Socratic Seminar Ticket

Heidi Hanover
ENG 297
Dr. Mueller
Socratic Forum Entry-Ticket
12 October 2007

1. “The Child and the Curriculum” by John Dewey

• Passage: “Not knowledge or information, but self-realization, is the goal. To possess all the world of knowledge and lose one's own self is as awful a fate in education as in religion. Moreover, subject-matter never can be got into the child from without. Learning is active. It involves reaching out of the mind. It involves organic assimilation starting from within. Literally, we must take our stand with the child and our departure from him. It is he and not the subject-matter which determines both quality and quantity of learning” (Dewey 187).
• Explanation: Dewey appears to believe that instead of looking at what students must learn, we should observe how our students learn. An informal way to understand Dewey's concept is to ask an elementary teacher and a high school teacher what they teach. The elementary teacher will usually say the grade level of the students, while the high school teacher will typically state their content area or subject. I completely agree that most teachers weigh content ability more heavily than individual ability, and as a result am worried about how to reverse this trend.
• Question: How can English teachers help students achieve self-realization without compromising content?

2. “Frames of Mind” by Howard Gardner

• Passage: “Life consists of more than the deployment of particular combinations of intelligence for specific educational purposes. I must also point out that these intelligences are not mutually exclusive of one another. Cultivation of one intelligence does not imply that others cannot be acquired: some individuals (and some cultures) may develop several intelligences to a keen extent, while others may highlight only one or two” (Gardner 365).
• Explanation: I chose this passage because it seems many teachers think students should be able to use multiple intelligences to accomplish tasks. Contrary to this common belief, Gardner explains that each student learns differently and as a result, not all students will gain mastery in a single mode of intelligence. While this may be viewed as common sense, it is important for future teachers to realize that their lessons and methods of teaching will rarely, if ever, reach all of their students.
• Question: Gardner explains how some students can develop several intelligences while others may develop only one or two. In a classroom of mixed ability and intelligences, how can teachers successfully encourage active learning for all the students, regardless of intelligence?

3. “The Danger of Softness” by Peter Elbow

• Passage: “Thus when participants used a term like 'child-centered,' they meant something substantive, concrete, and pragmatic: that learning must connect inward personally and focus outward socially—as opposed to being only organized conceptually...This emphasis on the personal and social connects with one of the dominant premises at the conference: that students learn in different ways and often benefit from different kinds of teaching and learning activities” (Elbow 207).
• Explanation: Although addressing the same topic discussed by Dewey, Gardner, and Freire, Elbow's article demonstrates how substantive the divide is between teachers who focus on content versus teachers who focus on their students. The fact that this argument has not been settled demonstrates positively how education is constantly evolving, yet it also causes concern for the students because it is difficult to succeed when there is such a wide variety of teaching practices to learn and adapt to.
• Question: At the conference, the majority of members viewed those who believed in child-centered teaching as unprofessional and naïve. While this may sometimes be the case, should the theory behind child-centered teaching be abandoned in an effort to focus more on content?

4. “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire

• Passage: “The students are not called upon to know, but to memorize the contents narrated by the teacher. Nor do the students practice any act of cognition, since the object towards which that act should be directed is the property of the teacher rather than a medium evoking the critical reflection of both teacher and students. Hence in the name of the 'preservation of culture and knowledge' we have a system which achieves neither true knowledge nor true culture” (Freire 61).
• Explanation: I feel Freire is concerned about the validity of content specific methods of teaching. While I agree that rote memorization is a poor and often unreliable method of teaching, I am confused about how it became such a widely accepted practice. I feel the sparse handouts of content knowledge that teachers provide for students are typically unsatisfying and do little to encourage individual thought and development.
• Question: If Freire is suggesting that students can commit information to memory through active engagement instead of teacher narration, why do the majority of educational facilities support lecture based classrooms?

Overarching Question: In light of the multiple school shootings at the hands of students that have occurred in the past few years, do you feel we should focus on our content area to better equip students with the knowledge to succeed in life, or should we focus on the individual and encourage their role as a member in society?