#teaching with purpose

[tjeromebaker]

Teaching with Purpose: A Transformative Learning Experience at Harvard

View this document on Scribd ** Being selected for a highly competitive international scholarship is not something I take lightly. When I learned that I had been chosen as one of only 2,000 teachers worldwide from more than 150,000 applicants to participate in the Santander Scholarship Programme | Teaching with Purpose, developed by Harvard Business Publishing with financial support from Banco…

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[litpedagogy]

Establishing Your Purpose in the Classroom

In chapter four of Not Light, but Fire by Matthew Kay, he discusses some personal reasons why a teacher might bring up a conversation about race into the classroom. I want to look some of those reasons a bit more critically. First, Kay mentions that some teachers may have bring up the conversation of race in their classroom as a way of combating a form of “white guilt”. “Guilt, when matured by reflection, can inspire a teacher to approach a sensitive subject with humility.” (119). While this is true, guilt without reflection can also lead teachers to have a discussion with the goal of trying to devillianize themselves. That is where the negative side of this kind of motivation creeps in. If a teacher does feel some kind of guilt related to systematic issues of oppression, they need to evaluate why before they try to discuss it in class. As the adult in the room, students will look up to them for understanding how to navigate these kinds of conversations, so it is important to understand how and why they feel the way they do about those topics themselves. 

Kay also brings up that a teacher could introduce the topic of race as a way to inform young people and lead them on the path of activism. “He has read right books and attends the right rallies.” (119). I love this sentence because it shows a teacher who is committed to being informed about what they plan to discuss with their students. Yet, at the same time, it also creates a tone that more can still be done. Educating yourself on topics such as race is very important, but it also means critically understanding and not just knowing the facts. Students will be more likely to engage in conversation when it’s clear to them that their teacher, even if they don’t fully understand at the time, are seeking to alongside their students. It reminds me of what Freire discusses with the student/teacher relationship, and that everyone in the classroom has the potential to learn.