TIPRR 3

As I began the reading this week, I really appreciated how well it dovetailed with our conversation in class, especially in regards to "becoming critical." In the very beginning of chapter 7, Buckingham warns us to be careful with regards to our students. He says, the "use of the term 'critical' can reflect a dangerous kind of arrogance. In demonstrating our ability to define the truly 'critical' approach, we are making a powerful claim for our own authority. And if we are 'critical', those who do not share our views are, by implication, either ignorant and misguided or actively engaged in an attempt to obscure the truth" (108). We discussed this very thing the other evening in reference to the questions that we ask our students and the way in which we limit their scope sometimes through our personal line of inquiry. Buckingham warns us against this because as he points out, when critically reading, we often run into situations where our reading is the only "truly critical" reading, and the kids begin to play "let's guess what the teacher is thinking." And let's be honest, this is about as effective as spoon-feeding them information and then asking them to regurgitate it. This is something that I know I need to pay closer attention to in my classroom, opening up the focus of readings and interpretations in order to validate many well thought out and articulate readings, even if they don't coincide with my own.

Making a completely abrupt change with absolutely no natural transition, there was another thing addressed by Buckingham that I found very interesting in relationship to my own life. In chapter 8, while discussing creative production, Buckingham talks about a study done by Jeong in 2001. In this specific case, she was examining the balance within group work and found that "male students' greater expertise in aspects of production resulted in a clear division of labour: while the boys made the 'creative' decisions, the girls were mainly responsible for the organizational 'housework'" (130). This was so fascinating to me, because this is exactly how my yearbook class runs. I'm not 100% convinced that gender is the main differentiators, but my co-teacher and I are a perfect example of this division of labor...he does all of the creative work, the photos, layouts, etc. while I am the one doing all of the organizational work. The same holds true with our students as well; it is often the boys who come through with the more "artistic" stuff while the girls are much more pragmatic. I wonder why this is?

And a final word about the last couple of chapters: I really appreciated some of the teaching ideas presented here. I LOVE that there is a final focus on the need for reflection, rather than simply working toward one huge final product and then calling it done. I firmly believe that any sort of real, meaningful learning does have a significant element of reflection. (Now, whether or not I actually incorporate that into my curriculum is another story...) I also really appreciated the acknowledgment that "the realities of classroom practice are inevitably much more 'messy' and contradictory than the well-ordered universe of educational theory" (153). Thank you, Buckingham! Sometimes, all I want to hear is that "Mr. So-and-so Big Shot Theorist/Researcher" does recognize that sometimes real life is a bit more difficult than working in the world of theory, and because of that recognition, I'm much more willing to go our an at least try to see what I can do.