Feminist and Queer Pedagogy

1. “Advertising tells us who we are and who we should be” (Jean Killbourne, “Killing us Softly 3”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufHrVyVgwRg)

This seven minute excerpt from Jean Killbourne’s analysis of the apparent impact of media on gender roles and expectations contained many interesting points. First, I doubt that media creates the image of what men and women ‘should be’, but it clearly perpetuates and enhances those notions in its attempt to saturate daily life with advertising and to stimulate consumerist desires. Certainly, gender roles and expectations have been just as powerful in shaping social attitudes and behaviors in many societies throughout history—before the existence of mass media. There is a clear global trend within the species that subordinates and objectifies women. Why this trend exists is intriguing. It seems almost certain that these trends are connected to our biological roles; men as hunters and protectors and women as nurturers. A women is attracted to a strong capable male because if she chooses him as a mate, her offspring have a better chance of being provided for and protected. A man is attracted to a gentle and kind looking female because if he mates with her his offspring will be well cared for in their formative years. Thus, males are naturally aggressive, dominating, and powerful and females are naturally submissive, nurturing, and gentle. These traits create a scenario in which it is easy and natural for males to assume dominance over females.

While our biological characteristics and tendencies may incline us to establish patriarchal societies, families, and relationships, our moral reasoning should alert us immediately to the injustice and irrationality of such an extension of our natural properties. While the biological roles of males and females are diametrically different, both sexes play equally important roles in the propagation of the species. Therefore, the subordination of one by the other is completely unjustified. This is an inconsistency that teachers can take opportunities to expose and explore. Although changing this imbalance is a challenge that will require extensive efforts.

2. “within 3 minutes of looking at fashion magazines, 70% of women feel guilty, ashamed and depressed” (Mary Pipher, Ph.D, “Reviving Ophelia”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrRtJY28ps8)

Jean Killbourne and Mary Pipher both talk about women being negatively affected by the media’s portrayal of an idealized female image. As I said before, I suspect that the media does not create this idealized image, but perpetuates it and enhances it. Women compete with each other biologically for mates on a primarily aesthetic level whereas men compete with each other biologically for mates on a more functional level. The female desire for a strong, protective mate produces physical competitiveness among males whereas the male desire for a caring and nurturing mate produces aesthetic competitiveness among females. Certainly the media takes advantage of these traits and presents women with hyper-idealized female forms to compete with, making them perpetually insecure and ashamed of themselves. Pipher points out that young girls “think it’s very important to be sexually attractive.” Biologically, it is important to be sexually attractive, so this idea is not invalid. However, the ideal is overvalued by the media and consequently overvalued by women and young girls. The human species, however, is more than just a group of organisms, our social organization creates a world in which our biology can be subordinated to our intellect and our socially constructed values. Within our social systems, women and men have the opportunity to be valued equally regardless of physical appearance. Unfortunately, sexuality is often used unjustly within social contexts to provide advantages to some individuals and deny advantages to others. Addressing this injustice effectively requires raising individuals’ abilities to think critically and be critically aware of their own values and preconceived notions. A male office executive conducting job interviews, for example, may feel particularly fond of an attractive female applicant and choose her over a more qualified, but less attractive candidate. Even though he may have no intention of forming a romantic or intimate relationship with the applicant, his decision to hire her may be influenced strongly by his biological affinity for her.

3. “Over 85% of the people who commit murder are men” (Jackson Katz, “Tough Guise”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3exzMPT4nGI)

The male’s biological tendency to be in control, tough, strong, independent, and respected is natural and should be embraced as such. However, these characteristics are often extended to irrational and unjustified extremes. For example, men are responsible for most of the violent crimes committed in society and tend to objectify women, each other, and their environment. The biological tendency of men to want to be in control can quickly mutate into behavior patterns and cognitive schemas that objectify everyone and everything in their environment. Men see the world as theirs to do with as they please and this perception has become a perception of society in general. The consequences of objectification are broad and extensive; ranging from the abuse of women to the abuse and destruction of our global ecosystems. I wonder if it is possible to combat this natural tendency to perceive the world as a playground, and how much of a difference teachers can make in shaping the minds of young men when they are in constant competition with the values of masculinity ubiquitously expounded by society.

4. “As Einstein said, we cannot solve problems with the same thinking that created them. If we think only in terms of the conventional cultural and economic categories—right vs. left, religious vs. secular, Eastern vs. Western, capitalist vs. socialist, and so on—we cannot move forward” (Riane Eisler, “Building Cultures of Peace”).

Riane Eisler discusses the importance of incorporating traditionally feminine characteristics of caring and nonviolence into our strategies for establishing more permanent and meaningful peace around the world. While the masculine tendency to objectify the environment is natural and has value in establishing a secure and sustaining environment for individuals, the feminine tendency to be caring and nurturing is an equally critical component towards achieving the same ends. War is based on objectifying or dehumanizing the enemy while peace is based on understanding and caring about other people. If this feminine perspective were central to the development of peaceful local and global relationships the need for physical conflict could likely be greatly diminished. I think that teachers can expose this dynamic in their profession by continuing to explore the irrationality of war and the suffering associated with war. We often justify war by imagining that the world is divided into “good” and “evil,” but when one begins to see the “evil” group as a group of human beings with needs and desires, it becomes difficult to suppress feelings of compassion, and even more difficult to justify violence as the only solution.

5. “Heterosexism and its more overt partner, homophobia, are very clearly linked to cultural gender boundaries and are informed by the imbedded practice of misogyny” (Elizabeth Meyer, “But I’m Not Gay”: What Straight Teacher’s Need to Know about Queer Theory”, 23)

Meyer points out that ignoring homophobia is a dangerous behavior that can perpetuate intolerance of homosexuality. Homosexuality is a real component of our society and school curricula blatantly ignore its existence. Meyer gives some examples including the “exclusive study of heterosexual romantic literature, the presentation of the ‘nuclear’ heterosexual two-parent family as the norm and ideal, and teaching only the reproductive aspects of sexuality and abstinence-only sex education.” Through the implementation of such curricula, schools inadvertently marginalize homosexuality and make it seem foreign and unusual when in fact it is prevalent in society and natural. In order to alleviate homophobia and other intolerances, schools and society in general need to spend time exposing and exploring human diversity in respectful and dignified ways. As always, teachers have opportunities to transform society; in this context, teachers must actively expose students to the nature of homosexuality and the humanity of homosexual individuals, address questions in honest and respectful ways, and address homophobia with respect and positive guidance.

6. “In an even greater majority of cases, [sexual orientation] is not taught or even remotely addressed at home. If it is addressed in church, synagogue, or temple, it is presented as something to be accepted, perhaps, but also at times as something abhorrent, as something to seek help for, perhaps even as divine intervention” (Nakkula Toshalis, “Understanding Youth”, 190).

Sexuality and sex are treated by society as private and inappropriate subjects for discussion in most environments. Yet simultaneously, heteronormative sexual values are portrayed ubiquitously in the media and by individuals in their behaviors and attire. The treatment of sexuality as something that is “dirty” is perhaps at the root of much of society’s sexual intolerance. Because if normal, healthy sexuality is “dirty” then anything remotely unusual must be completely unacceptable and unnatural. Toshalis makes the point that sexual orientation is not addressed or discussed in most homes, and is not discussed in an open and tolerant way in other environments. This lack of discussion, combined with the constant bombardment of heteronormative images, and the general aversion to all things sexual set up an incredibly intolerant environment in which anyone who is not a normal heterosexual is likely to feel insecure and unaccepted. As a society, it is important to recognize and appreciate the value of all human beings, to recognize that diversity is a great strength, and to embrace and explore our diversity with eagerness and curiosity. Teachers are handed this opportunity, and would be deficient if they did not take advantage of it.

However, I will be completely honest in saying that I find the subject uncomfortable. Likely due to all of the factors I mentioned. But I do look forward to exploring these issues with my students in the future.

Critical Pedagogy

Critical Pedagogy

1. “We can no longer afford schools peopled by educators who act without being conscious of their assumptions, their choices, and the likely consequences.” (Hinchey, 4)

One of Hinchey’s main points in “Becoming a Critical Educator” is that teachers need to spend a lot of time analyzing their beliefs and their actions. Hinchey argues that teachers need to be aware that their “ideas about what is normal, or right, or good, are the products of life experiences rather than universal laws” (25). The fact that there are no universal laws dictating what is right, good, and normal may be difficult for some people to accept; and impossible for others. For example, religion provides people with instructions from omniscient gods regarding what is right, good, and normal. There are many people who will never accept the possibility that the values of a ‘strange’ culture could possibly be “normal, or right, or good.” My first reaction to this problem is to hope that this kind of person never becomes a teacher. However, employing the tools of critical consciousness, I realize that even their value system of cultural superiority is worthy of my respect, understanding, and embrace. We are responsible to embrace not only the students who do not value education, but also to embrace those students who value hatred and intolerance. If we truly accept that we cannot know universal laws of morality, we cannot assume that hatred is immoral and deplorable. Taking critical consciousness to its extreme extension; I think that being a truly critical educator does require the embrace of those who hate. We must interact with our students in ways that respect their values; we must approach them with curiosity and validate their inherent worth. A student who hates is a student who needs love and acceptance. It is likely that developing a positive and supportive relationship with a hateful student will do more to alleviate his hatred than any amount of punitive consequences ever could.

2. “By robbing students of their culture, language, history, and values, schools often reduce these students to the status of subhumans who need to be rescued from their ‘savage’ selves” (Bartolome, 411).

Questions that have filled my head since I decided that I wanted to be a teacher have mostly been about how to control the disruptive students, the students who pass notes, the students who have private conversations during lessons. Critical consciousness provides a tool for control that is not overtly controlling. To teach a student who does not value learning requires exploring that student, discovering his personal values and interests, and using that information to connect him with the academic material in a way that he finds enjoyable or at least tolerable. Bartolome goes further to suggest that not only is this critical approach useful academically, but that it is essential in promoting social equality and transforming the status quo. When the subordinated culture is perpetually treated as ‘savage’, it is perpetually held in a subordinate position. Critical pedagogy forces us to embrace all students to help them realize their true potential and sense their individual worth.

3. “The most pedagogically advanced strategies are sure to be ineffective in the hands of educators who implicitly or explicitly subscribe to a belief system that renders ethnic, racial, and linguistic minority students at best culturally disadvantaged and in need of fixing, or, at worst, culturally or genetically deficient and beyond fixing” (Bartolome, 414).

This raises an important question, if a culture does not value education, what is the role of the educator in educating a student of such a culture? We can interact with students in socially meaningful ways and attempt to provide some educational nourishment. But, can we impose upon them a barrage of academia with the expectation that they will embrace it as we have? If a student does not value education, are we not forced to subordinate that value system to our own? The very fact that we are teachers sends a clear message that we value education. How can we simultaneously respect and embrace the values of those who do not value education and yet educate them at the same time? If it is our responsibility to enlighten them to the value of education, then we must subordinate their values; if it is our responsibility to validate their values, then our socially constructed knowledge becomes meaningless and we begin to wonder why we became teachers and not philosophers. I am being somewhat cynical here, but also genuinely curious as to how a teacher goes about balancing these two seemingly opposing ideas.

4. “Knowledge is a social construction deeply rooted in a nexus of power relations” (McLaren, 409)

I enjoy thinking about the fact that knowledge is socially constructed. First, from a scientific perspective, it is quite interesting to realize that the universe as we observe it with our natural senses is quite different from the universe we know through scientific instruments. We know, for example, that what we see as color is really just differences in the amount of energy carried by waves of light; the idea of color is created entirely by our senses and our brain based on what specific energy levels of light were most relevant to our survival as animals. From a more educationally relevant perspective, our knowledge in academic areas is also socially constructed. While all knowledge is based on what we observe with our senses, the interactions of people constructing the greater body of human knowledge plays an important role in what information is valued. Much of human history, for example, has been documented and preserved according to obvious cultural bias. McLaren argues that we are not capable of constructing knowledge outside of the influence of others because “we do not stand before the social world; we live in the midst of it.” This context creates a body of knowledge that is bias in nature, and is imposed according to bias. What is worth knowing is what the dominant culture says is worth knowing, anything else is irrelevant and a waste of time. Educators must recognize that the curriculum they are assigned is created according to the dominant culture’s values. It is the responsibility of educators to always make connections to other cultures. I suspect that achieving this goal is easier than it sounds; a bounty of cultures sits before a teacher each day, a rich wilderness of hidden cultural knowledge at the fingertips of the teacher waits to be engaged in interactive learning.

5. “Teaching is like a Chinese lyric painting, not a bus schedule” (Ohanian, 109)

I never expected that teaching could be more challenging than science. Teaching is so challenging because it lacks the concrete facts and procedures that characterize math and science. When I sit down in a math class, I can expect the procedures to be straightforward and easy to follow—even if they are complicated and tedious. When I think about teaching, I realize now that there is no fixed procedure, there are barely even any fixed guidelines! As Dr. Love says, you can feel like you are out “in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.” We are learning some very general guidelines, but for the most part, we must take what we learn and put it together in our own unique way. It is exciting; it provides great opportunity for creativity and innovation. At the same time, it is terrifying, as responsibility for failure lies on our shoulders as teachers; we are responsible for the failure of our created strategies and methods. Teaching, at times, even seems impossible. How can you possibly grab the attention of a classroom filled with completely different people with completely different interests? The exciting part is that it is possible, and a masterful artist can accomplish the task! The terrifying part is that you won’t ever be that masterful artist!

6. “Surplus powerlessness is perpetuated through a process of ‘self-blaming.’ This is thinking that all our problems, such as stresses and frustrations at work and at home, are the result of our own inadequacies and failures and that it is our responsibility to fix them by ourselves” (Irwin, 34).

Certainly, continuing my previous thought, few of us will become masterful educational artists overnight. Irwin talks about domination, powerlessness, and how when we think we have less power than we really do we have “surplus powerlessness.” Part of becoming a masterful artist is collaborating with other artists, exploring the craft from different perspectives, having opportunities to see what works and what doesn’t work without having to take all of the risks in trying new things yourself. Furthermore, Irwin says, “the myth of meritocracy is what provides the rationale for self-blaming and encourages isolation.” Teachers tend to be particularly isolated in their profession, and consequently, particularly hard on themselves when they experience failure. Irwin advocates the construction of collaborative and supportive communities in creating a sense of ‘power-with’ in social organizations. It seems that such a community of teachers could do much better in educating children than a meritocratic group of teachers competing with each other. I think that modern educators fall somewhere in between meritocracy and collaborative communities. Many teachers have good relationships with each other and talk about their kids, but few accept the possibility that their colleagues might actually have better ideas about how to teach than they might have previously thought of.

7. “As long as we believe in the myths of scarcity and the variability of human worth, then the meritocracy will make sense to us” (Irwin, 65).

This last quote really makes me think about the fundamental structure of our society. The “myth of scarcity” says that there aren’t enough resources for everyone and that we must fight for what exists; the myth of the “variability of human worth” says that some people are worth more than others. If we accept that these two myths, are in fact myths, we are left wondering where to go next. If there are enough resources for everyone, why aren’t we sharing? If all people have equal worth, why are some starving and others are gluttonous to the point of self destruction? If we create a society based on equality, what happens to competition and progress? While there are probably enough fundamental resources for everybody, there are probably not enough resources for everybody to live lives of luxury and indulgence. How much are people willing to sacrifice so that all people can live comfortably? Are we willing to sacrifice the rate of technological progress, when technology can help us solve many social and global problems? Perhaps these questions are all part of the meritocratic ideology, perhaps these questions sound ignorant from the perspective of an equal and collaborative society. Perhaps progress and luxury are easily attained when all people are truly valued for their strengths and have their basic physical and psychological needs met.

Liberal/Progressive Pedagogy Literature Responses

1. “Teaching for joy and justice also begins with the non-negotiable belief that all students are capable of brilliance” (Christensen, “Teaching for Joy and Justice”).

Having worked for ten years with students with special needs, I know from experience that all students are, in fact, capable of brilliance. I worked with one particular student, I will refer to him here as Jim, for about two years. Before I was assigned to work with Jim, he was defiant and frequently behaved inappropriately. A common problem in special education is that staff members do too much for their students, this frequently leads to learned helplessness and behavior problems as students become frustrated in their environment. Being only vaguely aware of this problem at the time, I stepped back and encouraged Jim to try everything independently, and to always give his best effort before I would interfere to provide assistance. Jim made impressive improvements during the time I worked with him, and I attribute that growth to the simple fact that I gave him the opportunity to show his own brilliance instead of constantly getting in the way to do things for him. Jim also had a fascination with words, he had a limited vocabulary and enjoyed repeating simple words. Because he enjoyed it, I made sure that he had plenty of opportunities to say his favorite words. I was reminded of this when reading Susan Ohanian’s account of Jack, a student in an alternative school in New York who became interested in Scrabble and learning vocabulary. Ohanian allowed Jack to spend significant amounts of time playing Scrabble and as a result, Jack obtained valuable skills and knowledge (Ohanian, 16). When teachers allow their students to be themselves and to pursue their own interests, their brilliance will almost certainly be revealed and “bad” students will become “amazing” stories retold decades later by inspirational speakers at conferences for educators.

2. “Humans have a success instinct. This is what makes humans different from all other living things. They want success, and they strive for their success potential. You can accomplish anything with students if you set high expectations for behavior and performance by which you yourself abide” (Wong, 35).

Success is intrinsically motivating. When a person accomplishes a task, they feel good about themselves. However, school often provides students with bountiful opportunities for failure. As Linda Christensen points out, “some students arrive in my classroom trailing years of failure behind them” (“Teaching for Joy and Justice”). The consequence of providing students with assignments that are too challenging for them is that they will experience failure rather than success. While failure is a great opportunity for growth when experienced in balance with success, failure by itself is a great opportunity for stagnation and even regression. Students begin to approach school with the expectation that if they try, they will fail. Students, therefore, need to be given opportunities to succeed and grow as students and as individuals. What are some strategies that teachers can use to create optimism among students regarding school work?

3. “[research] suggest rather strongly that children who are expected by their teachers to gain intellectually in fact do show greater intellectual gains after one year than do children of whom such gains are not expected” (Wong, 40).

Wong cites “classic research on expectations,” revealing that simply telling teachers that they are good teachers and that they have a few gifted students in their class results in significant academic improvement among those students perceived as being gifted. This research is meaningful to me, as I do not always have the highest expectations for some students whom I have observed. I often look at struggling students and expect them to struggle their whole lives. I realize, especially in light of this research, that as a teacher I must always have high expectations for my students, even when they are radiating negativity and pessimism about school. I know that to turn their attitude around, I need to find out more about them as individuals, to humanize them, and to let them reveal their strengths and their brilliance.

4. “An invitation is a message that states that the person being invited is responsible, able, and valuable. Conversely, a disinvitation is intended to tell people that they are irresponsible, incapable, and worthless. The critical ingredient needed for people to realize their fullest potential lies in the kinds of invitations extended to individuals by the significant people in their lives” (Wong, 64).

Wong’s discussion of invitation and disinvitation is interesting, although it seems obvious enough that it does not require explanation. The bottom line here is to treat your students like people whom you actually care about, which should not be a problem if you actually do care about them. The contrast here is with traditional teaching methods, which objectify students and treat students as knowledge “banks.” A liberal/progressive approach treats students as people, explores their inner thoughts and dreams, and allows inner strengths to flourish. None of this can be accomplished without acknowledging that the student is a human being and showing the student that you actually care about them. I do not see disinvitation being an obstacle to my teaching; I cannot foresee myself telling a student things like “I don’t care what you do” (63).

5. “An ineffective assignment results when the teacher tells the class what will be covered […] an effective assignment results when the teacher tells the students, up front, what the students are to have accomplished or mastered at the end of the lesson” (Wong, 210).

This is incredibly useful advice for all teachers, do not simply tell students to read a set of pages from a textbook, tell them what they should be able to do. Wong provides example study guidelines on page 224, which function like a map for students to follow to guide their learning. I believe that students often experience failure in school due to the vagueness of teacher’s assignments, which contrast the specificity of teacher’s assessments. Students simply do not know how to prepare for a test on “chapter 7,” and according to Wong, neither do their parents. I believe establishing this explicit clarity is essential in beginning to develop an academic climate of success. When students know what the teacher expects them to do, they can begin working immediately on developing their ability to actually do it.

6. “If we could go into our classrooms everyday with the thought that these kids are tomorrow’s traffic cops, the world would be a better place” (Ohanian, 23).

This is a valuable, though somewhat intimidating, thought to keep in mind when working with students. With this perspective, a teacher is almost forced to treat her students with dignity and respect based on the possibility that one day, their own dignity will be in the hands of their former students. As with Wong’s advice to be invitational rather than disinvitational, this advice seems superfluous as I fully intend to treat my students with dignity and respect. Nevertheless, there are a great number of teachers who could benefit their students tremendously by following this advice. But these teachers are probably the types of people who do not take advice from other people because they do not respect other people. Solutions?

7. “[after speaking with a student about missing homework], the teacher discovered that one student’s family was in hiding to escape an abusive parent. The student was living in the back of a pickup truck outfitted with a camper canopy. When the sun went down, the lights went out. The teacher remarked that if he had never asked her, he would never have known how to help her” (Landau, 160).

This last quote simply puts the concept of treating students with dignity in a new light. In countless elementary school classrooms I have seen “Excuse Limit 0” posters displayed for all students to see each day.

The posters represent a trend in elementary education, that seems distinctly dehumanizing. Students are marched down hallways in straight lines, forced to stand each day and recite the “Pledge of Allegiance,” told exactly what to do and exactly how to do it. I can only speak from my personal experience in my school district, what have you observed? Landau, with this quote, insists that teachers should never treat their students as if they have no lives outside of the classroom. The teacher can never truly understand why a student is struggling academically if he does not talk to the student on a personal level, treat the student with dignity, and genuinely have compassion for the student.

Traditional Pedagogy – Literature Responses

1. “The behavioral model is concerned with the scientific modification of observable behaviors” (Hardin, 19).

Hardin advocates the use of behaviorism in classroom management. While I believe that the behaviorism model has many useful and valuable applications for teachers, it also has serious flaws that teachers must be cognizant of. Hardin states that rewarded behaviors will be increase in frequency, effectively punished behaviors will decrease in frequency, and unrewarded behaviors will cease. This very simple assumption about human behavior is based on the work of scientists from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries: Pavlov, Watson, Thorndike, and Skinner. The model is almost perfectly unconcerned about what goes on inside the “organisms” head, and is concerned only with observable behavior changes in response to stimuli.

2. “Behavioral change should focus on the here and now. Behaviorists are not concerned with past events” (Hardin, 21).

The previously mentioned flaw of behaviorism, that it ignores cognitive processes, is highlighted in this assumption of the behaviorist approach to classroom management. It seems particularly heartless to approach “misbehaving” students with a total disregard for their personal histories. The process of cognitive development is a lifelong process, beginning before birth and continuing until death. To address the behaviors of a high school student without consideration for his 13-18 years of personal developmental history seems arrogant and reckless. This assumption of behaviorism risks producing dangerously inconsiderate teachers and parents.

3. “Behavioral strategies can be harmful if used by insensitive and unethical teachers and administrators” (Hardin, 32).

Perhaps the seemingly inconsiderate nature of behaviorism is not necessitated by its design. The appropriate implementation of behavior modification techniques requires pairing of consistent consequences with behaviors in order to change the frequencies of both desirable and undesirable behaviors. The process itself requires focusing on “the here and now”; however, the teacher as a human being need not neglect the individual needs and dispositions of the student. In fact, the teacher would be at a terrible disadvantage if she did not acknowledge the personal history and characteristics of each of her students. Thus, behaviorism can be an extremely effective approach to classroom management when implemented with consistency and consideration for individual circumstances.

4. “Although poor performance should not be ignored—students need specific, corrective feedback to know what to improve—it is important that the climate for learning be positive” (Emmer and Evertson, 137).

Underachieving students pose a challenge to teachers that is somewhat more complicated than managing misbehaviors. Emmer and Evertson insist that students should enjoy learning and that school can often make the process of learning tedious and even painful. In traditional pedagogy, it is easy to tell a student that she is “wrong” because there is often only one “right” answer. However, this attitude inadvertently discourages struggling students as being “wrong” often implies being less intelligent or capable than students who are “right.” Emmer and Evertson advocate maintaining a positive learning environment for students by setting high standards for student achievement, considering imperfection as a part of the learning process, being confident in students’ abilities, encouraging students with positive motivators, and avoiding making comparisons between students. This approach maintains that there is, in fact, a “right” answer, and that it merely takes different amounts of time and effort for different students to meet expectations.

5. “Public praise that focuses on student accomplishment works better than praise for student effort. When the teacher praises only for working hard, students may assume that the teacher thinks they aren’t very able” (Emmer and Evertson, 138).

Part of a teacher’s strategy in maintaining a positive educational climate involves praising student accomplishment. Often times, however, teachers feel compelled to praise student effort. Indeed, a good effort seems worthy of praise and in many situations praising effort is an act of consolation for a student who failed to reach a personal goal. Emmer and Evertson maintain, nevertheless, that praising effort inadvertently sends a message of perceived inadequacy to the student—as if the teacher does not think the student is capable of attaining their goal. Interestingly, Emmer and Evertson allow for praise of effort in the context of praise for accomplishment, and encourage praise for accomplishment to be given for any perceivable accomplishment. For example, if a student works hard on a project, but does not receive the grade she expected; the teacher can still praise the student for her effort and the accomplishment of producing a “beautifully done” project.

6. “Extra incentives or rewards can help build a positive climate” (Emmer and Evertson, 138).

Employing the principles of behaviorism in their guidelines to maintaining a positive classroom climate, Emmer and Evertson encourage the usage of positive reinforcement to reward desired behaviors and prevent undesired behaviors. The authors caution that such incentives must be carefully tailored to meet the abilities of your students; warning that when a behavioral expectation is either too easy or too difficult to meet, the incentive loses its motivational power. They caution further that careless implementation of a rewards system can discourage students whose abilities or perceived abilities limit their chances of being rewarded. The inherent flaw with incentives is that they provide extrinsic motivation to students and do little to develop the intrinsic motivation that students will require once they enter the more demanding world of college and the workforce.

7. “under some circumstances [extrinsic rewards] may reduce students’ intrinsic motivation to engage in the rewarded activity” (Emmer and Evertson, 142).

Research cited by the authors reveals that the use of extrinsic rewards actually decreases students motivation to perform the rewarded activity once the promise of reward has been removed. It is believed that this phenomenon occurs because rewarding a behavior inadvertently sends the message that the behavior is unpleasant and that the reward received is a merely a coercive tactic. Emmer and Evertson present several solutions to this problem enabling teachers to implement incentives effectively. First, they note that praising students for their accomplishments has actually been shown to increase an individual’s “intrinsic interest” in a task. Second, that rewards can have a positive impact on intrinsic motivation when they are connected to a “standard of performance.” For example, rewarding a student for performing a task will be largely ineffective at building intrinsic motivation. Instead, a teacher should promise a reward for completing a task with a certain degree of proficiency. This conditional reward motivates the student much the way praise does, the reward says “you did a good job!” rather than “you completed the task”.

8. “Good grades are a powerful incentive for most students when they are perceived to be a direct reflection of their achievement and competence” (Emmer and Evertson, 139).

Grades are incentives, extrinsic motivators, that can be intrinsically motivating for students when the grades are a “direct reflection of their achievement and competence”. Grades, argue Emmer and Evertson, should be based on a clear standard of academic performance and should reflect student achievement with relation to the course’s learning objectives. Like with other rewards and incentives, grades should not merely indicate that a student has completed all of his assigned tasks, but should indicate how successful the student was in meeting explicit academic goals.

9. “An I-message is a statement that describes the problem and its effects on the teacher, the student, or the class; it may include a description of the feelings produced by a problem” (Emmer and Evertson, 177).

Emmer and Evertson tout as an effective tool in eliciting empathy in disruptive students the use of “I-messages” to manage misbehaviors in the classroom. An I-message describes what the undesired behavior is, what the effect of the undesired behavior is, and how it makes the teacher feel. I-messages are intended to force a student to consider the effects of his otherwise impulsive actions on others. I-messages can be effective if delivered assertively and not pleadingly. I-messages also require that a positive classroom climate has been established; as many students simply do not care how their teacher feels if they do not have any respect for their teacher.

10. “The contents, whether values or empirical dimensions of reality, tend in the process of [direct instruction] to become lifeless and petrified” (Friere, “The ‘Banking’ Concept”).

Friere elaborates, “The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable.” My personal interest in science is based on the fact that the universe is constantly changing, dynamic, interconnected, and full of mystery. I want to be able to teach science so that it is not lifeless to my students. Friere provides guidance, stating that “authentic thinking” occurs only through communication. That students must play an active role in their learning. Friere does not provide specific guidance on how to accomplish this paradigm shift in the classroom; although it seems obvious that students must participate in group-oriented activities to explore academic material. These activities can include debates, discussions, interviews, research, field trips, and countless other activities that go beyond the simple “banking” process of traditional teaching.