for 1600, I have really been more
clear on developing my pedagogy. IN response to your post it makes me
continue to think about my own pedagogy. At this point i have realized
developing student's self esteem, positive self image and a sense of
empowerment are central to me. I feel that this is something that is
often SO overlooked in our curriculum. (Just because a child "gets a
good grade" does not mean that have an elevated sense of self
awareness or self esteem). Additionally, the Blackburn article discuss
how literacy can develop that. I hope to continue to improve and
develop this aspect.
Look forward to discussing this further in class :)
have a great week!