My group The Funky Moose (including myself, Michael Tulak, Yury Duque & Olivia Dickenson) were given the topic of critical pedagogy for our second assignment in EDEF 3200. Below you will see all of our finding compiled into one place for your convenience.

EDEF Presentation: Education Foundations (Week 2 – Jan 20)

Group 5: The Funky Moose (Yury Duque, Olivia Dickinson, Molly Tonkin, Michael Tulak)

Summarizer/Visualizer

Yury Duque
Hasinoff and Mandzuk (2015) in chapter one of Case Studies in Educational Foundations, explain the reasons to include history, philosophy and sociology into the teacher candidates’ formation. They outline the important role each field of study has in developing critical thinking and understanding of the teaching practice. The study of history assists with the understanding of time, place and causation of past socio-political events, “providing us with a more complete road map” (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 2) of “how things came to be in the present time” (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 3). The authors invite teachers to inform themselves about history, while being aware of historians’ biases, and to critically think about their contribution “both as individuals and as part of a collective” (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 2).

On the other hand, “philosophy helps us to understand that education is based on beliefs…about what we know and how we come to know” (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 8), including careful consideration of the value these beliefs have to us. The writers encourage educators “to make their beliefs more explicit and deliberately subject them to intensive examination” (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 10), and to cultivate critical thinking while staying in middle ground when conflict arises. Lastly, sociology of education provides us the scientific analysis of how social structures, such as schools, socialize students and educational sociology aids the comprehension of “schools as places were roles, identities, and statuses are rehearsed” (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 14). The authors’ message for beginning teachers is to be aware of the diversity between students “to challenge current ways of doing things” (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 16) to lessen inequality.

Webber/Questioner

Michael Tulak
Webbing map of concepts in “Why do the foundations of education matter?”Note. The chapter is from Case Studies in Educational Foundations: Canadian Perspectives (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015).

Questions that stem from the chapter:

What is most important for new teachers to know about these foundations?

Obviously the foundations of education are very complex and it is impossible to fully teach every sub-discipline in a teacher education program. Also, new teachers who are simply trying to grasp the day-to-day functions of teaching are unable to remember everything about the fundamentals. This leads us to ask, what is most important for new teachers to know about educational foundations? First is the ability to recognize how schools may be privileging some students and disadvantaging others. What the curriculum emphasizes or the way enrichment programs are implemented are some ways this can happen (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p.16). Understanding of the sociology of education is essential for teachers to recognize this; however, lessons from history or critical examination skills from philosophy are important too. New teachers may also receive a lot of advice or search for answers to questions in literature. Education foundations will help teachers to determine if evidence or advice is trustworthy and if it is appropriate for their context. Teachers can implement lessons from historical education studies to refine their teaching practice (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p.6). Sociology also teaches us that education helps shape society, so the way one teaches and treats students will have an effect on society (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 14). New teachers should be aware of how even simple things like the layout of a classroom can affect power structures and roles.

Why do you believe what you believe about education?

While I can not answer this question for you, I can explain why and how this question follows from the reading. Hasinoff and Mandzuk (2015) state that the central virtues of teaching are humility, courage, open-mindedness, and empathy (p. 9). They state that teachers who intentionally examine their beliefs and teaching habits are likely to teach with those central virtues. Be aware of what historical influences have shaped your teaching philosophies. Situate yourself in the story of education (p. 6). I also think it is important to consider rival opinions and any counter arguments. How could your opinions be harmful or in what ways would other ideas improve your teaching? This open mindedness will help students be open to new ideas and the process of inquiry (Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2015, p. 11). Also try to understand the sociological background for what you think about education. How has society influenced you, and what influence will your beliefs have on students?

Wordsmith/Passage Picker

Molly Tonkin
As wordsmith and passage picker I’ve chosen two passages that I felt would be able to significantly reflect on our roles as teacher candidates and future teachers.
The first passage I’ve picked is found on page 9 of the chapter [“A new teacher…the dilemma.”] and can be found on my slides in the video. This passage is a good example of how teaching is taken at face-value. The point of the passage is that when we think of the class as a whole instead of breaking it down to the ‘individual level’, we’re teaching and working as a detriment. The problem is removed when we acknowledge that allowing more independent learners the freedom to go on with less direction, completely omits our issue, as it frees up more time for those that require that level of hands-on, direct teaching.
The second passage is found on page 16 [Teachers who have…can understand it better.”] and is a good illustration on why it is important to treat students as people first. By acknowledging the importance of sociology within the classroom and within teaching, we place the importance on all learners, not just teachers, and begin the path toward understanding. The passage explores and helps us understand how things such as privilege, bias, and power dynamics come into play within the classroom.
For my first chosen word, I picked ‘presentism’ found on page 4 of the chapter. By definition presentism is using the laws of today to evaluate the past. Some of the dangers of teaching with presentism is that we begin to warp the ‘objective’ parts of learning and instead turn them into ‘projective’ as we unconsciously apply opinions, bias, and judgement that exist in today’s society, not necessarily the objectives that existed in the past when these cultural events took place. Since a classroom is not set up like an argumentative essay, it is the job of the learner to interpret the past, not the historian/teacher.
My second chosen word was the phrase ‘commit sociology’, meaning that we’re now placing the emphasis of teaching on understanding, a theme that we’ve brought with us out of our passages and first word. By ‘committing to the act of sociology’ we’re telling ourselves that it is our responsibility to break down the personal bias found in “presentism”. An example of this would be to commit to examining the root causes behind the high volume of missing Indigenous women to help determine if it is a social phenomena of how our Canadian society treats Indigenous women, or if it is just a common string of crimes (as claimed by past PM Stephen Harper).
My final chosen word is the phrase the ‘hidden curriculum’. It is a wonderful phrase to round out our chosen highlighted words because it encompasses both the ‘presentism’ bias and a sociological framework. Some examples of this hidden curriculum are found within the classroom and also in other spaces around schools/learning environments. Everything from how instructions are given to the expected ‘norms’ of behaviour reinforce this hidden curriculum, which may inadvertently reinforce stagnant learning, gender bias, and hierarchies based on majority over minority rule. The text warns teachers against the issues surrounding the hidden curriculum because of this as well as its tendency to fail to support new ideas or struggling peer groupings. 

Actualizer

Olivia Dickenson
As an activity to support learning, I’ve created a collective notebook the whole class can contribute to (https://padlet.com/dickinsono20/ladwmcapn439hzsd). This format allows us to create a new post or comment on others. My goal is that we enhance our learning through sharing our wonders, and answering to those of others. I learn theory best through real life examples, so have added prompts I believe will encourage deeper thought about how the history, philosophy and sociology of education will influence our own classrooms.

References

Cornbleth, C. (n.d.). School Curriculum – Hidden Curriculum. Retrieved January 12, 2021, from https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1899/Curriculum-School-HIDDEN-CURRICULUM.html

Hasinoff, S. and Mandzuk, D. (2015). Case studies in educational foundations: Canadian perspectives. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Ingram, D., & Tallant, J. (2018, January 22). Presentism. Retrieved January 12, 2021, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/presentism/

Susan Machum, M. (n.d.). Commit Sociology: Learn to Be a Critical Thinker – Susan Machum, Michael Clow, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com
/doi/abs/10.1177/0160597615574551?journalCode=hasa