Post 7

Right from the beginning I liked what I was reading because it felt tangible, it felt like something that a lot of students face as they become older and realize how they fit into the society at large around them. The focus on dialogue is of major importance in facilitating individual student empowerment, social change, and can lead to a better understanding of how we, as humans, operate throughout our society and how we are influenced by our culture. I found it interesting that new methodological approaches to teaching the way that race operates was being implemented, and working. The authors discuss how movies and powerful visual imagery are more practical ways to teaching and educating students on race relations rather than Huck Finn. I understand though because who really wants to read Huck Finn and be able to discuss all of the nuanced sociocultural issues raised, when you can be exposed to visual imagery and the point is right in your face. It is something you can't avoid. As educators we should be able to bridge the gap between what students want to learn, why they want to learn it, and be able to find canonical texts that fit neatly into the world of the students. It doesn't always have to be the same method of teaching for every class, every year, but rather seasons of teachings where the methods you employ are ones that are tailored to the advancement of your class and of your students. Whatever benefits them the greatest is what you should instill. The curriculum should not be dictated by what social conventions are placed upon teachers and pedagogical approaches to teaching. Teaching should be mellifluous, it should encapsulate the feeling that a teacher should have after every class, and that is one of knowing that you're doing all that you can for these students. I think that inequalities exist all throughout the educational system where some schools get better funding than other schools. Students receive a better education depending on how much money their parents have. The unequal pedagogical treatment of students only creates a broader gap between the transition from high school to college because while some kids are prepared, some are not and are forced to go into debt, dropout, and not fulfill goals because their high school did not have enough resources.