Nancy

Hi everyone, my name is Nancy.

Production 1

Brayboy & Maughan (2009) describe knowledge in the Western context as a noun, which is metaphoric for the way in which educational institutions approach teaching within 21st century classrooms. For instance, the language which is used in teaching contexts models and influences the way students should learn and think. Knowledge that is considered important is ordered and structured in particular ways with an emphasis on exclusion and power relations (McLaren, 2003). In the story, the way teachers were trained establishes an evident hierarchy of Western knowledge above all other forms. By restricting learning to certain terminology, ways and enforcing rules, student learning becomes a space that is extremely textbook. In the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire (1970) conceptualized this notion as the banking model of education. This model states that the educator is the end all of knowledge which markers knowledge as static. Brayboy & Maughan (2009) & Mitchell (2016) indicate that in a Western perspective, knowledge is given as an assumption of teacher defined content that assumes will make a difference in the lives of the learners. Using a uniformed and standard notion of what is expected of students is in strong opposition with Indigenous Knowledge. Indigenous knowledges and complexity pedagogy approach teaching in a more holistic nature and encourages students to challenge their own ways of knowing and to put value on learning (Brayboy & Maughan, 2009; Mitchell, 2016). Brayboy & Maughan (2009) & Mitchell (2016) indicate that there is overwhelming importance for educators to move away from traditional thinking and create a learning environment predicated on value learning. Darder (2017) states that this pedagogy of liberation, committed to a collective and restoration of education that is empowering for learners, will create a revolutionary practice.

“The ways faculty approach issues of knowledge production in our predominantly white institution are performative rather than relational” performing and filling students with knowledge does not allow them to relate to it (Brayboy & Maughan (2009). Mitchell (2016) indicates this as well, where he writes that educators are the transmitters of knowledge and that students work relentlessly to determine what it is that the educator wants them to learn. Therefore, information learned remains static, as it is more of a remote memorization of information for instance, a scientific formula, versus the understanding of the action (how the formula is applied in real life) is used. In particular, it reminded me of my teachings in Chemistry, where there was emphasis on remembering the elements on the periodic table with all its components of protons, electrons and neutrons, as opposed to understanding their function in nature.

In Brayboy & Maughan’s (2009) Story of the Bean, the student teacher describes how she would create a holistic lesson around planting a seed (explaining why they planted it, how, and the reason for when the seed is planted) purposefully with the importance of timing, learning and bringing together student communities. This story exemplifies what teachers in do in their practice to move towards a practice that is more purposeful, which allows students to fully understand what they are learning, rather than remembering them for assessment. This can be tied into the use of technology in a purposeful way as well; as I have often seen it used as performative and a way to pass time. Similarly, the creation of Daagu represents this holistic perspective, where it encourages a more collaborative learning environment which moves away from the “individual expert who passes on received knowledge, toward learning collectives of persons who complicate and participate in emergent knowing (Mitchell, 2016, pg. 212)”. By giving the power to the learners, Mitchell (2016) creates an inclusionary space for students to think deeper about their own perceptions as well as hear and understand others as well. Co-teaching pedagogy, which I practice in my own classroom, is highly aligned with this notion, where the content for a course is created alongside students. “Complexity pedagogy invites teachers to a place of possibility-with-uncertainty, where teachers invite students, through resources and critical questions, into spaces of thinking, challenging, and conversing with others.” (Mitchell, 2009, pg. 212). In these ways, knowledge is translated into a verb, where there is more purpose and value in education. It becomes interesting to think about then, if Daagu existed outside of formal schooling the type of influence and dialogue that would be created from it. Therefore, creating value in the use of technology outside of a distraction mechanism but towards a direction of intellectual conversations towards deeper understandings of dogmatic discourse.

REFERENCE APA

Brayboy & Maughan (2009). Indigenous Knowledge and the Story of the Bean, Harvard Educational Review, 79(1)

Darder, A. (2017). Restoring our humanity: The dialectics of revolutionary praxis. Reinventing Paulo Freire: A pedagogy of love (pp. 53-79). New York: Routledge. Freire, Paulo. (1970). Chapter 1. Pedagogy of the oppressed (pp. 43-70). New York: Herder and Herder.

McLaren, Peter. (2003). Critical pedagogy: A look at the major concepts. In Antonia Darder, Marta Baltodano & Rodolfo D. Torres. (Eds.) The critical pedagogy reader (pp. 69-96). New York: Routledge.

Mitchell, G., et al (2016). DAAGU: Complexity Pedagogy and e-Learning: Emergence in Relational Networks, International Research in Higher Education Vol. 1, No. 1; 2016.