First: I am glad to know that I am not the only person who had a difficult time connecting the first example in Pratt's article to working in the contact zone. By the end of the article I was confused so it was nice when I moved into Reinventing English which was much more straight forward.
I could spend the entire posting explaining why I enjoy this book and why I think Gaughan is brilliant but that might be boring. Instead, I made a few observations while reading:
1. John Gaughan must have created an open and honest classroom environment for students to be able to express their prejudices so openly. That sort of classroom environment is invaluable. Students seemed perfectly comfortable discussing topics and issues that don't usually appear in a classroom setting. Gaughan gave every student the opportunity to share their ideas and thoughts, no matter how objectionable they may be. He knew how to deal with those students who had a strong prejudice that might offend other students without oppressing their viewpoints.
2. Teaching in the contact zone is a very upfront approach. Would anyone be uncomfortable using it? I do think that it is something that must develop over time. I can't image that there are too many first year teachers who can go in and do what Gaughan does.
3. "Whether we like it or not, schools must address societal problems"
I had many teachers who would disagree with this statement. I was often told to leave my problems at the door before I entered a classroom. What an unrealistic expectation my teachers had of their students. Student's enter the classroom with preformed ideas, thoughts and prejudices. They don't exactly enter as blank slates. Their outside lives affect their experience in the classroom. It's nice to know that the next generation of teachers (us) will have a better understanding of students and what they bring to the classroom.
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yes! I would be uncomfortable working in the contact zone even half of the time in the classroom (at least for the first few months/years). Aside from the job-risk I feel like I could be taking, I think that this would take so much extra prep work: The majority of our students, and society, doesn't know how to properly communicate; I could see a lot of blow-ups simply due to students being unable to say and respond in the proper, respectful manner. Thus, I would need to do a lot of communication mini-lessons in order to feel at ease when teaching in such a manner.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading this - I kept on thinking inner-city. Which, I don't think it necessrily has to be that extreme. After reflecting more on my own high school days, there were enough underlying prejudices against native americans to warrent a discussion like the ones used in Contact Zone. I kept thinking forward to my prospective teaching life in Korea. How would I adapt this to the conditions I would encounter there....
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