Kelly Gallagher's "Readicide"

I can’t remember the last time I read anything for pleasure over studious instruction.  Kelly Gallagher's "Readicide" speaks out about an industrialized, counterproductive teaching methods that are unfortunate enough to be commonplace. The death of students’ desire to read of their own volition is a serious issue. It must not be perpetuated.

At the start, this book highlights major issues and pitfalls of reading in the educational environment; the struggle begins with the students’ association with “assigned reading” without any opportunity nor emphasis on their own topic interests and relevancy. Essay writing is often much the same way, but it doesn’t have to be. The disassociation and disinterest in reading and writing revolve upon an institutionalized approach to instruction where “nothing is valued beyond the material.”   

When I was a young child I was often given books that I was told “would be interesting and worth it in your future so read them now.” As a result, I had a habit of pushing away such books and readings as I had been deprived of the opportunity to discover those readings for myself and determine their personal value to myself. Later in my years I did end up going back to those old readings and books, but not out of interest nor for pleasure, but out of a feeling of obligation.

This “obligation” will eventually drain the fun and enjoyment out of reading for these students and as long as there is a lack of value being placed on the students’ interests, reading will become like a chore and an obstacle rather than a sought-after challenge or hobby. Kelly Gallagher's "Readicide" recognizes the endangerment that this issue causes and how it will be detrimental to the skillsets of young students and readers as reading, these days, is no longer optional but necessary in everyday life and as such should be preserved as an enjoyable activity rather than an obstacle that induces frustration in the future.

"I Read it, but I don't get it"

"I Read it, but I don't get it" is a statement that is often never conveyed in a straightforward nor convenient way; inconvenient to both the student and the teacher. What exactly does this mean though? Is it a student’s plea for help? Is it a sign of incompetence on behalf of the student? Is it an ill reflection of the teacher’s ability to convey the information in a way the student can comprehend?

It is none of these. The phrase, "I Read it, but I don't get it" is an opportunity! One that is easily overlooked or taken for an indulgence in pessimism. This is a statement of confusion. Confusion is good.  

The concept of confusion is that clarification is needed. An instructor should not be appalled at the instance of this confusion, but overjoyed in that such a rare teaching opportunity may exist! When this confusion is incited by the instructor the student and the teacher opens a dialogue from which it is possible to create connections between the text, its ideas, and concepts and the student’s own interpretation, their reactions and focuses them on an internal reflective perspective on the text. In doing so, questions can be asked, explored and eventually the text can be understood in at least some capacity through association and student familiarity.

This book does an excellent job of addressing this opportunity and provides many inclusive suggestions for how an instructor may meaningfully take advantage of this opportunity to create a better understanding of the core concepts and ideas the text could ever provide on its own.  Not understanding is an invitation for discussion and for discovery. A discovery that encourages the student to be mindful of when and what creates confusion or lack of understanding and provides the tools for which enable them to realize that “Not getting it” is an okay starting point from which a lot of meaningful concepts and ideas can be learned. 

Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom

The ideas and situations presented in Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom Is insightful towards the multi-faceted culture and educational struggles exemplified within the modern urban educational environment. It was a very thoughtful commentary and discussion on how students affected by this sort of learning environment can be given the same opportunities of not, more to develop their worldviews, accomplish their learning objectives and excel in the education system despite the setbacks and disadvantages set upon such students and schools that lack the proper amount of funding responsible for providing the most recent texts, lesson material and resources necessary to provide a decent education.

I enjoyed the emphasis and respect towards the concept of using the text and literary resources of the classic literary masters to supplement the need for up-to-date textbooks and actively engaging in teaching methods as simple in concept as ordinary class discussion to challenge, engage these students and encourage them to always seek improvement through dynamic analysis of texts that connect to them on cultural, personal and relevance to worldview. I find it increasingly necessary to provide the tools to students or help them to develop or refine their own tools for progressing towards their literacy objectives and engagement in the humanities and in extension, their own communities. In this way, these students will be able to achieve an education just as validated as students enrolled in schools with more up-to-date accommodations.

As the Greek Philosophers and great teachers of the ancient past embraced, “A classroom is not always a room with fancy books or tools, but an environment where student and teacher alike have a willingness to learn and a desire to always improve their understanding, in this way, a classroom facilitates a connection between knowledge, discovery and understanding.”

Urging students to look at texts and literature from different perspectives and worldviews is a surefire way to encourage empathic connections among the students and instructor that provide a positive atmosphere where true learning can take place, no matter what materials or resources are lacking.

PAULO FREIRE: CHAPTER 2 OF PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED

It is sickening. Sickening that educating has become so much an “industry” to forsake the very meaning of the term in its core, leaving nothing but an empty shell, a nobody. The oppression of the industry of educating is adequately explored in this chapter. It’s a nonsensical idea to be so absolutely deceived that your very role as an educator means depriving the less knowledgeable of the just opportunity to progress towards understanding or functioning in a meaningful way and becoming a contributing member of the social construct of humanity.  

“The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable. Or else he expounds on a topic completely alien to the existential experience of the students. His task is to "fill" the students with the contents of his narration -- contents which are detached from reality, disconnected from the totality that engendered them and could give them significance. Words are emptied of their concreteness and become a hollow, alienated, and alienating verbosity.” (Paulo Freire).

This is not education. This is indeed oppression; it is an assembly line of pointless existence where the existence of the teacher is contrived only on the ineptness of the student body. To educate means more than just “depositing” arbitrary facts and dictations into the “receptacle” of the students’ minds. Education means to give purpose to those who have yet to discover theirs. To provide students with the tools and developmental progression to apply what they know and how they perceive the world to the environment and social connections that involve their lives. Education means to connect with others through understanding each other, whether they be student or teacher. The idea that an educator is meant to “Know everything” and that a student is meant to “know nothing” defeats the reasoning behind any such connection.

To educate means to learn indefinitely. 

http://faculty.webster.edu/corbetre/philosophy/education/freire/freire-2.html

Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning

Evaluating how well a student can accurately remember facts and retell summaries of literary plot points is null in comparison to the importance of assessing what students interpret from their literary studies and how they choose to apply their understanding to their own thoughts and reflections. The goal of literature evaluations should hardly ever be based solely upon strict memorization and regurgitation of “key facts” and “observations of what others have said.”

While knowing the content well enough to pull facts out of the source material is useful, it has no inherent value unless these facts are discussed and students are allowed enough time to build connections, formulate questions and reflect upon their reactions and interpretations of the texts they are objectively reading. Therein lies the way to properly assess whether a thorough understanding has been achieved by the students. This selection ha provided wonderful insight into the experience and methods required to orient students away from strict, ambiguous fact memorization and regurgitation leading instead, towards reading the text, discussing the text within context relevant environments and creating relatable connections between the literary content and each students’ culture, past experience, likes and dislikes with the intent towards invoking a cause or motivation to actively understand and apply the literary content in a meaningful and rewarding way that will enrich the humanity of these students’ cultures and thought processes.

Creating opportunities for student feedback to actively shape their learning experience is a critical and non-negotiable part of evaluating student understanding and knowledge over the material an instructor has been teaching and learning alongside each student. While assigning essays on topics relevant to the literary text is a popularized and objective way of gauging student knowledge and research skills, Active and open discussion coupled with weekly student reflections can provide a more accurate representation of the students’ skill proficiencies, understanding and comprehension of the course material as comprehension and understanding is a subjective element that relies inherently on critical thinking, interpretation and personal connections to the subject matter.