Sunday, February 15, 2009
Teaching in the Contact Zone: Feb 17
When I signed up for my classes, I bought my books online from the UM bookstore and had them shipped to me. I anxiously awaited the total to see what the impact on my VISA card would be. Upon impact, I thought "What the hell costs so much?". The answer was the required reading for this class. What was once my chagrin has changed to my delight. I face the REAL world obstacle of obtaining a teaching job upon completion of my degree. No better money could be spent than on this book. John Gaughan is a real teacher, with real insight to the workings of a classroom. He is not content with teaching inside "the box" but instead teaches in "the contact zone." He does not shy away from controversial issues, but instead confronts them head on. Unlike any techinal textbook that I have read, he does not talk in theories or talk much of his classroom as a whole. Instead, he decribes and names students individually, states their positions (although distasteful at times), and gives us ways to deal with diverse opinions. He includes formats and lesson plans that help each student critically analyze their own opinions as well as their classmates'. What was the most important information you gleaned from the first four chapters? Describe how Gaughan cleverly gets students to acheive a fully thoughtful opinion about controversial issues without telling them what to think but rather teaching them how to think?
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I find the possibility of motivating students where they are interested grabbing my attention. I am not interested in the possibility of changing the social conditions of the world as I perceive is Guaghan’s motivation for teaching. I have to marry his book and the Pratt speech and admit that some of my students will be passionately interested in promoting world peace or ending racism or some other social concern. And in this zone, I can motivate them to learn to communicate and listen, which is my primary concern. Guaghan has many wonderful ideas for teaching the writing process that I plan to incorporate in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree that figuring out how to motivate students to communicate and listen is a fine goal for teaching, but for what bigger purpose? Why not take an interest in "'education as a force for positive social change'" (44)? I think that for me, I have to have some deep commitment to making the world a better--more just, sustainable, peaceful--place and a belief that teaching English is one way of getting there. It's idealistic, maybe, to cling to that belief, but Gaughan (and others like Randy Bomer,bell hooks, Linda Christensen,teachers I've met through Montana Writing Project, teachers I've had) makes it seem reasonable.
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