Building a Deomocratic Classroom environment
Having students voices be heard:
“Reading and writing for social action” Chapter 6
A democratic environment: A place to foster public voices
I’m sure that all of us have been in a position were we feel as if we don’t have a voice. That our contributions are not wanted nor appreciated. Within the reading this week the chapter focused on building a democratic environment within our classroom. Throughout this post I will focus on the 7 main points and aspects we need to include in order to help children build voices and feel confident in what they have to offer in and out of the classroom.
Intention:
Children need to be able to develop their own intentions in their education, they do this by being able to make choices in what they learn and how they learn. People as a whole cannot have intentions if they have no freedom to make their own choices in their lives. By participating with intent student will be able to more confidently make decisions and examine the world around them. Within the book it states that “intention and the choices it entails are crucial aspects of classroom life if students are to learn the habits of active agents, become authors of their own social and political realities.” (Page 100)
Dialogue and Collaboration:
One of the main issues we have in the classroom is expecting children to continuously be quiet and do independent work. Not allowing children to engage one another is a major mistake that educators make and have continued to make for years, it may seem that they are assistaing each other in a way that enables the ones struggling but it is actually quit the contrary. Children understand more from one another than from the teacher most of the time. Explaining how they think to each other also helps the students expand their knowledge base on a particular subject. “An understanding of dialogue , thus, is also at the heart of civic life” (page 101) Collaborative and associative living , being in a democratic society means understanding each other and working well with others.
Inquiry:
Having an understanding that knowledge is about questioning content and pondering what you are learning. It is not about memorizing , or absorbing facts. Taking an inquiry based approach to everything in life is what we want to establish in them. Allowing them to experiment with what works best in their own learning is the technique we need to be driving home. Doing activities such as hands on , observations or experiments is what inquiry based education is all about. They use what they personally gain from being inquiry based on one subject to their practices in life.
Community and physical space:
Ensuring that children have a safe and welcoming environment to learn in is a huge part of the vision for a democratic community. Establishing togetherness by using get to know you activities helps children feel united in learning and on a personal level. With this also comes guidelines, ensuring a safe community means that there must be rules in place to help everyone feel comfortable and able to live together in the same space. The way to ensure this is not to make a long list of "rules" but maybe to create a classroom pledge or saying. In addition to building a community with actions the actual physical space helps the children feel welcome and ready for learning. There can be encouraging messages, bulletin boards with their work etc. Along with this comes flexible seating and an environment that allows them to feel freedom in where they learn as long as they act appropriately.
Ensuring that children have a safe and welcoming environment to learn in is a huge part of the vision for a democratic community. Establishing togetherness by using get to know you activities helps children feel united in learning and on a personal level. With this also comes guidelines, ensuring a safe community means that there must be rules in place to help everyone feel comfortable and able to live together in the same space. The way to ensure this is not to make a long list of "rules" but maybe to create a classroom pledge or saying. In addition to building a community with actions the actual physical space helps the children feel welcome and ready for learning. There can be encouraging messages, bulletin boards with their work etc. Along with this comes flexible seating and an environment that allows them to feel freedom in where they learn as long as they act appropriately.
Constructing curriculum
Keeping in mind all of these aspects when building a democratic environment in the classroom can seem daunting but I believe that over time they will begin to become natural once we put them into practice, they do not all have to look the same there are many ways we can incorporate these teachings and make them our own depending on our children. Having said that the curriculum is a huge part of this. Our students will all be different and will all need different things when it comes to what they learn and how they learn it. They need to quit literally foster a voice as the subtitle to the chapter states. All of the above help lead them into a place of having enough self awareness to be able to contribute to what they find to be relevant to their learning. Working along side the teacher to develop unique learning plans for each of them as they see fit. Obviously we cannot have them run the show but their input is extremely helpful and makes them feel heard. For who knows a child better and what they understand than themselves? We may struggle with not holding all of the power at first but it will change over the years. " The decisions should be geared toward more student choice , more shared power and decision making and more democracy in the classroom." (page 108)
Identifying potential difficulties
One of the major issues that we as teachers may face , or we as human beings really is the break in the status quo. The idea that classrooms should look and function in a certain way is something that we need to completely erase from our minds. No two classrooms will look the same and that is okay because the children and the dynamics will be extremely different. It is our job to teach our students to speak up above certain issues and have a say in how things happen and that means that things may not always be structured or go to plan but that is the life we live and they need to feel comfortably to break the chain if need be. Honoring what they have to say and learning from each other is so powerful and can make all the difference in their educational journeys. teachers MUST let go of all authority and demand the best from the children in order to construct and maintain a democratic society both in and out of the classroom.
One of the major issues that we as teachers may face , or we as human beings really is the break in the status quo. The idea that classrooms should look and function in a certain way is something that we need to completely erase from our minds. No two classrooms will look the same and that is okay because the children and the dynamics will be extremely different. It is our job to teach our students to speak up above certain issues and have a say in how things happen and that means that things may not always be structured or go to plan but that is the life we live and they need to feel comfortably to break the chain if need be. Honoring what they have to say and learning from each other is so powerful and can make all the difference in their educational journeys. teachers MUST let go of all authority and demand the best from the children in order to construct and maintain a democratic society both in and out of the classroom.
Bringing it all together
This chapter dug deep into the point of student engagement , and establishing practices that our students will take with them throughout schooling and in life. Constructing a realistic environment that helps them become themselves and learn what is best for them is soooo important. We need to keep building these children up so they can pay forward what they have gained from each other , themselves and hopefully us as educators. Give them a say so and get away from this group think or robotic way of "educating". Allowing children to question the world around them is possibly the best thing we could ever do because one day when they start to see issues in the world they wont think twice before speaking up about them.
Thank you all for reading , I hope you gained some insight!
Below I have posted links to some informative videos on these subjects
https://youtu.be/E6wlTtQBlhI
https://youtu.be/lngVydflyfA
Questions For you:
1. What do you think the most important aspect of building a democratic environment is?
2. In what ways will you help create a democratic environment in your classroom in your own unique way?
3. Why is it important for us to help children foster a voice
4. Do you feel it is more important to help build a democratic environment in urban spaces? Fostering voices for those facing adversity
This chapter dug deep into the point of student engagement , and establishing practices that our students will take with them throughout schooling and in life. Constructing a realistic environment that helps them become themselves and learn what is best for them is soooo important. We need to keep building these children up so they can pay forward what they have gained from each other , themselves and hopefully us as educators. Give them a say so and get away from this group think or robotic way of "educating". Allowing children to question the world around them is possibly the best thing we could ever do because one day when they start to see issues in the world they wont think twice before speaking up about them.
Thank you all for reading , I hope you gained some insight!
Below I have posted links to some informative videos on these subjects
https://youtu.be/E6wlTtQBlhI
https://youtu.be/lngVydflyfA
Questions For you:
1. What do you think the most important aspect of building a democratic environment is?
2. In what ways will you help create a democratic environment in your classroom in your own unique way?
3. Why is it important for us to help children foster a voice
4. Do you feel it is more important to help build a democratic environment in urban spaces? Fostering voices for those facing adversity
I think that the most important part of building a democratic environment is that students will learn to be agents of change. This is brought forth by creating a welcoming space for dialogue. Students need to be able to freely express their opinions and also hear feedback from others. I plan on creating a democratic environment by really looking at the curriculum and lessons that I am required to teach. I plan on offering multiple perspectives and integrating different forms of text and multimedia. This will help foster a voice in students. A voice is a really important for students to find. The world is not a reflection of our classrooms but we should work to make it that way. The best way to do that is by allowing children to learn how to advocate for justice and equity. This is particularly important for children of color. We must teach them that sometimes in order to stand up for what is right, we must be ready to stand alone.
ReplyDeleteMelissa I agree with you, students do need to have a space where they can freely speak. I think having a space like this will also teach students that not everyone will agree with them and that's okay. More and more I see people become upset because others do not have the same beliefs or opinions as them. This is quite obvious in politics, education, homosexuality, religion to name a few. If children are taught to find their voice and speak for truth they will learn often we stand alone, as you also mentioned, but that does not need to be a negative thing. Having a strong voice and knowing you are valued is much greater than fighting for the wrong thing. If we can teach our students when they are young, they have a greater chance to carry those qualities to their adult lives.
DeleteI agree that teachers need to work with their students to have a successful democratic classroom environment. It is important to give students space to speak freely and respectfully when there are concerns of any or just because they need to speak. I think the most important part of building a democratic environment is students should have the support to help make decisions for their academic present and futures and the classroom environment should be represented through community unity with values of respect and trust. I plan to promote student success in my classroom by meeting with each student at least once a month to set goals and monitor them. I also plan to model behaviors I feel are appropriate at different times of the day. What I mean is, I think children should be allowed to show who they are but often schedules dictate this. Students will be able to feel at home in the classroom which will hopefully show students we are in this growth and education thing together. With this being said I definitely think we as teachers need to help foster our student's voice because they are often under represented and need support to be who they are meant to be not what someone has predetermined them to be. I feel it is important to build a democratic environment in urban education spaces because students need to know life has so many wonderful things to offer. Often students do not have a role model or see negative at home and do not know how to rise above. Showing students we care will help them want to create a better life and see sometimes we stand alone and other times we have wonderful support to help guide us along the way.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it is very important to allow opportunities for our students to explore their positionalities and beliefs on certain subjects. In other words, students need spaces that are safe for them to explore their understandings of the world around them. Far too often do students say statements such as, “I was never given lessons like that” or, “My teachers never did that.”. I think that statements such as these provide ya future educators insight into the types of teacher we need to be and should help to encourage a shift in teaching philosophies. Democratic spaces require pre-planning and lots of preparation. We, as future educators, need to be able to accept that challenge to provide our students with the learning spaces and opportunities that not many of us had in K-12. For me, this chapter helped me better align my values as an educator.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! I think you have a lot of really great questions at the end. To answer the question " Do you feel it is more important to help build a democratic environment in urban spaces? Fostering voices for those facing adversity", my answer would be yes, I do feel like it is important, but not just in urban spaces, which I'm sure you didn't mean only in urban spaces, just more specifically in urban spaces. I feel as if there is so many other things going on in an urban community, that it is good to allow the students to voice their opinion and have a voice, and also to work together collaboratively and not make it so structured all the time, and to make your classroom a safe space and an open space. We don't see these democratic classrooms, especially not in urban education. Unless it is a PBL school, which only allows a certain amount of students in each year. And that is what I think is upsetting. We are reading this chapter that names all the ways to have a sustaining classroom and to best appeal to your students, and they are taking these ideas and making them in to complete schools, but not everyone can attend. Moral is, that IT DOESN'T COST MONEY TO BE A DEMOCRATIC TEACHER. These are tips that we are getting that don't cost money, they just take time and dedication and compassion, if every teacher did this, we wouldn't have to choose who we were going to allow in to schools because every school would be the best.
ReplyDelete