As I was reading Sumida and Meyer's article, T4=Teaching to the Fourth Power: Transformative Inquiry and the Stirring of Cultural Waters, I was reminded of a class discussion we recently had in my Multicultural and Global Education class. We talked about different types of racism, but primarily focused on institutional racism that perpetuates the dominant white culture in US schools. We find it everywhere from our textbooks to the posters that adorn the school hallways. From the beginning of their academic careers, children who don't fit the in the dominant culture are excluded and are expected to give up their own cultures unique history.
I liked how the article stressed the importance of teachers needing to think critically in order to teach students to become empowered. So much of what goes on in our classrooms is what Freire (1970) described as the "banking" concept of education,"in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits" (p. 72). There is little time or support for exploration of critical literacy when teachers are charged with raising test scores under the NCLB act.
I was reading in Feb. 24-March 2 issue of The Economist that NCLB is up for renewal this year. While there have been some improvements under this act, such as the closing of underachieving schools and allowing parents to be informed of their child's school status, this by no means make the NCLB act a success. The author of the article suggests that the best way to improve our schools is to abolish tenure, since it's mostly based on seniority. His rationale for this is that the bad teachers continue to be protected by the teacher unions and that meritocracy is overlooked. I know I have had tenured teachers who feel they don't have to go above and beyond the status quo. The teachers who do make the effort to go beyond the scripted curriculum are often not recognized, unless it is reflected in their test scores. But there seems to be little support for teachers to implement critical literacy or multicultural education when their jobs are contingent on test scores.
I know tenure is a very controversial topic, but it seems to me that the way it is awarded should be revisited. If our schools are to become truly inclusive of all cultures, there needs to be a dramatic institutional change. It can't just be about test scores, too many kids are being left behind! Lawmakers need to support our teachers who want to make a difference, for they have the power to transform our students from simply memorizing information to becoming active agents in our society.
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Your comments regarding teachers adding to the curriculum and not having time to implement critical literacies is something I can definitely relate to. Because I am currently teaching a structured reading curriculum, I am not given much flexibility to incorporate my own materials; therefore, I try to take opportunities to add bits and pieces to each lesson I teach. I try to incorporate the critical literacies by using a concept found in a story we read and showing the basic idea/incident in another form. And, while this normally takes some time away from the curriculum I teach, I feel it benefits my students and helps them build some confidence in their abilities to understand key concepts.
There are always ways to incorporate critical literacies, but I feel it takes a great deal of finessing as a result of NCLB and schools' structured curricula.
I think that you are correct about revisiting the subject of tenure. I remember in college having a professor who had gotten tenure a few years before...incredibly smart women but as soon as she got tenure she stopped caring completely and put in no effort to teach her classes. An easy A was the rumor around the Econ department. I went to a pretty competitive school, where we really had to work for the good grades. Anyways, I always thought it was a shame that I did not learn as much in my Economics of Gender class as I could.
So, it's a bit different at a competitive school where we would still put in the effort even though our teacher did not, but in our DC schools where students are soooo far behind, and even the best teachers struggle with attaining achievement, it is really important that the teachers model success, motivation, effort, and all of the other good qualities we want our students to possess. I realize that keeping teachers is a problem, but I think there needs to be a process to ensure that teachers do not slack off and lead our students in the wrong direction.
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