Engaging Emotions: An Engaged Pedagogy and Emotion Informed Approach to Teaching
As a woman of color and a first-generation college student, I chose teaching as my vocation to demonstrate the possibilities of transcending boundaries. Transcending boundaries, a feature of my pedagogical practice is integral to personal and intellectual liberation. This transcendence includes critical emotional praxis. Informed by the social, personal, and political weight of emotions, I intended to step outside of the boundaries of “traditional” education with my commitment to critical emotional praxis and critical peace education which address “issues of structural inequalities and aims at cultivating a sense of transformative agency (both individual and collective) to advance peacebuilding” (Emotion and Traumatic Conflict:
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I am also dedicated to fostering students’ academic growth by teaching them how to navigate these challenges inside and outside of the classroom, to do this, I utilize Culturally Mediated Instruction (CMI) to engage diverse ways of knowing and understanding. However, at its core my pedagogy aligns with ideas presented in bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994) in that I engage in the practice of teaching intending to aid my students in empowering themselves—particularly through writing— and teach my students to transgress traditional styles of learning. I lean toward what hooks identifies as “engaged pedagogy,” a method of teaching that is holistic. Holistic teaching necessitates the inclusion of emotions. Engaged pedagogy allows me to connect with students to understand their modes of learning and doing. Furthermore, engaged pedagogy allows me to recognize the place of their emotions in the
In order to understand Mike Rose, and his book Lives on the Boundary, you must first understand where Mike is coming from and examine his past. Mike was born to a first generation immigrant family, originally from Italy. He spent his early childhood in the mid-west and then in his latter childhood, parents not knowing any better, in East Los Angeles. Mike’s father suffered from arteriosclerosis. Neither Mike’s mother nor his father had completed high school and no one in his family had ever attended college. This is the setting, background, and characters of Mike’s tale of “struggles and achievements of America’s educationally underprepared” . Through this book Mike constantly is emphasizing three main themes. First, the importance of an educational mentor; later in this treatise we will examine several of Mike’s mentors. Second, social injustices in the American education system; specifically the lack of funding and bureaucracy’s affect on the public educational system. Third and lastly, specific teaching methods that Mike has used to reach out to kids on the boundary.
Cowhey’s book is broken down by the major themes and concepts she teaches her first and second grade students. Each concept relates back to her personal pedagogy of implementing a Multicultural Education. These major themes include empathy, freedom, peace, activism, community, and social justice. Cowhey’s pedagogy uses “language and literacy to teach about the world with rigor, depth, and challenge in a way that engages and
In her article entitled Teaching to Transgress, Bells Hooks effectively speaks to her readers by using the rhetorical strategy of personal narrative, argumentation, and exemplification, in order to call for a “renewal” (29) of teaching method called “engaged pedagogy” (35). By this Hooks means teachers should not merely call on students to participate in class discussion, but also call themselves to be “vulnerable” (49), taking the risk of coupling their points of view, or “confessional narratives” (49), with that of their students, defusing an image of an “all-knowing” (49) teaching authority as a result. Though Hooks’s theory is clear, and her methods of argumentation and exemplification introduce her pedagogical theory, her method of personal narrative requires that the reader be able to relate to her daunting experiences. As a result, readers who have had different experiences to those of Hooks’s might miss her point because they cannot relate to her.
The intention behind this unit of work is to give students the impetus in the usage, appreciation and understanding of the English language. Through the readings and analysis of the selected Australian novel, Nona and Me (Atkins, 2014) students will be afforded the opportunity to develop meaning in an interpretative, critical and powerful manner. The overall approach in regards to this unit is built upon a conceptual theme, that being identity, both personal and national. The unit requires students to explore the complexities of identity, forces that challenge it and how identity changes within time. Additionally, this analysis will be perceived in playing a role in the exploration of our nations own identity and its associated challenges. This unit is designed for a year 10 mixed ability class from Liverpool girls high school, predominately made up of a multicultural mix, were 87 percent of students are from a ESL background. This has influenced the core text, supplementary content and teaching strategies, with more attention placed upon the use of visuals and collaborate work. Burke (2012, p.42) theorises that good teaching invokes both the “heart and head”, in order to reassert students’ knowledge and abilities as well as giving them the confidence to act upon this knowledge. Thus, one’s overall approach towards this unit reflects the development of teaching ethos in oneself, were the goal is for students to think both critically and independently. One’s teaching ethos draws inspiration from Robert Frind (1995) characterisation of a passionate teacher as someone being able to get to the heart of their subject. In other words, the lessons are structured alongside an inclusive teaching pedagogy that shows students the relevance...
Engagement in classroom discussions influences positive engagement in the workplace by allowing the individual to be more social and attentive when put in the environment, and to also makes the environment a great place to work. The first thing everyone learns is listening and acknowledging what you have learned which is used in any setting. Classroom engagement can help develop someone’s communication skills, time management and self awareness. Being in the classroom teaches you how to communicate with people, and speak to people positively. This type of
Fegar, Mary-Virginia. “I Want to Read: How Culturally Relevant Texts Increase Student Engagement in Reading.” Multicultural Education, 13:3 (Spring 2006): 18-19. [E Journal]
It is obvious that education, whether classroom instruction or practical drill, advice or entreaty, must ensure that students are positively involved, that they at least listen and pay attention to the words, actions, and the thoughts of their educators, instead of drifting off or doing something else, or simply leaving to try to learn what they need on their own (Prange 74).
Django Paris’ article about Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy builds upon Gloria Ladson-Billings work. Paris advocates that we should approach this pedagogy by “support[ing] young people in sustaining the cultural and linguistic competence of their communities while simultaneously offering access to dominant cultural competence.” (Paris 95) This approach seeks to sustain and cultivate the culture of communities that have been affected by structured inequality. Designing lessons that are student-centered can be effective in promoting this.
I reported that my school was guilty of “‘fairyland’ multicultural education” (Nieto & Bode, 2008, p. 2). We hold dinners, culture days, and special programs to bring awareness to different cultures, but we don’t go any further than that. This course has given me countless tools that can be used to make my school and classroom better for students. The school that I teach at has a high percentage of students who live below the poverty line and who speak English as a second language. Countless research has been done about students in both categories. Students who live below the poverty line tend to do worse than students at a wealthy school (Bainbridge & Lasley, 2002). This understanding about students living in poverty should drive instruction in the classroom. As a teacher, it is my job to inform and discuss with my colleagues strategies for better educating these students. Most importantly, there must be a belief that these and all students can learn if teacher use various teaching strategies (Bainbridge & Lasley, 2002). This understanding about students living in poverty should drive the efforts at my
In the article it is clear what the argument is about as presented in the title “Why College Freshman Need to Take Emotions 101”. These experts studied many ways of how college students have many reasons to be in the mind set they are in from the beginning of early life. The two Yale Center authors Diana Divecha and Robin Stern who performed a research to determine the cause and effect of college students who was dealing with my problems including anxiety, emotional, health, and even living without the dependency of there parents.
The desire to learn new things means that both sides, students and teachers, must have an engaged pedagogy. According to hooks, an engaged pedagogy is both sides are willing to learn and grow. Not only the students are empowered and are encourage sharing things about themselves and learning new things but teachers are also meant to do these things (21). This is a barrier because if students and teachers are not willing to learn and grow democratic citizens cannot be created. This is so because people will not be educated of differences and others react and deal with different things in society. This goes along with the importance of self-actualization of teachers in the class...
This article is about social-emotional learning and how it can potentially benefit kindergarten students. This study’s purpose was to consider kindergarten when promoting social and emotional learning in schools. Since relatively few studies have been conducted in the kindergarten classroom, this study examines the effects of the Strong Start curriculum for kindergarteners in this setting. This curriculum tests the competence of sixty-seven kindergarteners in both social and emotional areas. This curriculum consists of ten lessons that were taught by four different teachers in four different classrooms. In the end, the results indicate that students increase their social skills, and the curriculum decreases their natural instinct of internalizing behaviors.
There are many factors that play a role in the learning process for every human being. Race, religion, language, socioeconomics, gender, family structure, and disabilities can all affect the ways in which we learn. Educators must take special measures in the delivery of classroom instruction to celebrate the learning and cultural differences of each of their students. As communities and schools continue to grow in diversity, teachers are searching for effective educational programs to accommodate the various learning styles of each student while promoting acceptance of cultural differences throughout the classroom. It no longer suffices to plan educational experiences only for middle-or upper class white learners and then expect students of other social classes and cultures to change perspectives on motivation and competition, learning styles, and attitudes and values that their homes and families have instilled in them (Manning & Baruth, 2009).
Guillaume, A.M., Yopp, R.H., & Yopp, H.K. (2007). 50 strategies for active teaching: Engaging k-12 learners in the classroom. Upper Saddle Ridge, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.