The three philosophers discussed in this paper are Paulo Freire, John Dewey, and bell hooks. Those philosophers’ philosophies are connected to each other. John Dewey said that education should be progressive education, meaning that the teacher should be able to teach students by having them doing hands-on activities based on individual needs. John Dewey believed that children should be taught in a pragmatic way meaning that whatever the children are learning, they should be able to use it in real life, so they could see the connection between what they are learning in a classroom and the real world. The setting of the classroom should be democratic. Children should not be afraid to state their values and should feel comfortable to speak in class. Progressive education focused on problem-solving abilities, which helps the students react against social problems. The curriculum should be a child-based curriculum, which focused on the child. John Dewey thinks thought students should experience different subjects, so the teacher should have different areas for the students to experience such as a reading area and an arts area. This helps the student discover their interests.
The teacher’s lesson plan should have different activities that students are interested in. It is easier for the child to learn if they like the activity. The curriculum should always connect to real life. For example, if the students are learning math, they should connect to being able to add money. There should be a connection to real life. This kind of learning is preparing students how to live democratic social habits like accepting that people have different views and values. This educational view makes sense because if the child is not interested in an activity, they would not learn. The child needs to be interested in it. The connection that is made between the curriculum and real life is crucial for the child to see. They could see the sense in learning that one day they may use the material they learn in real life.
Paulo Freire’s educational views were critical pedagogy. He believed that critical pedagogy would lead students to freedom of oppression. The teacher plays an important role. The teacher engages in political activities and should empower children to help them find their own voice. The student should feel safe and comfortable to be able to come to a teacher if there is a problem. The teacher should be approachable. Teaching is a humanizing act. One way that Paulo Freire thought children should learn is by problem-posing education, which is where the teacher and students have a dialogue and express their ideas and values. In this education, both students and teacher learn. He noticed that children may be young, but it does not mean that they do not have knowledge. The education should be an authentic education; children should be allowed to discuss, explore and see the meaningful education that connects to real life.
bell hooks were a feminist who believed in equality between genders and sexes. She also believed that we must free ourselves from the oppression of the colonizer. The way to free our self from the oppression from the colonizer (colonial education) must start in school by not learning in a European style. The students must learn in engaged pedagogy which makes the students more engaged and helps them overcome oppression and discrimination. One way a teacher could help a student overcome discrimination and oppression is when the teacher sees a student acting or commenting unjustly to another student, the teacher must correct the students even if the student is making a joke or is not serious. This helps the student understand that the unjust it is not okay and even if they are joking, it still may offend someone. A student must learn to understand an individual without looking at ethnicity. Once students understand an individual, it helps them overcome discrimination because they are looking at the person and not their ethnicity. This makes the world more just. A classroom should be a community where students feel safe, speak their minds, and trust and be open with the teacher. By students being open, students share their personal experience that students and teachers could learn from it. This way the teacher would let the students find their own voice and be radical, meaning that they would stand up against all discrimination: freedom from oppression. If the teacher noticed that the way she teaches does not work, the teacher must be willing to change her teaching methods.
Informal lesson plan
This lesson plan would be for an 8th grade English class. In the class, the book Scarlet letter would be discussed.
1) Children must read a chapter before the class.
2) To start the class, I would give out a piece of paper and ask students to write a question that they have about the chapter.
3) Once students settle down, I would pose a question to the students and start a dialogue with the students. This method references Paula Freire’s democratic teaching, in which “dialogism is a requirement of human nature and also a sign of an educator’s democratic stand” (Lewis, 395). Having dialogue in class would be important so students view, and their opinions would be heard by me and the other students.
4) Once a discussion is over, the students would be asked to get in groups of 3 people and relate Scarlet letter to real life and how they may be accused of something they have not done and have to receive the consequence of the action. They will discuss how justice and judgment could be wrong and how someone could be wrongly accused. This activity is to have students connect what they learn to real life. This reference to Dewey’s philosophy of education must connect to real life “seeing education in terms of life experience, are thereby committed to framing and adopting an intelligent theory” (Lewis138). The children must see sense in learning a subject or concept, so they could connect to real life and use it if it would be needed.
If at any time, there were comments made that discriminated against women, I would address it just like bell hooks said, “educators are to analyze relationships created in their classrooms in order to point out oppression, advance opportunities that encourage action and transform unjust social, cultural, human, environmental, and global situations.’ (Lewis, 656). I would observe how the students talk to each other and act thoughts each other, if there is any oppression that would be pointed out as it happened.
Limitations/disadvantages
This lesson plan is missing the teacher “creating an environment that maximizes the interaction of student’s interests, subject matter and collaborative projects such learning communities included in his view learning to interact with each other and the opportunity to experience and learn to live in a democracy” (Lewis 96). John Dewey wanted the teacher to create a classroom where students could learn in different ways not only from discussions. This lesson plan is missing different activities other than discussions, like a project or an activity that the students would be interested in.
Another limitation is that I am not challenging native curiosity. Like Paulo Freire says, “the role of a progressive educator is to challenge the learner’s native curiosity in order that they can both share criticalness” (Lewis 399). I am not getting to know the student’s curiosity so that I could challenge it. The students are only being challenged to think about their experience in the real world and how they could connect to those experiences to the book. Some students may not be interested in The Scarlet Letter and they do not have any interest in learning.
Conclusion
The philosophers give teachers great ideas on how to help children be open-minded, find their voices, and how to be democratic citizens. We learn from Dewey how education should be progressive with hands-on activities and a curriculum that is child-based. Paulo Freire reminds us that education must challenge the learners’ native curiosity and have a problem-posing education style. bell hooks teaches us how to teach in multicultural education to teach children how to be just and not discriminate or be oppressed.
