As I read this text it struck me that all the ideas
mentioned therein and all of the values that the text called for are ideas and
values that have been mentioned so many times before in other books, articles,
texts, and lectures that I have been subject to. The truly troubling thing is
that these essential values are often forgotten or not deemed important enough
in our classrooms. It isn’t that these ideas of critical pedagogy, discussing similarities
and differences in cultures and in texts, and connecting the students’ lives to
classroom instruction are new. It is that these ideas are so often trumped by
what is “easy” and by what teachers themselves were taught, are familiar with,
and can easily create units on. However, school is not for teachers…. school is
for students.
Beyond these musings, there were a couple of ideas that truly
stood out to me in this text. The first idea that stood out to me was that of
the importance of connecting student lives to the content. However, this text
suggests combining the use of popular media/culture with the use of classic
classroom texts in order to connect ELA content to student lives. The key isn’t
to choose an either/or method but a both
method. It is okay to use classic texts. What isn’t okay is using those classic
texts to teach in a way that is irrelevant to students and, essentially, lazy.
The texts we choose to use in our classrooms shouldn’t be chosen because it’s
what has always been done but they should be chosen because they can be used
connect students’ personal lives to the content area and to elevate their
thinking and classroom discussion.
The idea that stood out to me (in a negative light) was the
idea that the authors of the text integrated teaching SAT and ACT prep in their
units. Why is this a thing? What are we wasting valuable classroom time in
teaching to a test that won’t apply to student lives except in the form of
entrance to higher education. This isn’t to say that I feel that the authors of
the text are at fault for preparing their students for the SAT and ACT. I think
that they are absolutely right in their assumption that students need help
preparing for the exams. What bothered me is the fact that they have to devote
valuable classroom time to test takings skills. It is a reality of our current world
and not one that is easily remedied but still one that needs to be recognized.
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