Transformative Teaching
Please check out the video before reading the post. It’s about a program started at Bernard College.
I happened to come across this video through On War and Words blog. For me, this project is the embodiment of good teaching. This is the type of teaching I strive for.
There is certainly a lot to like about this style of teaching, but by far the most important for me is the creation of a critical classroom. Students were deliberately challenged to seek out new worldviews, question preconceived notions, and identify with the Other. I truly feel that good teaching always does those things.
Seeking out new worldviews, especially ones that challenge our current beliefs is so important to be able to critically engage with the world around us, each other, and even ourselves. These students had to delve into a very complex and difficult topic and really look at it.
More importantly, they are doing more than just acquiring and then passing on that information. They are living it. They are not just reporting what someone else says. They are being asked to truly understand that person and become them within the classroom. This ability to get inside the head of an other is an invaluable skill and can teach so much, especially when you are asked to do it with the side you don’t agree with.
We as teachers have very powerful opportunities to bring these critical elements into our students lives and I feel that it is something many teachers either rarely consider or shy away from.
We should ask ourselves if our teaching is truly transformative or if it simply aids the accumulation of knowledge and skills. Personally, I feel we should do both rather than one or the other.
This project also rests on some very sound pedagogical principles. The students are given a lot of free-reign, most of the work is done by them, and the knowledge and skills are lived rather than passively received.
I don’t know 100% of how this classroom was run, but I bet I can make some pretty good guesses. Students were given roles, but how they developed those roles, how they acquired the information, and how they presented it was probably largely left up to them. I’m sure the teacher merely acted as a guide, someone who could point them in the right direction or make sure they were staying on track. It’s a class where the students were mostly teaching each other.
Students were given specific goals and an excellent framework to work within, but after this, it seems that the achievement of those goals was their responsibility. They were provided access to materials rather than spoon-fed answsers.
The most important point here is that the lesson was lived. It was actively experienced. I guarantee that the students will remember most of what they learned throughout this project. How could they not? This is the true benefit of drama in the classroom.
Your ability to implement this kind of teaching depends on a lot of things and not everyone will be able to do it to the same degree, but I think we should all try to do our best. Simple things like access to materials for this kind of project may be hard to come by, but I imagine there is more than enough material available on the Internet, especially for an English class.
Another problem often faced in Turkey is inconsistent students. Extended projects are quite hard to do with students that pop in and out of classes fairly frequently and can’t be counted on to come on time. I’ve found it’s beneficial to initiate projects that can be done regardless of who shows up. If you have to depend on key people, a big problem arises when they don’t come that day or come 2 hours late.
There is also the matter of school policies regarding controversial issues and the students’ own reactions to them. We can simply work within our limits and I’d say we should push them as much as we can as well. I did a number of posts a while back on different ways of introducing controversy into the classroom: Juxtaposition, Displacement, Pushing.
What about you? Do you consider your teaching to be critical or transformative in the lives of your students? How do you accomplish this? What hurdles do you have to overcome when doing so? How feasible is it within the English classroom?
Tags: Controversy, Critical Pedagogy, Drama, Role-play, Transformative Teaching
Critical Pedagogy, Teaching Strategies | turklis1 | 
June 21, 2010 3:50 pm
3 Comments
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By Willy C. Cardoso, July 7, 2010 @ 2:35 am
Such a great post Nick!
I was really behind my blog reading, so just watched the video now.
It’s interesting that you say ‘this is the type of teaching I strive for’, I kind of see it more like ‘this is the type of learning I strive for’, cause at least from what they show on the video there aren’t ‘teachers’ there, the way we define a teacher’s role today. So, yes, I strive for that too, a learning environment with no one to dictate what should be learnt, with no one to be labelled as the instructor or monitor, or expert, because everyone will be doing that together.
Regarding your final questions. I think it is very difficult to be critical and transformative in a language classroom. However, it’s possible and I risk saying advisable if we are to better our lives through education. Learners need to be aware of that as well, they have to choose with the teacher whether to be critical or not, it’s not the teacher’s choice in my opinion, learners should be empowered to make such decisions.
By turklis1, July 7, 2010 @ 4:34 pm
Hey Willy, glad you liked it. I think you are correct to call it a type of learning rather than teaching.
I agree that it is certainly difficult in the ELT classroom. But sometimes I think we have even more freedom because English can be taught throw such a variety of topics. There are far less restrictions than in other subjects I think.
Good point on being critical or not. I wouldn’t agree though. While we need to keep the learner’s interests in mind, I do believe in pushing it. If we don’t challenge the students, who will? From my perspective, bring up issues like domestic violence is very important regardless of whether or not the students would prefer a different topic. At the same time, I do notify my students of such topics beforehand and they are therefore given the choice of coming to class or not.
By Tala Shen, November 19, 2010 @ 9:06 am
Great posting, I am impressed with the video and the efforts exerted in this website. Congrats. Is it possible to get a copy of the video? If so, how? Thanks in Advance.