My second and third year as a first-grade teacher I had back to back class rosters that included 2 little black boys who had serious behavioral issues stemming from trauma. Many of the students in my care were fetal alcohol syndrome babies, crack babies and had developmental needs requiring them to take prescription drugs to function in a school setting. I began to form a critical habit of mind and critiqued myself as well as the school in how the children were dealt with. I felt like I was the only one who could teach them, they were in my care and I would do my utmost to ensure they learn to read. One of the students had the maturity of a three-year-old and the full class had to engage him as such. Because community was important to me I found times, when he was out of the room, to teach the class how to care for their classmate. We talked about the things he did that irritated us and talked about how to be good citizens for him. We talked about how each of us have things that keep us from being successful and he just has other things that we do not have.
Critical pedagogy engages alternatives to the curriculum. As a teacher I framed “bad behavior” as different, maybe difficult, but not impossible. This shift to the taught curriculum invited a lesson about being in community in the world, that you just can’t get from a textbook. I could not teach in that space. I had to get my emotions balanced and the emotions of my students so we could all attend to our learning. We learned how to hold space for our personal needs while still finding ways to be in community with him. I worked closely with the special education staff, the interventionists and behavior specialists to exhaust all avenues available to me to support my student.
Critical pedagogy never asks you or the students to check their personal identity or needs at the classroom door. As a teacher I got to know my students, their families and what made them excited about the world. Knowing those things gave me the space to create a liberating classroom space where students began to recognize how to engage their classmate in a way that would keep him in community.
Critical pedagogy invites in the experiences and needs of the teacher and students and what we learn about the world into the classroom space. I took this lens with me to spaces where I lead dialogue with classroom teachers, executive leaders, principals and community members. We look at data as presented, then we use questions to invite another perspective into our consciousness. Questions like - What is your role? How long have you served on this campus? How have you contributed to this data? invite the adult to consider how they make decisions that impact the data more than the student sitting in the classroom engaging with the curriculum.
Critical pedagogy requires an antiracist educator to consider the perspectives of others when in a learning or dialogue space. Considering perspectives of people who are different from you provides the opportunity to see the curriculum in a new light and not take it at face value. Recognizing when to do something different takes skill and practice. In the field of education, we are fixated on matrices and stoplight reports that “show” progress. We have taken on business-based strategies and moved away from a humanizing education.
#AntiRacistEd Reflection/Action: How are we developing the skill to engage in alternatives that will teach the skills necessary, yet still invite students into a liberating classroom space?
Angela Ward, “Critical Pedagogy engages alternatives to the current curriculum”, As originally published on 2ward Equity Blog, April 3, 2021.
Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
